Macbook...

Umbrella69, you're going to be very happy with Logic & your MacBook. I extensively use audio and non-linear video editing applications and I have to say they have all, always worked "right out of the box." The only problem I've ever had has been with a 3rd party audio card whose driver did not seem to be compatible with my old Power Mac G4. Once I got rid of the card, I never had a crash again. The internal audio processing in your MacBook is excellent, but you'll probably have to add a PC Card for pro-level i/o functions. I don't know why Apple doesn't put at least RCA-style in and out jacks on its top-of-the-line machines. The digital i/o is pretty good, though.

Many people have observed that Symantic's Norton Internet Security ticks many of the boxes that people use to define trojans or spyware.

And after the trial period has run out on friends computers I uninstall it, install AVG, Ad-Aware, Spybot, etc... and it usually finds something that shouldn't be there.

Also I'm not sure how having more serious vulnerabilities patched is an indication of a good operating system.

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<hr>umbrella69: I can see why you'd be frustrated. What MIDI i/f and software are you using, and what other problems are you having?<hr></blockquote>

Ok, if you really want to know I can give you an abridged life story of my studio.

- I started with Propellerhead Reason 2 (software studio) on an old laptop and a USB MIDI keyboard. Nothing high-tech but great intro to synthesis and sequencing and a lot of fun.

- Foolishly believed the hype about PCs, and laptops being capable of replacing desktops, and spent £1300 on the latest P4 laptop, upgraded the RAM and had a great spec'ed machine

- Spent £340 on Firewire 410 audio interface to reduce latency down to playable level

- Tried cracked copy of Cubase but couldn’t get SysEx MIDI messages working properly with my 2 hardware synths

- Laptop started overheating when working on large projects

- Blamed everything on laptop and cracked software and spent £1500 on specialist music pc with super-duper cooling fans, 2 HDDs, and with Cubase SX3 installed and configured on its own partition (dual boot).

- Still experiencing MIDI problems so spent £200 on Steinberg (makers of Cubase) Midex 8 USB MIDI interface

- Still problems so tried every configuration of emulated MIDI ports in XP as recommended by Steinberg

- Still random problems & crashes.

Today I have a system that works sometimes but I can be mid project and the timing goes ‘out’. A reboot always fixes it but only temporarily. It sounds fine playing live, but the recorded notes jump all over the place – both ahead and behind the time line (and No, I don’t record with quantise on). I’ve combed all the forums and tried everything bar a (another) new PC.

Other problems currently include:
- Cannot open task manager while running music partition – Ctrl, Alt & Delete does nothing so when it crashes I can’t shut down.
- CD/DVD player stutters when playing from music boot-up but is fine on other partition

I’ve used Norton Ghost, various utilities recommended in PC/music mags and on the internet, but my patience has well and truly run out. Basically all I use it for now is a glorified loop player & tape recorder.

Virtually everyone I’ve ever encountered who uses Logic has nothing but praise for it, so like I said before, it’s either try a Mac (Logic is not available on PC) or give it all up.

Oh, and incidentally, I don’t have a telly and wasn’t even aware of the current Mac vs PC campaign.

My first thought is that you've got a fair number of things that could cause the problem - so you need to narrow it down.

Assuming you've run through this?

If I were in your shoes, I'd start with the computer physically disconnected from the internet - do NOT connect it until you've got everything working, as we won't have any anti-virus software running initially.

Reformat it, reinstall from known clean CDs only - do NOT let any of your data discs near it, if there's a virus on your discs (and since you've been using pirated stuff, that's likely), you'll just re-infect it.

Install a clean copy of XP-SP2. Install the sequencing s/w. Test with a simple MIDI loop and one synth.

Does it work correctly? Yes - case solved, no:

On a different, known clean computer, download the latest patches for XP (particularly DX9.0c), the latest drivers from Steinberg for the Midex, and the latest patches for the software from Steinberg.

Does it work? Yes - yay, no:

Try new MIDI cables, they're cheap, and could cause this.

Still not working? Try testing the hardware devices on different machines - if you know anyone who's got the Midex working, try yours instead.

Sometimes timing critical things can be interrupted by anti-virus/anti-spyware scans and the like, ditto things like seti@home/folding - they see no key/mouse input, and think the system's idle when it isn't. Even a badly coded screensaver could screw things. Also viruses could do likewise - hence the suggestion of a known clean system without any anti-virus as a test. Once it's working correctly, reintroduce things one at a time until it stops working - that'll be your culprit ;)

I don't recall seeing you post about this before?

