Ableton Forum

Hello,

I am planning on getting a Macintosh to run the Ableton Live program. They are very expensive and I can only afford the Power Mac G5 single proc 1.8 600FSB version with 256MB RAM (I plan to upgrade this to 512MB).

Does everyone agree that this should suffice? I will probably have no more than 8-16 tracks of audio running at one time. If you think I can get by on an Apple eMac, iMac, iBook G4, or PowerBook G4, please let me know. If anyone has any experience with Macintosh or PC please give me advice.

Respectfully,

SolutionsAgent

unless you need pci slots, firewire 800, and gigabit ethernet...
i would get the iMac G5 1.8ghz 17".
same price, same processor/HD/Video Card/Ram, you get the 17" widescreen in exchange for the powermac's pci/firewire800/giga-ethernet.

since you plan to upgrade to only 512MB (which i think will suffice), you don't need the powermac's 4GB ram capacity, and you'll get by with the imac's 2GB ram capacity.

The iMac might not be a good option, as suggested. However, if you plan on using the PCI slots for any audio boards/dsp, you'd be better off planning ahead.

My 2 cents is if you can swing it upgrade to at least 1gb in as few sticks of ram as possible so you keep slots open for the future. If you're already coming from an OSX system, you know how important RAM is.

let us know which you get, I'm still plugging on the Alum now since my wife has kind of taken over the TiBook.. think i'm going to build a new PC game machine (for halflife 2 ) once we move back to the US and have her use that one so I can have both silver boxen back.

Thanks for the tips guys... Ok 1 vote for iMac and 1 vote for PowerMac. Anyone else have any insight to offer to help? The iMac option is an awesome savings and I was considering using some kind of external firewire connection.

Does anyone think the 1.6 Ghz 533 FSB iMAC G5 will do the trick? (Its only 1299.00)

Thanks again,

SolutionsAgent....

Decisions... Decisions....

I should be recieving my iMac G5 1.6 next week. I'll drop back in with performance reviews. Maybe that will help you make your decision.

-Kevin

q chapter, yes please give us some reviews! thats awesome, congratulations on your nice purchase. what are you using to record audio? firewire?

was your previous pc/mac not cutting it?

solutionsagent wrote:q chapter, yes please give us some reviews! thats awesome, congratulations on your nice purchase. what are you using to record audio? firewire?

was your previous pc/mac not cutting it?

Thanks! I have a maudio transit usb audio interface, which actually sounds pretty nice considering it's dirt cheap! I only need one stereo input at a time, so it does the job.

I'm using an iBook G3 800 with maxed out ram, which was fine for audio in live, but when you add vsti's to the equation, it just didn't cut it. I ordered the iMac with 1 gig of ram, so I'm definitely looking forward to the performance increase!

-Kevin

Does anyone else have any Mac insight? I will be a first time Mac user.

solutionsagent wrote:Does anyone else have any Mac insight? I will be a first time Mac user.

Recently AdamJay posted a demo song for everyone to try out and report their CPU usage. The single G5 1.8Ghz iMac scored 33% and the dual G5 1.8Ghz Powermac scored 31%. My guess is the extra bus speed helped the Powermac because Live only uses one CPU for audio anyway.

If you get a G5 whether it's an iMac, single CPU Powermac, or dual Powermac, any of them should make you happy. One time I emailed Ableton support and they told me they are using Live on a G5 1.8 and it runs really well.

Here are some demo videos of well known artists using Live on their Macs (maybe this means something to you, maybe not..dunno) Just keep in mind these are pre-v4 as they are from January but still fun to watch!!

http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/vi ... amm_V1.MOV

http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/vi ... mmfull.mov

http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/vi ... eRizzo.mov

Alrighty! Just got the iMac G5 this morning, and It's a beautiful thing!

Here are the performance specs running Adamjay's performance test:

1) 36-39%
2) iMac G5
3) OS 10.3.5
4) G5 1.6
5) 1gig ram
6) maudio transit usb
7) 7200rpm

Quite pleased. If you do decide to order an iMac I'd suggest the bluetooth keybord/mouse/chip option. Really adds to the elegance of the system. I gotta say I love this iMac!

HTH and goodluck with your decision!

-Kevin

Q- What the the total cost on that thing w/shipping RAM upgrade and bluetooth? I plan on getting the same model. Do you feel the 17inch screen is plenty of workspace?

Thanks,

SA

17" has 1440 x 900 pixels.
i beleive that is 18 or 19 tracks channels plus master channel with no scrolling in Session view.
the 20" widescreen may give you 2 or 3 more channels wide

Since I'm currently torturing myself in my last year at college I was lucky enough to get an education discount. So... It was about 1600 not including tax.

-Kevin