well the mini is a bugger to upgrade admittedly but they both have the same 4gb ram cap these days IIRC
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 19:31 (sixteen years ago) link
oh and the imac has a fw800 port that the mini doesn't which may make a difference to some of these fw devices (probably not though)
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 19:32 (sixteen years ago) link
you could just go crazy and get a mac pro and pwn us all
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 19:38 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/reviews/firebox/
― Hello Everyone!, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 19:46 (sixteen years ago) link
A 6-pin FireWire port supplies the needed juice, but if you're stuck with a 4-pin port, you can use the included AC adapter for power.
hmm probably an imac or macbook pro then
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 19:48 (sixteen years ago) link
mini has a 2 gb ram cap I think
― akm, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 19:50 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^ yeah i checked :(
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 19:51 (sixteen years ago) link
Not quite.
― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 20:19 (sixteen years ago) link
yr not one of those guys that pops up on mac forums with an oct-core thingy with like 32gb of ram or something are you?
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 20:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Not that bad, no. Dual-core 2.66 Ghz Mac Pro, 5GB RAM. Also I'm still not touching 10.5 yet.
― Rock Hardy, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 20:24 (sixteen years ago) link
unhealthy
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=115655&d=1210680329
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 20:25 (sixteen years ago) link
(not mine, i have a measly macbook)
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 20:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Is there an advantage to going with an iMac rather than a Mac Mini? Either way, what issues can I expect to run into regarding expandability?
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Mac_mini http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iMac
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
haha ok
Must do more research and convince the wife that she needs one to further her singing career...
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 20:56 (sixteen years ago) link
iMac best for apt living
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 21:00 (sixteen years ago) link
if you have a mac pro does it look like this when you open time machine?
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/images/84573main_warpsped.jpg
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 21:04 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^ tuomas + vast seas of mystery
― DG, Tuesday, 3 June 2008 21:07 (sixteen years ago) link
In all honesty, doing high-or-even-decent quality recording or mixing on a computer is an expensive proposition, regardless of whether you use a Mac or a PC, especially if you are to be recording vocals. It could very well be that the biggest expense you have is the microphone(s) (and it certainly is the case for even middling studios). Other necessary components are an ADC (at least $500 for a decent one), amps, monitors, interfaces, and so on. You can reduce the costs somewhat by using a combo ADC/DAC w/good headphones (at the cost of a great mix, perhaps) and borrowing mics from friends. Fundamentally, though, you are going to be spending money, and the Mac isn't going to be yr cost center.
If you are cool with the fact that yr wallet is gonna get significantly lighter, then one of the first things you need to think about is the software you want to use. One of the nice bennies of Mac is that you can use Logic, which in my opinion is a damned fine piece of software. Another option is Pro Tools, which necessitates an investment of at least $500 (= Logic Studio $) in a Digidesign ADC/DAC, but which is also a great piece of software and is the industry standard for "live" (i.e., not sequenced) music. I'm not very knowledgeable about more MIDI-centric software, but that's apparently not yr central concern here. As far as I'm concerned, the only Mac to use with either software is either a Mac Pro (the best choice) or a MacBook Pro. Both of these have considerably more throughput than their cheaper counterparts, which definitely matters when recording and mixing music.
If you are not cool with spending a lot of cash outta the gate, but just want to get yr feet wet with recording on Mac, then I suggest you get a MacBook, a cheap USB ADC, borrow a Mic, and record on GarageBand, which comes with every new Mac (via iLife). You can probably get some surprisingly good recordings (albeit only 44.1/16) with such a setup, but yr mixes are going to sound amateurish because GB is quite light on mixing resources (no waveform editor, primitive automation, limited plugin capabilities, no buses, almost-nonexistent MIDI, on and on and on). However, GB has a good number of UI elements in common with Logic, so you could get an idea if Logic is for you. Most GB files can be directly imported into Logic 8, if you ever decide to upgrade. Also, you could get involved in the IMM Internet Service Collab project (which seems to be a bit stalled at the moment), and that'd be cool.
Personally, I have a Mac Pro 4-core 3.0GHz with 5G RAM that I use with a MOTU 828mkII ADC & headphones for recording & mixing in Logic 8. It's a bit of overkill, since I use it mostly for roughing out songs for my band: if I wanted to produce pro-quality mixes, I'd have to invest at least a good amp and a pair of nearfields, which might cause my neighbors (I have both upper and lower) to complain. Thus, I don't really put a lot of effort into mixing at my house (I have a friend with an iso room in his basement with good nearfields where I can mix if need be).
