Topic: Running Wavelab in OSX

[mhibbs]

After spending half the evening trying every mac audio editor I could find, I decided unless I'm missing something, they all leave something to be desired.  So, I started playing w/ Parallels and have Wavelab running under XP in Parallels and so far it runs ok, but not great.  I'm going to play w/ the VM settings and see if I can't strip down XP some more (already reverted it to classic themes).  We'll see.

Edit:
Crap...it was late and I managed to stick this in the wrong section somehow...meant for it to be in Computer.  Maybe a mod will catch it an move it.

[bgalizio]

If you want 100% performance, there is no real alternative but Boot Camp. I don't believe Parallels virtualization runs at full native speed.

[mhibbs]

Yeah, I'm afraid you're right.  I upped the VM settings to allocate 1gb of RAM to parallels (my mac mini has 2gb) and it didn't help at all.  The processor is spiked (4% idle) when playing back a .wav in Wavelab.  Changing the scrolling to follow the cursor rather than continuous helps some, but not enough.  XP in general runs quite well under Parallels, and CD Wave is entirely usable but Wavelab is a little much.  I suspect it'd run pretty well on a new dual processor intel mac tower under Parallels.  I may play around w/ boot camp, but I doubt it.  I have a WinXP box that used to be my main computer until a month or so ago that I'm probably going to keep around for wavelab and just buy a KVM switch.  Dual booting in the past has always seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth.  Man I wish Steinberg would release Wavelab on osx. 

[bgalizio]

Is your mini a core solo or duo?

I haven't tried Parallels. I use XP infrequently enough that Boot Camp is fine for me. VMWare is developing virtualization software as well. I would like to see native virtualization (ie: full speed) in OS X 10.5, but I doubt it.

Steinberg makes Cubase - not sure how that compares to Wavelab. For one, it isn't yet a universal binary (Cubase 4 apparently will be), so you'd be running under Rosetta. I currently use Sound Studio, as it's good enough for what I need to do. I prefer Wavelab's dithering, but it isn't worth it for me to reboot into XP just to dither, especially when I listen to the 24bit version much more than 16bit.