Hi Lan

I appreciate the thought you've put into this but to be honest I think I've tried everything you suggest.

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<hr>I don't recall seeing you post about this before? <hr></blockquote>

That's because I frequent music tech forums such as soundonsound.com, future music, cubase.net, gearslutz etc

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<hr>If I were in your shoes, I'd start with the computer physically disconnected from the internet - do NOT connect it until you've got everything working, as we won't have any anti-virus software running initially.<hr></blockquote>

The PC hasn't been connected for over 12 months. I have no antivirus software on music partition but I do on the 'general' one so I can give regular scans to the entire PC

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<hr>Reformat it, reinstall from known clean CDs only - do NOT let any of your data discs near it, if there's a virus on your discs (and since you've been using pirated stuff, that's likely), you'll just re-infect it.<hr></blockquote>

Yes, several times. I've tried clean installs and 'ghosting' with original image as received from PC shop. One time when I ghosted it I accidentally wiped my 180GB drive - I followed the instructions line by line as provided by PC shop but I had since added another HDD and the instructions didn't allow for this - a painful lesson!

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<hr>Install a clean copy of XP-SP2. Install the sequencing s/w. Test with a simple MIDI loop and one synth.

Does it work correctly? Yes - case solved, no:<hr></blockquote>

Err, not quite. I can get a simple MIDI loop running right this moment but there is no guarantee it will be running correctly in an hour or two.

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<hr>On a different, known clean computer, download the latest patches for XP (particularly DX9.0c), the latest drivers from Steinberg for the Midex, and the latest patches for the software from Steinberg.<hr></blockquote>

I do and it gets tedious. Sometimes I have to install a couple of times to get it working. I have the latest drivers for everything I can think of.

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<hr>Try new MIDI cables, they're cheap, and could cause this.<hr></blockquote>

I have quite a number of cables, some totally unused

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Still not working? Try testing the hardware devices on different machines - if you know anyone who's got the Midex working, try yours instead.<hr></blockquote>

Not hardware related - I have 2 x USB controllers (which I can use both via USB or MIDI ports), several synths and it happens with everything. I can disconnect everything and I still have probs using Cubase software instruments so it must be internal. Heck, I can even record MIDI notes with nothing connected and sometimes see the notes jumping out of time!

<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Sometimes timing critical things can be interrupted by anti-virus/anti-spyware scans and the like, ditto things like seti@home/folding - they see no key/mouse input, and think the system's idle when it isn't. Even a badly coded screensaver could screw things. Also viruses could do likewise - hence the suggestion of a known clean system without any anti-virus as a test. Once it's working correctly, reintroduce things one at a time until it stops working - that'll be your culprit ;)<hr></blockquote>

I have no screensaver, wallpaper, virus software or any auto updates scheduled and PC is 'tweaked' according to PC assembler. I've also followed advice from Martin Walker's (PC guru from Sound on Sound mag) and various music sites/magazines.

I know there has to be an explanation but I haven't solved it in the two years since I bought the PC and at times it does behave perfectly.

I spend my week days writing VBA code, problem solving and sorting out other people's mistakes at work. While I don't mind the job, it is work rather than a hobby. When I come home I want to make music - not spend my time fixing my bl*ody PC. Time is money also, and I think I've got to the stage where I'm happy to cut my losses and try something else.

The instruments, effects and EQs/compressors etc supplied with Logic seem to be streets ahead of those included with Cubase (not to mention the intuitive interfaces - I don't always get along with Cubase) so I think it's worth a go. I should be able to achieve much more with just a Macbook and Logic (both Apple!) without installing 3rd party plugins. Loads of artists (Groove Armada for example) swear by Logic and say how it's all you really need these days (computer wise) to make decent tracks as it contains everything you really need. I'm also looking forward to trying the included 'Space Designer' convolution reverb plugin as that alone used to cost £450 and is in a whole different realm compared to what's included with Cubase.

So it's not just the PC issue. Although some Cubase users may argue otherwise (like I used to!), Logic is clearly the better application and the choice of more professionals.

Oh, and I haven't gone into the issue of the DVD drive not working properly and Ctrl, Alt, Del not working nor Steignberg's abysmal customer service (gone from bad to worse since the buyout by Yamaha).

Phew, that took me a while to write. Yep, I think it's time to move on.