― libcrypt, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:20 (sixteen years ago) link
One thing worth noting is that Logic 8 is pretty good for both sequencing and recording. The sequence editor in GB is very similar to that of Logic, in fact.
― libcrypt, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:24 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^ power user
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:24 (sixteen years ago) link
"one of the things about playing golf is that if you want to be taken seriously you need to spend as much money as possible on everything"
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:27 (sixteen years ago) link
doing high-or-even-decent quality recording or mixing on a computer is an expensive proposition,
truthiest of truth bombs
― electricsound, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:28 (sixteen years ago) link
If a power user is one who has more computer than he needs, I'm guilty as charged.
― libcrypt, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:31 (sixteen years ago) link
expensive is a relative concept here esoj. libcrypt seems to mean "low five figures" - I personally believe if you can't get decent-to-very-good recording and mixing out of a USD $4K setup then maybe you just shouldn't be making music, but what do I know.
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:35 (sixteen years ago) link
You can make good music with a $4 cassette recorder you get at Salvation Army as long as you embrace the aesthetic.
― libcrypt, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:36 (sixteen years ago) link
you're absolutely right tom. i have the additional requirements of needing a buttload of inputs as i mostly record three or more piece bands playing together. but if you need only two inputs at once you're laughing for that sort of cash
― electricsound, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:40 (sixteen years ago) link
that's a very good point. if they're playing together, though, my instinct would be to mix down to two channels on an analog rig using headphones like it were live. I realize that is also a terrifically stupid/horribly imperfect solution.
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:45 (sixteen years ago) link
I think you guys need to reread 2nd-to-last paragraph above.
― libcrypt, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 04:49 (sixteen years ago) link
Dan, you may wish to budget for one of these:
http://www.seelectronics.com/rf.html
― Ed, Wednesday, 4 June 2008 10:46 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm going to get a Macbook (probably not Pro). I was thinking about just going to the Apple store and picking the best deal among their refurbs. Anybody have a better recommendation -- ebay, craigslist, etc?
― Rock Hardy, Thursday, 10 July 2008 18:20 (fifteen years ago) link
Apple refurb is best 'cause you can get fresh Applecare onnit.
― libcrypt, Thursday, 10 July 2008 18:21 (fifteen years ago) link
hey, is this a good deal or just an okay deal? it would be for my gf, who is starting grad school and just needs something stable (won't be doing much besides writing papers, youtube, and itunes).
15 inch Apple PowerBook G4 laptop -- $350.00
1.5 GHz, 1 GB DDR SDRAM, Superdrive (burns DVDs and CDs), 40 GB hard drive, beautiful condition, good battery life, never needed a repair. Comes with Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11, power cord, and original install discs.
― hey trader joe's! i've got the new steely dan. (Jordan), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 23:26 (fourteen years ago) link
It'll do ok, but it is a bit of a dead end, being a G4. It better have word etc. loaded on it because you'll have a hard time finding software for it. If it were $200 I'd be more inclined but it seems a lot for something 4-5 years old.
― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Once she puts her songs on there and a few videos that 40GB is going to feel very very small. And 1GB RAM is not enough for having say, iTunes, iPhoto, Word, Mail open and Safari playing a Youtube video at the same time, at least not on a G4. it's relatively cheap to upgrade the memory and the HD but that's about $100-$200 extra you're looking at. So I'd ask for less.
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 01:03 (fourteen years ago) link
But I'm typing this on a G4 Powerbook that still does me perfectly well (after upgrading everything to the max).
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 30 December 2009 01:04 (fourteen years ago) link
thanks guys. is it reasonable to swap out/upgrade the memory & hard drive yourself, or do you have to take it somewhere? (i've haven't fucked with a mac since i was like 12)
― hey trader joe's! i've got the new steely dan. (Jordan), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 01:39 (fourteen years ago) link
iirc it is a real pain to swap out the hard drive on the G4 powerbooks; I did it with my 12" and it involved many tiny screws
― =皿= (dyao), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 05:08 (fourteen years ago) link
have a look
for $350 you might be able to pick up an early Intel-chip powered macbook, the plastic ones, and it'd be a lot more future-proof (plus swapping HDs on those is much, much easier)
― =皿= (dyao), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 05:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Jordan: the single best Mac I've ever owned is my 12" G4 PowerBook but that's largely down to the fact I've had it now for donkeys' years and it's a dependable workhorse that I've lugged about all over the place and have always been able to rely on.
