Which is better for Kyma, PC or Mac? - Kyma Forum

Which is better for Kyma, PC or Mac?

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Author	Topic: Which is better for Kyma, PC or Mac?
SeanFlannery Member	posted 24 May 2009 04:02 Hi All, This might be potentially a hot topic on other forums but I doubt it will turn into a 'platform war' here Is there anyone here that has used Kyma on PC and Mac? Are there any benefits/disadvantages with either platform? Thanks Sean IP: Logged
tuscland Member	posted 24 May 2009 12:09 Hello Sean, I think that when the system works well, there is not much differences between the Windows and Macintosh platforms. Your personal taste on the operating system will do the difference. Actually, Carla and Kurt are working hard to maintain a near perfect compatibility across all the supported systems. There are however some subtle differences I will try to outline here. FireWire: In my opinion you will run into less trouble with FireWire on the Mac. Firstly because FW is a protocol that has co-invented by Apple, the adapters and drivers currently included in the Macs are of good quality and compatible. On the PC, you will have to be careful and choose a FireWire adapter based on a Texas Instruments chipset. This is important if you want to do audio work. Once it is working on the PC, you won't have to worry about this anymore. Graphics/Speed: I find Kyma on the Mac a bit faster in terms of user experience. I have not used Kyma extensively on a powerful PC, so I can't tell much, but I would guess that OpenGL (what is used to draw Kyma windows) is a bit faster on the Mac. Kyma differences: If you own a Capybara, you can run Kyma with CoreAudio on the Macintosh using the "AV/C firmware". This means that you can send and receive audio directly in the DAW without using an audio interface. This can be handy, but it is currently limited to 6 simultaneous streams and 44.1 kHz / 24 bits. IMHO, analog to digital converters of the Capybara are so good it would be sad not to use them, which makes IMHO this feature not so useful. The "AV/C firmware" is then not a huge benefit if you don't need to process Kyma in the DAW. I would suggest you read this post (http://www.symbolicsound.com/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=displayprivate&number=6&topic=000328) about my experience with a small netbook computer I am using on tour. On a daily basis, I use MacBook Pro and Mac Pro computer to work with Kyma. Best, Cam IP: Logged
SeanFlannery Member	posted 27 May 2009 03:27 Hi Cam, Thanks for your reply! I had known about the TI chipset issue with firewire cards for a long time. Unfortunately finding a firewire card with TI chipset in Australia is almost impossible. I'm sure this has been the cause of some of the Kyma problems I have experienced. RE Core audio on the Mac - gee that's something I'd love to see an equivalent of on a PC. The DACs on the Capy do sound sensational and are well worth using but having Kyma integrate into a DAW like Rewire or a VST Instrument, would be sublime. IP: Logged
martin1981 Member	posted 27 May 2009 10:41 I was speaking to SSC, while I was waiting for my Pacarana, and asking the same question whether PC or Mac would be better (at that point I hadn't decided on a machine to use with Kyma). I ended up getting a Macbook Pro dedicated mainly to Kyma, but basically SSC said the software should function basically the same on a PC or Mac. However, I may be wrong about this, but I seem to remember them pointing out the OSCulator would not work on a PC?? So that means you might not be able to use Wiimotes etc.? I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think that's the case. IP: Logged
BobTheDog Member	posted 27 May 2009 11:46 Osculator is Mac only. IP: Logged
SeanFlannery Member	posted 28 May 2009 04:54 it does appear that although the Kyma application works just as well on a Mac or PC that there are benefits with going with the Mac eh? IP: Logged
BobTheDog Member	posted 29 May 2009 01:43 Well I'm currently a mac fan so I can be a bit biased! OS X for me is superior to XP or Vista, I use all three along with various unix systems and OS X is the one I like. They look nice as well Andy IP: Logged
tuscland Member	posted 29 May 2009 18:05 Just as Bob, I'd say that the Mac platform is nicer to use on an everyday basis. Use PC only if you have software that you really need to run natively on it. Otherwise, you can still use either Parallels to run Windows in a virtual machine, or with BootCamp, on an external hard drive partition. IP: Logged
BobTheDog Member	posted 30 May 2009 08:10 As well as Parallels there is also VMWare Fusion which works pretty well for me, IP: Logged

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