New MAC buying advice

forge · Post by **forge** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:41 am

personart and wavejumper:

I know what you're saying, but the problem is the advances just in the last year or 2 in soft synth and FX - there are so many amazing things out there now

I often now start in a similar way to how atomic said, throw in one synth, then another, then drums (impulse/microtonic), something like antares filter and livecut and so on and the headroom's eaten up in no time, but it is so much fun automating parameter tweeks etc I'm really reluctant to commit anything, and things usually change once the hardcore eqing and mixing starts when you know all the final sounds are in there

As much as I've always been a renderer, I find sometimes it can really kill the flow when you have to stop and render if you have loads of ideas, when the muse strikes any little distraction like that can get in the way

my athlon 2200 actually manages pretty well with it, but I have been really giving some thought to getting more power

pearsonart.com · Post by **pearsonart.com** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:10 pm

Wavejumper,

I also started on a 4 track cassette, the Tascam porta 1.

Forge,

More power to you!

James

buzzlegs · Post by **buzzlegs** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:13 pm

i use a mac powerbook 1Ghz with 1Gb RAM and i'm afraid the arrangement page of Live is like wading through treacle (with CPU at about 40% or so) compared to my friends PC laptop, its like night and day, the PC is much much faster, i think Live runs ALOT better on PCs.

aex1 · Post by **aex1** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:34 pm

maybe it wont be a silly video ipod on the 12th, but something slightly more interesting:

"The event, Think Secret has learned, will not usher in the much rumored video iPod but rather new PowerBook and Power Mac systems."

from: http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0510oct12.html

rasputin7 · Post by **rasputin7** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:42 pm

atomic wrote:I thought I would get a reply to that post. Oh well hope it is usefull to someone.

Hi Atomic,

Just read your post (ferociously busy at the dayjob--publications and PR for a major university here) and will respond more later, when I have a mo.

But thanks for the details.

Cheers,

smutek · Post by **smutek** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:30 pm

To the original poster. Go for it, get the iMac wit apple care and when you feel like you are ready for one of the mactels sell it, recoup some of your dough and put it towards another machine.

I'm planning on buying a dual g5 in about a month - in fact i have been planning on it for about a year now. I'm not detered and I'm not waiting around for the new processors. Nah.

dave999z · Post by **dave999z** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:55 am

smutek wrote:To the original poster. Go for it, get the iMac wit apple care and when you feel like you are ready for one of the mactels sell it, recoup some of your dough and put it towards another machine.

Actually my original post is now moot.

In an interesting turn of fate, my girlfriend traded me her 1.33 GHz 12" powerbook for a 700 mHz G3 iBook I had. She had bought the powerbook to use for photography (photoshop), but hasn't had time, so its power was largely untapped and it was kind of going to waste. i'm going to run Live on that for a year or so until there is a more attractive Mac to buy (hopefully Mactel).

1.33 G4 may choke compared to some PCs, but it smokes compared to what I was used to, so I'm very happy for now.

Cheers all (especially my girlfriend),
Dave

pearsonart.com · Post by **pearsonart.com** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 5:09 am

Good for you!

I think CPU power is like discretionary income, you tend to spend what you have no matter how much.

That powerbook is pretty similar to my mac mini but with slightly faster cpu, better graphics, faster system bus etc....and it's a powerbook. Forget about the mactel. Life is too short. Have a great time making some music now.

smutek · Post by **smutek** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:45 am

dave999z wrote:1.33 G4 may choke compared to some PCs, but it smokes compared to what I was used to, so I'm very happy for now.

Cheers all (especially my girlfriend),
Dave

Oh yeah man. Your set. You've got a good machine there - and a good woman too! Marry that girl!

forge · Post by **forge** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:54 am

smutek wrote:
dave999z wrote:1.33 G4 may choke compared to some PCs, but it smokes compared to what I was used to, so I'm very happy for now.

