I'm genuinely thinking about buying a laptop and Ableton. Talk me out of it

The Lounge General Discussion
#82

I have my doubts, though, as to whether mice or trackpads are really good interfaces to use for music software.

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#83

The good news is that whatever you bought will be a nearly unlimited source of misery for you. So you’ve got that to look forward to.

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#84

My middle name

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#85

I’m afraid for my feet now.

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#86

I have a trackpad and mouse or (sometimes and) trackball for each of my machines. Everything supports multiple pointing devices now, so why not?

I find trackpads to be fine for tapping on stuff, but terrible for dragging. Sometimes Finder even refuses to drag items with the Magic Trackpad and I have to switch to a mouse just to move a damn file. (Don’t get me started on Apple’s command line fuckery)

#87

I hate Macs until I have touch a PC.

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#88

My work machine is a Surface 3. So luckily for me, it’s my employer’s wasted money rather than mine.

I’m surprised it’s still working after 2 years. But now that I said that I probably jinxed myself, haha

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#89

More fun stuff to look forward to:

  • PCs depreciate faster than used luxury cars. Whatever you bought you own forever now.
  • Macs still depreciate faster than synths, but are better in this regard than PCs. Something to keep in mind after you decide you hate your new PC.
  • MIDI controller hell: perfect way for a masochist to spark joy
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#90

PC or Mac doesn’t really matter.
Get Ableton though, it’s immense.

Have you watched any of Ned Rush’s YouTube videos?

https://youtube.com/@NedRush

If you haven’t, I reckon you’d be into where he goes with Ableton conceptually.

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#91

some of my favorites are here:

https://encoderaudio.sellfy.store

Some really good eurorack inspired devices for just a tenner, each

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#92

This is part of the point.

Invest my money in things that it’s much harder for me to sell on.

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#93

If you lived closer, I’d just lend you an older Macbook Air.

Ah, tricks always work with GAS :wink:

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#94

94 dopamine hits in.

no, sell your syntakt and buy some bongos. and forever batter out riddims in your backyard to the local youths.

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#95

Well said.

#96

I find it really hard to talk people out of good ideas.

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#97

hapax… pyramid…

#98

On my physical synths, I have buttons, knobs, sliders, two-way and three-way toggle switches. Now, I have almost no laptop experience with music software, and only limited iPad experience. Buttons, sliders, two-way switches are fine. Knob simulations are not, continuous or multi-way. There’s a reason Ableton Push is so popular, no?

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#99

I’m in this boat as well. It’s been bomber solid for me for years. But, I also know what I’m looking for in a system and what to troubleshoot when things come up.

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#100

Everyone has said what needs to be said. I really don’t have anything to add.

So let me add…

Computers are computers so why should it be, you and I should argue about Mac and PC?

Boom, boom, boom!

I use both, they both do the same thing, but if I say Mac works a bit better and get a Mac…

You’ll be punching, you’ll be kicking, you’ll be shouting at me, but I’m relying on your common decency.

It’s obvious you hate Mac’s though they’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve never really owned one so what could they have done?

Now I have both BitWig and Ableton, have used Ableton longer, but…

I can’t understand, what makes a ma-an, choose BitWig over Ableton, help me understand?

I can’t understand, what makes a ma-an, choose BitWig over Ableton, help me understand?

I can’t understand, what makes a ma-an, choose BitWig over Ableton, help me understand?

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#101

Nice collection that I hadn’t seen before. Looks like it has some gems in there from first glance.

Thanks for the heads up. I might have some exploring to do.

I can see the eurorack inspiration in things like “ping” or “tie” and others.

1 Like