Mac version compared with Linux version

I’ve been using Ardour on Linux for years. It is by far my favourite DAW, especially for tracking. However I’ve been working on quite a few projects with people who use Logic or pro tools. I find it annoying physically having to go to their studio once a project has got to a certain stage. So I’m considering getting a Mac, as they are very expensive I’d definitely like to use it as my main music workstation which would hopefully use Ardour for most of my own projects.

How stable/efficient is Ardour on the Mac? Last time I used it on Mac it was not a fully supported combination and their were issues and I gave up. That was some years ago and hopefully the situation has improved now.

How do you get around the 3 button mouse requirement on a laptop? I prefer to just use the trackpad where possible as a lot of the places I end up working have no good place to put a mouse as I find myself perched in some strange location.

Is there anything I should be considering if I move to Mac for music production? I see that RAM is no longer user upgradable on most (any?) of the current models, so I need to get that maxed out from the start, is there anything else that will catch me out?

There’s nothing special about using Ardour on OS X compared to Linux. The program is marginally less efficient in terms of the DSP load numbers, but on more or less the same hardware you’ll get basically the same performance no matter which OS is used as the platform.

The mouse issue: I really do recommend that you get a 3 button mouse. You can use Ardour with just a trackpad, but we fully embrace the right-click/context menu user interaction model, and this just does not mesh well with trackpad-only use.

Thanks for the reply, that’s good to hear. I’ll have at least one nice piece of software if I do take the plunge and get a mac.

I’ll also have to invest in a rack shelf or something for a mouse mat! But that is a minor issue compared to shelling out for the computer and software.

@ paul: That sounds really great!

Some time ago I tried to run Ardour 3 on a Mac an it was not really successful. In the forum I saw a notice that OS X was not supported like Linux. So I finished testing Ardour, because it should be used in an educational project. If now Ardour is running with OS X like Linux I will do a new test. That would be great if it works.