Cheers all (especially my girlfriend),
Dave
Oh yeah man. Your set. You've got a good machine there - and a good woman too! Marry that girl!

he he, yeah quick, before she discovers how much of a bad move it was - unless she doesnt mind never seeing you again!

atomic · Post by **atomic** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 2:53 pm

I can appreciate what folks say about bouncing down in order to keep things moving along in the creation process but that is not the way that i work best. I am coming to making music with computers from making music with hardware sequencers and synths, recording it down to a computer or 8 track at the end, all at once. It is just the way I have tought myself to mix. When something is better left it is best that you just leave it but it is always good to be able to change something with minimal fuss in order to keep things working in a mix. It goes hand in hand with the idea that the closer the source sound is to what you need the better it will sound in the mix. If you can sculpt the sound right you often dont need to use much EQ and so on. So if my mix changes I will always go to the synth first and not a rack of outboard gear to try and fix a sound that could be more quickly and better fixed with a quick change of the instrument. It takes alot of discipline to get things done but I find that in the end things get done faster for me when I have access to all my tools at all stages of the process. It is a matter of what works for the individual in the end. But getting back to the topic at hand, more cpu is very important as the better sounding soft synths take ALOT of power to run. Just take the Minimonsta or the new Way Out Ware ARP2600 for a spin if you have not yet and you will get what i am talking about. Caution they sound so good you wont want to let them go!

pearsonart.com · Post by **pearsonart.com** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:36 pm

atomic,

I was there a few years ago, hitting the ceiling with logic and unity on my powerbook. My solution then was to split the workload between two lowend/midrange machines (powerbook and 7600) midi'd together, bringing the audio from the dedicated sampler (7600) back to logic via a 1202 mackie board. It's still a valid technique when you hit the ceiling again... and you will if you continue to add on new synths and power-hungry apps.

My point is that there are alternatives and creative solutions for those of us with limited cpu. Obvously, you have a tweaked out system and are pretty happy now. We all make choices how to spend our money and time. I don't mean to be critical of anyone else, just explain another point of view.

Right now, I can imagine 300 ways to use the full version of Live but can't afford it, yet. I'm using Tracktion 2 as my main host with Live lite 4 as rewire slave. Increasingly, I've come to love Live's arrangement and editing so I import entire submixes directly into Tracktion (and sometimes chop them up some more.) Then I wipe Live and begin with a new section.

The things we put up with when inspiration strikes

I guess it sounds ridiculous to some but I actually enjoy figuring out how to get something done with limited resources. That's also part of the mentality of painting.

Take care.
James

pearsonart.com · Post by **pearsonart.com** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 3:58 pm

Following up on the analog studio analogy:

I've worked in a studios too, including regular work over a 11 year stretch at a Warner Bros studio in Nashville. All of them had limitations to work around whether it was running out of channels, outboard gear, good mic's, headphone sends, ideas, tape or time.

I'd much rather work the way I do now, which is to say, painting, making music and teaching privately at home with my family close. I learned that much about myself from years of 14 hour days in broadcast engineering and 16 hour days some weekends at various commercial and project studios.

atomic · Post by **atomic** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:12 pm

just in responce to the last two posts. Hey one has to work with what one has! When the music is in you and has to come out you do what you have to! I have played drums on the toiletpaper containers in public bathrooms wile my friend played harmonica at two in the morning just because we felt the need! You work with what you have. If there is a point to what i am saying it is that my mac (dual 1.

cost me $2600 bucks and my Windows computer is worth about $600 and it much faster for ableton live. So i am just saying that if the new macs are going to be using intell the guy may as well wait a little wile and get something that is up to date as opposed to a few years old (G5). The reason I bring up the pc is because if he is wanting something faster NOW then he can pick up a fast pc for cheap and just sell it when the new macs come out if he still feels the need. Again this is not a mac vs. pc thing it is just advice to his situation.

pearsonart.com · Post by **pearsonart.com** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:21 pm

It's a good point and valid approach.

I've considered it myself.

Luckily, he's got a good solution now that would make any mac user happy!

It's going to be pretty exciting to see where the X86 community goes next.