Big MAC - Apple computer

[bongman]

Hi ALL,

I am considering to buy an Apple computer to run my music sequencer
and I've been to some Apple shops to ask about my needs. But
the solution provided by the salesmen seems inconsistent.

The options (all in SGD):
Power Mac G5 - $2888
Power Book G5 - $3088
iMac G5 - $2488
eMac - $1488
iBook G4 - $1848

- The salesman suggested iMac G5 but I'm wondering is it powerful
enough in the long run besides doing music sequencing, I may be
involved in video/film scoring ???
- If I just restrict myself to do music, can an iBook be good enough
to do music sequencing ???
- How about eMac? Is it powerful enough to do music sequencing ???

Thank you if anyone can help me.
Cheers!!!

rdgs,
.bongman

 

[Cheez]

Will you be doing audio recording? Is mobility that important?

 

[bongman]

MAC - audio recording

Thank you for writing.

Yes, I'll be doing audio recording
and mobility is second priority. In
case there's a need for performance.

I bet from your quesitons, a Power G5
is the choice for audio recording.

When the salesman recommended iMac,
I was shocked! Does it has the processing
power to record music? Anyawy, I'm still
considering the choice and for the time being,
using PC is the economical way.


.bongman

 

[ChanMin]

yo dude... i just got myself a powerbook G4... the g5s not out yet la...
it can definitely handle music i guess.. im also just starting to learn about recording and stuff... get a mac it rawks..

 

[bongman]

MAC G4 450MHz

Hi ALL,

Someone is offering me a MAC G4 450MHz at $450,
512MB RAM, 20GB hd, NETWORK, MODEM, FIREWIRE, USB no monitor;
just wondering what can this spec do ?

Always very curious on Apple computer, but what can I do with this machine
with this spec? Can it run any sequencing software? I dun mind if it's not the
latest software, hv heard stories for MAC stability.

Can anyone help? Thank you!

 

[lowjk]

G4 450 Mhz

Probably enough for sequencing and light use of plugins.
Not enough to run a full virtual studio.

So if you are mainly sequencing outboard midi gear, it should be okay.

 

[bongman]

G4 450Mhz for Pro Tools LE 001 or 002

Hi LOW,

Thanks again.

How about runnning Pro Tools LE 001 or 002 rack v6.1 ?


rdgs,
John.

 

[lowjk]

Re: G4 450Mhz for Pro Tools LE 001 or 002

No idea BUT in general

1) plugins depend on raw processing power - so if you want to run planty of plugins, I would suggest a AMD dual Opteron system instead of a MAC. Except when you want to use Logic 7.

2) number of track counts depend more on the hard disk speed. So if you want plenty of tracks, get a good hard disk 7,200 rpm and above. May want to consider SCSI drives 15,000 rpm.

 

[stalefish]

Re: G4 450Mhz for Pro Tools LE 001 or 002

SCSI?!

how many tracks we talking here?

abit overkill for only a 001 /002 setup isn't it...


in the long run a powermac would be more reliable - forget the powerbooks cuz they tend to 'wear and tear' with travel. A G5 would be a good inverstment, especially a 2nd hand one. My old G4 still serves me well till this day.

 

[veganbleu]

I've seen pro tools le rigs and frankly wasn't too impressed with them. The dual opterons are considered by the cakewalk bunch to be the best for audio at the moment. If you check up on the sonar forum there's a little benchmark on different cpus. search for sonar3 test. SATA drives should be the way to go if you're not looking at scsi. At 10k rpm they're also roughly the same price as ide's though hd prices seem to be going up. There are some issues with satas on mobos with certain controllers. Once again the sonar forum has a thread on that, and some work(buy)arounds.

For that G4, you might want to try using it as an effects box for stuff like max/msp,pluggo, reaktor. The first 2 of which have some mac centric quirks unavailable for pc.

 

[sound_designer]

juz wondering where did u actually read dat cakewalk is the top of the range.. hehehe... datz like a program, pros left years back.. but there is still beginners who work with dat program i guess...
but to each its own preferance...!!
cheers

 

[reqx]

Re: MAC - audio recording

Yes, I'll be doing audio recording and mobility is second priority. In case there's a need for performance.

read with interest - my 2 cents worth

if mobility counts, try a powerbook hooked to a mbox. it should be decent enough to do sequencing for live performances and offer a little extra for tracking. if you aren't too picky, up the RAM and things should smoothen out.

for a workhorse, try powermac with LE and above. offers enough processing power and RAM slots to seriously deal some damage. note though, digidesign has announced that digi001 will not be supported beyond 6.4 and tested beyond OS10.3.3, though it'll likely work anyway. 002 is currently tested till OS10.3.6. current OS is at 10.3.8. PowerMac G4s offers 4 ATA harddisk slots, and G5s 2 SATAs, so it's really your pick. SCSI-wise, you'll definitely feel the difference, although the speed will be somewhat limited by the CPU power on lower-end machines.

LE offers 32-tracks max, so you can't really weigh down any machine with tracks alone. plugins are the killers - put one of anything on everytrack and it'll prompt you -6023 or -6095 errors and the likes - bummers really

oh, 001 has a PCI card that you must hook up to run, so a powerbook or a mac mini, eMac or iMac won't work. 002 runs on firewire.

hope this helps :wink:

 

[bongman]

??? wau lau eh ah ???

??? wau lau eh ah ???

nowadays everything so complicated ah?
must i go take a Degree in Music Tech to operate these gear?

 

[ymmit]

i'd skip the ibook. ibook got no audio input.

but first, you gotta ask yourself if you want notebook or desktop. decide that first.

for basic jamming and sequencing, all macs come with Garageband. you can jam and record live. if you got breakout box, you can even jam as a band and record all as separate tracks live. don't have complete band? no problem. garageband also comes with pre-recorded loops that you can add on and fill to complete your "band".

RAM is super important. up the RAM to the max if you gonna record intensively, 1Gb or more would be super. basically, more ram, less lag.

 

[bongman]

verdict

so still ? what's the verdict ?