I hope Mr. Price realizes that the Venue software runs on Windows XP embedded. And that the Venue stand alone software only runs on a PC.

I am sure he is aware of the construction of his equipment, and the software limitations that it may have, but with a Mac running Boot Camp*, one can have both the rock-solid performance of the Mac audio environment and the programmability of the Windows environment.

*It does appear that this Mac Pro is not running Leopard, which may hinder the Boot Camp operation.

eeh no you don't "have to" use a Mac to make music. This is just an old myth. I personally use both so don't anyone get me wrong but there is a truck load of good music software running on Windows that works equally good. So, no a Mac is not a must.

I personally use Reason 4 for Mac and I love it. However, I also run Cubase 4 on Windows XP and it works marvelously well.

Hello artzangel,
There’s no question GarageBand, for its value, is the way to go. Plus it ship with all new Macs (part of iLife) or can be purchased for about $80 if you have an older Mac.
Cubase 4 (not sure about the SE version though) is not to be compared to GarageBand as it is basically just a sequencer with a few built-in VST plug-ins (synths and a few effects) but it is a much more advanced and professional sequencer then GarageBand (hence more expensive). Plus, there's a lot of third party VSTs available that are truly amazing. I know it can get very expensive but like I said it's much more powerful and professional.
I think Propellerhead Reason 4 (http://www.propellerheads.se) is almost comparable to GarageBand but cost a hefty $500. I do say "almost comparable" because it's quite easy to learn like GarageBand but still beat it in terms of sound quality and software instruments availability. It’s available for both Mac and Windows so I recommend you check it out.
PS: I apologize for my English…I am French.

And in other breaking news.......

All guitarists must play a Gibson guitar to succeed. If you play a Fender, you will never make it.

Ignorant, pompous statements like my bogus example above, along with the bogus verbage from Mr Price, the FOH dude in this article, are NOT helpful to aspiring students.

Why make ironclad statements about a piece of hardware with a 3-5 year shelflife, max. Not exactly brilliant encouragement and horizon expansion for the creative-minded student.

Draconian dogma is not helpful, Mr Price. It's small-minded.

that guy sucks, that gear is totally inadequate for audio engineering

Yeah, I think it's a bit much to say you "have to" use a Mac.
Reason and FLStudio are two of my favorite PC audio programs.
On the other hand, many studios do use Macs, and Macs are great for audio.

Also, GarageBand is much more capable program than most people realize.
It works with VST and Audio units, it lets you print music scores, and it comes with a lot of very flexible synthesizer, drum machine, and sampled sounds, which you can play via MIDI (using your computer or a musical keyboard) and mix with your own vocals. You can do some really great stuff with that software, and I'm not referring to that "Magic Garage Band" kiddie stuff. And it comes with your computer.
Some professional musicians that you've heard on the radio are now even using GarageBand.
It does have a couple of limitations, but it is an awesome piece of software that isn't very expensive.