Mac Software

When Apple's iPad was first introduced in 2012, it was quite rightly hailed as a wonder of modern science. Lovely as it was, however, it was little more than a superannuated iPhone. Granted, a nice big touchscreen, but surely not a serious replacement for the laptop?

Now we've taken our trees down, binned all the greetings cards, eaten the last of the yuletide scraps and are staring at the bottom of the bank account, January is a good time to take stock. Maybe you've made (and already broken?) resolutions, but here's one you should keep - look after your computer health and security. OK, it's not glam and shiny, not a bundle of laughs, but look after your MacBook Pro and it'll look after you.

Imagine that history were different, and Apple was based not in Cupertino but Basingstoke. Right about now, we'd all be considering upgrading to MacOS Bedford (from MacOS Norwich). As it is, we can all follow Apple's geographical wanderings through the vastness of the USA - welcome to Monterey, Jack!

It's 2021, and whatever apple computer you spend your work and leisure time working on, there seems to be an app for almost every human endeavour. Many great smaller apps that I regularly use don't have 'recommends' on the app store - the 'review' section often has a tumbleweed blowing through it. Truth is, most people whether they're disinclined, or just plain busy, don't leave reviews. That's where real world recommends come in.

Aside from the obvious tragic dark sides of the Covid 19 pandemic, there have been some cultural gains from us being forced to slow down the pace a little and rely on our own resources. We’ve discovered the green spaces that we’ve been living next to for years, got to know our neighbours a bit better and have been forced to reacquaint ourselves with the positive aspects of our immediate communities. In amongst the undoubted isolation and loneliness, many people have also learned new skills – helped by our new best buddies, computers.

After seemingly endless lockdowns, many of us will have forgotten how to go on holiday. Many of us have spent the last year glued to screens, in endless Zoom meetings, so it’ll be tempting to leave tech behind for a bit - almost spot on…..but don't leave all of your tech behind.

We’re all now long used to banking, paying bills and shopping online, but the last few years have seen an explosion of apps for managing, consolidating and synchronising our financial information on our iPads, iPhones and desktops. My MacBook Pro is perfectly capable of flying me to the moon, but recently I’ve been using it to budget and manage my finances way more effectively than I’ve been able to before. I’ve switched over to a bank that has no front door (or any doors, for that matter), and it works really well for me. No supercilious bank manager to patronise me, either. A major plus.

No. Simples. There are thousands of products out there, from freeware through donationware to paid for (modestly priced to eyewatering!), not to mention the generous bundles of plug ins that come with your DAW of choice. The options available can be downright bewildering. There is no definitive top 10, so this is merely my top ten go to plug ins. I’m sorry that I’ve left so many favourites out, but who wants to read a Top 100?

I realise that I’m probably stating the obvious here, but aside from microphones instruments and cables, the basic tool that you’ll need to record and manipulate audio in the modern age is a computer. So which computer platform should you choose, Windows or Apple?

If you’re just starting your journey into the world of audio on a Mac, the plethora of mysterious terms and acronyms can be bewildering – they can almost appear designed to be exclude the beginner. I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you’re likely to be a newcomer to digital audio, so I’ll start with the broad view.