Getting a Mac and Pro Tools?

[migreeni]

Hi!

I've been a bit frustrated with my PC lately and I thought I propably should give Mac a try. I'm not that familiar with Macs, so any pointers on this subject would be greatly appreciated. I have two displays so let's keep that in mind What Mac should I buy?

Does it matter if it's a desktop or a laptop in any way?

Then the Pro Tools thingy. Cubase is ok, but Pro Tools is the shit. I still want the option of recording the drums though, so would the smartest thing be to buy a DIGI003 rack and a Behringer ADA8000 (?) to get enough tracks? (the digi003 comes with the pro tools software, right?) Or should I just get an Mbox for starters? What about Pro Tools M-Powered? How does it differ from Pro Tools LE etc,etc...?

 

[Kazrog]

If you're looking into the Digi 003, I would HIGHLY recommend the M-Audio Project Mix I/O and Pro Tools M-Powered instead. 8 mic pres, plus ADAT optical and the groovy automation faders. Pro Tools M-Powered is exactly the same as Pro Tools LE, it's just licensed for M-Powered hardware. You can't use LE with M-Powered hardware, and you can't use M-Powered with LE hardware. Other than that, the applications themselves are identical.

You'll always pay more money for less horsepower with laptops, and obviously less expandability. However, Mac laptops are amazingly powerful and if you need to be portable then go for it.

 

[migreeni]

You'll always pay more money for less horsepower with laptops, and obviously less expandability. However, Mac laptops are amazingly powerful and if you need to be portable then go for it.

That's the thing, I don't need to be portable. It's just that all the desktop Macs cost around 2000€ and I don't have that much money to spend. Or have I mistaken?

The iMac looked pretty sweet. Is it any good for studio purposes?

 

[LydonB]

The iMacs are pretty cool. For studio things I would assume it could be pretty good for most things but for a studio computer, I don't know if I would go that route mainly for expandability purposes. But depending on what you plan to do, it might be a good fit for you.

 

[migreeni]

I don't know if I would go that route mainly for expandability purposes. But depending on what you plan to do, it might be a good fit for you.

The goal is to some day start a studio which can produce above average demo level. In other words GOOD! Could you be more specific about the expandability thingy?

 

[LydonB]

Well the iMacs are only expandable to a certain point....go to the apple online store and max out everything. That is about as good as the computer is going to get. Not to say that is bad, because it isn't. But then check out a Mac Pro and look at how much you can do with it. freaking 8 cores of processing and up to 32 GB of RAM and like 4 TB of storage. Pretty expandable imo. If you got a Mac Pro you could get a more simple model and when you get more cash, add new parts. To me that seems like the better route to go due to the flexibility of the system for the long run. Check out www.macmall.com as well for some pre-configured Macs for decent prices. The one downside to the Mac Pro though is it doesn't come with a monitor so you've gotta find one yourself.

 

[JeffTD]

The iMac will be plenty powerful - you'll just need to record to an external drive, as there's only one internal on the iMac.

 

[migreeni]

The iMac will be plenty powerful - you'll just need to record to an external drive, as there's only one internal on the iMac.

?? This is totally new to me. How do I accomplish this? Do I have to buy a Firewire or USB drive? Does the iMac have two Firewire spots? (one for the ext drive and one for the audio-interface)

 

[JeffTD]

The iMacs (at least the new aluminum ones) have 2 firewire ports - 400 and 800. You'll need an external drive, most of which have USB/FW400/FW800 interfaces, some have all that + eSATA.

Most interfaces have two firewire ports, so you can plug your interface into your computer and your drive into the interface - there are no adverse affects to this, unless you're used to using FW800 and move down to a daisy chained FW400 or something.

So, you can do it with one FW port and daisy chaining, or you could get the interface to run via 400, and then run the drive via 800 - that's what I'd do, at least.

 

[beyond dead]

for your purposes, an imac is more than sufficient. I have an imac with 2ghz c2d, and 2 gs or ram running logic, and i have headroom with cpu on huuuuge projects. no need to get a mac pro at this stage, you`ll never need the capacity, and when you do your machine will not be top of the line
get an external drive and an imac and your laughing!!!!!!!

 

[AudioGeekZine]

If you're looking into the Digi 003, I would HIGHLY recommend the M-Audio Project Mix I/O and Pro Tools M-Powered instead. 8 mic pres, plus ADAT optical and the groovy automation faders. Pro Tools M-Powered is exactly the same as Pro Tools LE, it's just licensed for M-Powered hardware. You can't use LE with M-Powered hardware, and you can't use M-Powered with LE hardware. Other than that, the applications themselves are identical.

Kazrog, don't you find the mic pres to have zero headroom when recording drums. turned right down and still clipping in PT. I used one yesterday for tracking drums and had to go through a Soundcraft Spirit M4 post fader to get any usable level in PT.

Profire 2626 is what I would get. (when they are finally released)
Control surfaces are useless to me.

 

[migreeni]

M-Audio Project Mix I/O:

How many extra tracks can I record with this baby? And what kind of hardware would be suitable for this? (let's say for shits and giggles that I want to record 14 drum tracks..)

E: and is it possible to use two displays with the iMac? and will the "ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory" be enough or should I get the more expensive one? (ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory). How much does it affect the whole system efficiency?

 

[Metaltastic]

The ATI Radeon is a graphics card, and unless you plan on running games/3D modeling/anything involving 3D, it makes pretty much zero difference on your system power (certainly zero difference as far as audio apps go). Don't know about dual monitors...

 

[JeffTD]

You can run a 2nd screen off the iMac, yes.

 

[Kazrog]

Kazrog, don't you find the mic pres to have zero headroom when recording drums. turned right down and still clipping in PT. I used one yesterday for tracking drums and had to go through a Soundcraft Spirit M4 post fader to get any usable level in PT.

Profire 2626 is what I would get. (when they are finally released)
Control surfaces are useless to me.

Common misconception about the ProjectMix I/O. You have to lower the input gain via the software control panel. I have a feeling they'll make that a hardware control in the next version of the ProjectMix I/O because it's wrongfully turned a lot of people away.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Common misconception about the ProjectMix I/O. You have to lower the input gain via the software control panel. I have a feeling they'll make that a hardware control in the next version of the ProjectMix I/O because it's wrongfully turned a lot of people away.

I've never opened the control panel actually. How does turning it down in the software prevent the pres from clipping?
I'll have to check it out some time.

 

[Kazrog]

I've never opened the control panel actually. How does turning it down in the software prevent the pres from clipping?
I'll have to check it out some time.

The software controls the hardware pre's level in analog. It's odd that they didn't make it a physical control on the unit.

 

[migreeni]

Can the Projectmix be used as a normal sound card? In other words can I normally check out videos and listen to music?

 

[Metaltastic]

Most audio interfaces can, though I tend to think it depends on the drivers, cuz the drivers for my podxt let it function fully as a sound card, whereas the ones for my MBOX2 kinda do but involve a lot of annoying switching, don't always work, don't work when PT is open, etc. (I'm on a PC, so it might be better on a mac)