But ... compared to this (also wonderful) iMac on which I'm writing now, it feels painfully slow; 10.4.11 (which it's running) lacks a lot of nice productivity tools (eg Spaces) which I take for granted now; I'm starting to realise that there's a lot of stuff it just won't run (eg the new version of NetNewsWire); basically, although I love the thing like a child, I wouldn't pay $350 for it. Like Ed says, $200 would be a much, much better price.
― What do you want? This ain't an egg shop (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 30 December 2009 13:31 (fourteen years ago) link
I am trying to convince my wife we should get an Apple laptop to work on musical endeavors (her website, my idle musical ideas, etc).- Which machines should I be looking at if my parameters are "better-than-decent"?- How much, realistically, should I expect to spend for a better-than-decent machine?- How useful is the out-of-the-box software? What should I consider upgrading and what's the cost for that?- Anyone have experiencing adding a Mac to a Window-based network? How complicated is that to manage?
- Which machines should I be looking at if my parameters are "better-than-decent"?- How much, realistically, should I expect to spend for a better-than-decent machine?- How useful is the out-of-the-box software? What should I consider upgrading and what's the cost for that?- Anyone have experiencing adding a Mac to a Window-based network? How complicated is that to manage?
I am revisiting this! I was looking at MacBook Pros but the lowest-level one I'd consider is the 15" 2.66 GHz processor one, which is already $1999. Conversely, I could get a quad-core 2.66 GHz 27" iMac for $1999. The screen real eastate is going to be critical to me re: looking at sheet music/sequencers/etc so I'm currently leaning in the direction of the iMac since it seems to give a whole lot more machine for the $$. Anyone have pros or cons to add to this line of thinking?
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Monday, 1 February 2010 16:57 (fourteen years ago) link
(as an aside, how easy is it to upgrade RAM in an iMac?)
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Monday, 1 February 2010 17:00 (fourteen years ago) link
I dunno but my mom just started using one for some kind of music composition/manipulation software and she is suddenly IN WUV and wants one -- I've been asking for a mac laptop for like 10 years but have my parents ever bought me a computer?? NNNOOOOOOOO.
― Reading makes my ovaries hurt (Laurel), Monday, 1 February 2010 17:04 (fourteen years ago) link
HI DERE the upgrade is easy.
if you don't need to take it anywhere i'd say go with the imac for sure.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 1 February 2010 17:06 (fourteen years ago) link
ya if you dont NEED a lappie the desktop models will always offer more screen real estate, RAM, HD space, ports etc for the $$
― brews before HOOS (s1ocki), Monday, 1 February 2010 17:08 (fourteen years ago) link
I was originally thinking laptop because I don't plan on giving up my PC desktop and it might be easier to set up music stuff somewhere else in my place if based around a laptop (plus easier to take with me and work on stuff "on-the-go" if I so desire); however, I started cleaning up my office space this weekend and, if I move my printer, I will have a perfect place to put an iMac that will be totally accessible and make sense as far as building a music space is concerned, plus it's not like trying to toe around an iMac is like toting around a Dell desktop machine so there could be limited portability if necessary.
very tempted to buy this this week actually
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Monday, 1 February 2010 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link
btw is there a practical difference between 4x2GB RAM and 2x4GB RAM, like are Macs built suck that it makes more effective/efficient use of larger RAM chips?
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Monday, 1 February 2010 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
the only real difference is that 2x4GB will probably cost more, but would leave you with two empty slots in case you want to add memory in the future.
― scratch paper (lukas), Monday, 1 February 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm sure you know this but just in case: if you're upgrading your RAM, do not buy it from apple, they're extortionate
― cozen, Monday, 1 February 2010 17:35 (fourteen years ago) link
I likely want to go to 16GB at some point but, for what I want to do initially, 4-8GB should be plenty.
wtf is it with me and typos today btw
― struck through in my prime (HI DERE), Monday, 1 February 2010 17:35 (fourteen years ago) link
I absolutely love my 24' iMac and would recommend one to anybody. However if you want to get a 27' I might wait until the next batch/update - there have been some display issues apparently, though like with many Apple hardware problems, it's hard to tell how widespread the problem really is (actually serious or just enough on the internet to make a stink). And you know, first generation of anything Apple... (sorry to be that wet blanket)
― Nhex, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:10 (fourteen years ago) link