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Cubase - Why better on Windows than Mac?

garyhiebner

Active Member
Hi Guys,

I've just recently got Cubase. And I've seen it pop up a lot here that it runs better on Windows than Mac.

I'm a super Mac fanboy (still using Logic, but maybe I'll be swayed completely onto Cubase).

But how come does it run better under Windows than the Mac OS. Just wanted to know your guys experience with it on Mac, and what bugs and trouble you ran into.

I'd like to run it on my Mac, but if theirs more benefits for it on PC, then will move that way.
 
Part of it is historical and part of it is that cross platform audio apps nearly always run better on Windows. The things to focus on are not whether or not it runs better, but on how much better, and also whether the slightly worse performance on OSX matters to you. If the difference is so slight, it may not matter either way.
 
From my experience with C6 - C8.5 on both Mac and PC, it's not that there are any additional bugs or other issues with the Mac version - it just simply isn't as efficient. With identical settings in an identical project you'll probably need to increase your buffer size by a notch on OSX. As Daryl said - depends on whether this matters to you or not.
 
Thanks Guys, I'm gonna run it on my Mac and see how it goes. Seeing as I haven't run it on Windows before I won't have any expectations of which has better performance.
 
Over the years reps from Steinberg, VSL, and Native Instruments have told me that pretty much all cross platform music software can be coded more efficiently on Windows than OSX.

At the time Apple bought Emagic and acquired Logic Pro I was on the verge of buying a PC to run it while keeping my Mac for daily non-musical stuff. Now of course, I run Logic on my Mac and have a slave PC to do much of the heavy lifting.
 
Hi Guys,

I've just recently got Cubase. And I've seen it pop up a lot here that it runs better on Windows than Mac.

I'm a super Mac fanboy (still using Logic, but maybe I'll be swayed completely onto Cubase).

But how come does it run better under Windows than the Mac OS. Just wanted to know your guys experience with it on Mac, and what bugs and trouble you ran into.

I'd like to run it on my Mac, but if theirs more benefits for it on PC, then will move that way.

I run CB 8.5 on both Mac and PC without any problems. I don't notice any difference in performance or reliability on either platforms.
 
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Over the years reps from Steinberg, VSL, and Native Instruments have told me that pretty much all cross platform music software can be coded more efficiently on Windows than OSX.

At the time Apple bought Emagic and acquired Logic Pro I was on the verge of buying a PC to run it while keeping my Mac for daily non-musical stuff. Now of course, I run Logic on my Mac and have a slave PC to do much of the heavy lifting.

I wouldn't say that one platform is more efficient than the other. It really depends the experience a software company has with a specific OS. Historically, Steingberg, VSL and NI started out as mainly PC guys so i'm not surprised by their statement.

I used to beta for Logic and Pro Tools and have always found back in the days that they run better and definitely more reliable on Mac than PC.
 
I wouldn't say that one platform is more efficient than the other. It really depends the experience a software company has with a specific OS. Historically, Steingberg, VSL and NI started out as mainly PC guys so i'm not surprised by their statement.

I used to beta for Logic and Pro Tools and have always found back in the days that they run better and definitely more reliable on Mac than PC.

Can't speak to ProTools, but I was an Emagic beta tester back in the day for years and it ran better on PC, but back then, top of the line PCs were considerably more powerful than their Mac equivalents, so that may have been a factor.
 
There was a thread on the KVR about this when 8 came out and the result was surprisingly that the the Mac version was marginally better. Now this of course depends on what the individual user uses as VSTI. Is Kontakt better on one platform, Play? etc, those are the things which will affect performance rather than the DAW I suspect.
 
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Hi Guys,

I've just recently got Cubase. And I've seen it pop up a lot here that it runs better on Windows than Mac.

I'm a super Mac fanboy (still using Logic, but maybe I'll be swayed completely onto Cubase).

But how come does it run better under Windows than the Mac OS. Just wanted to know your guys experience with it on Mac, and what bugs and trouble you ran into.

I'd like to run it on my Mac, but if theirs more benefits for it on PC, then will move that way.

Without more details on what "it runs better on Windows" means, and what your computers are and contain, it's hard to say. It could be system specific. Video card, sound card, RAM, CPU, HDD, and so on are all factors here. If one is a desktop and the other a laptop, that could also be a factor. Background processes and tools can also have a bearing on performance. If both your Mac and PC are virtually identical, Cubase really should not run better on one OS over the other, save for maybe a bug here or there. But performance should be the same.

Cheers.
 
As far as I can tell, one of the performance difference factors is in the file system. NTFS and Windows seem to have some sort of optimizations at a very low level with regards to disk performance (specific commands? things not available on HFS+, as it seems) that really seem to work well for disk streaming.

If both your Mac and PC are virtually identical, Cubase really should not run better on one OS over the other, save for maybe a bug here or there. But performance should be the same.

And yet performance differences do exist...
 
Well NI and Steiny confirm it to be the case, it's not a matter of me just thinking. And as I said, it's just one factor of performance - I wouldn't write that one off as unimportant.
 
With 8 there is no difference any more as far as I can see. Pre 8 yes Windows was better.
 
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Oh there is most definitely still differences - especially with certain systems.
Sessions that only barely run under osx 10.5 on my trashcan mac pro run far smoother (and with lower buffer settings) when bootcamped to win10.
This is especially evident for larger sessions with more bussing.
I still run in osx, only because of some legacy stuff I have that is not on windows / and for interoperability with other composers I work with.
 
Oh there is most definitely still differences - especially with certain systems.
Sessions that only barely run under osx 10.5 on my trashcan mac pro run far smoother (and with lower buffer settings) when bootcamped to win10.
This is especially evident for larger sessions with more bussing.
I still run in osx, only because of some legacy stuff I have that is not on windows / and for interoperability with other composers I work with.

My trashcan mac pro can run huge CB session with 1080p video in Prores via my AJA Kona 4K card all day long without a glitch. My sessions are all in 5.1, lots of busses and stems.

All these conflicting reports and experiences go to show you that performances and reliabilities depend on many factors (sound card, drivers, external peripherals, plug-ins...etc) other than simply OSX or Windows.
 
I remember the following thread on the VSL forums a few years ago where one of the VSL developers said cross-platform software performs better on Windows compared to a Mac (Martin's post, 4th down from the top) and gave some technical reasons: https://www.vsl.co.at/community/pos...otcamp-Mac-outperform-OSX-with-VEP#post192295

I'm not sure how much of that still applies today (I'm not a software developer), but that thread is an interesting read/discussion.
 
Well it seems if you really want to know do you own tests. For me CP8.5 is running beautifully on my MP. LPX doesn't do any better and in some particular situations worse. I'm totally a convert.
 
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