imac is enough?

[Ash Holmz]

whattup yall thinkin bout some serious changes to my setup and becoming much more software based. my questions is .. is a new duo core imac good enough for serious audio or do i need to holla at the 8 core joint?

currently i gotta imac g5 which is basically doo doo. i cant even get a ptle session going smoothly. i plan on swithing to logic soon. i know once i start using all the soft synths and stuff my comp will prolly just literally explode.

i wanna make sure im getting something powerful enough to run logic. Something that will let me run some serious audio without hiccups for a good 4 or 5 years. Can a top of line imac do it. Or am i better off sayin **** it and copping a mac pro? .. budget wise i would much rather go with the cheaper option, but i know from experience that buying on price when it comes to audio related shit eventually means that u buy it twice.. anybody can chime in on this?

[Runna]

i aint really but i have an imac and the most amount of ram you can get is 2gb

[John Suitcase]

I run Cubase 4 on an Intel iMac, and it seems to work decently, though some plugs seem to use a lot of processor. I can't speak to logic, but my gut feeling is that if you're doing a lot soft synths, you'd be better off with the Mac Pro. You might not need to top-o-the-line one, but something mid-tier would work well.

[tigermuzik]

I use the last gen i mac before it went all silver and black. Running Logic Studio, when im creating music pretty much every session has Guru or Battery, usually 7-8 virtual synths (non apple), 5-6 instances of built in synths in logic, and like 5-6 audio tracks. This is usually no problem however as soon as i start processing with power plugs like waves then i start to notice. With Protools LE session i can track decent size sessions but forget about mixing. Its a Core 2 Duo 2.16 with 3 gigs of ram that shows up as 2gigs. Once protools LE works with leopard im going to see if i have the same protools problem with windows and load protools on windows via bootcamp.

[Stylo]

youll be fine with the new Imacs they just relased.. they now have duo core 3.06 GHz processors.. so oull be good.. plus with Logic... they have a dope feature called Logic Node... this allows you to use your old Mac's processing power (via target mode) in addiition to your new Mac for extra processing power when running logic....

[Lessli]

If you're hoping to use it for another 4 or 5 years, I think MacPro's the way to go. Besides cpu powers, you might want to put expandibility into consideration. Imacs have only one firwire input, if I remember correctly, which means external gears might be harder to connect to (you're tied with usb stuff then) and the lack of PCI-e slots will definitely prohibit any use of DSP cards.

Anyways...I guess if you only do recording stuff, Imacs are fine. But for mixing. macpro will give you more options.

[Hot Lipps]

Yeah man you might want to look and think long term. I know money might be an issue but I would highly recommend you getting a Mac Pro. You could get a quad core 2.66 referb from apple.com for 2K. That way when your studio grows and you need more power, UAD card or SSL duende PCIe or whatever else comes out next you can easily expand and keep up.

iMacs and mac books are consumer level
Mac Pro's are professional grade computers

Don't drop $1500 on a computer then in a year and a half find out that you need more..... I've been there. Try to stack ya bread and get somthing that will last!

My 2 cents

[Igotsoul4u]

Originally Posted by Stylo

plus with Logic... they have a dope feature called Logic Node... this allows you to use your old Mac's processing power (via target mode) in addiition to your new Mac for extra processing power when running logic....

You need another intel for the node feature to work. The new imacs will work fine. Maxout the memory and get a firewire drive to work off of and you should be good. I have a old powerbook 1.25 single processor with 2gb memory and I used to be able to do enough to make me happy on Logic 6 and 7. I usually ran about 12 soft synths before things got slow so the imac should be way above that mark. Can't go wrong with a macpro though. Its worth the extra money in the long run as I think I have enough power and expansion to outlast an imac by at least 3 years.

[illynoise]

I did all this on a two year old iMac 2.0 core 2 duo with video live and everything:



there is about 7 virtuals and a couple of audio tracks and it was running about 20 percent.

[Runna]

Originally Posted by illynoise

I did all this on a two year old iMac 2.0 core 2 duo with video live and everything:
there is about 7 virtuals and a couple of audio tracks and it was running about 20 percent.

what program do you got that allows you to play videos in logic?

and how many gigs do you have?

[Dante310]

go for the mac pro, imac's are powerful but expansion is very limited, and you'll want more ram

[The Beatsmith]

er, they take 4gb ram, not 2gb

[St. Kelly]

Originally Posted by Runna

what program do you got that allows you to play videos in logic?

and how many gigs do you have?

Logic plays videos internally.. Has for as long as I can remember (I've been a user since 4.5)

[Stitch333]

I recently just cut 2 songs with a full band:
16 simultaneous record tracks at 44.1/24 for about half an hour non-stop.
It was protools LE 002 with an apogee rosetta 800 ADAT on a new iMac.

Worked great!
I was definitely surprised reading about your experience.

[illynoise]

Originally Posted by Runna

what program do you got that allows you to play videos in logic?

and how many gigs do you have?

I have two gigs of ram

[gdeusthewhizkid]

Originally Posted by illynoise

I did all this on a two year old iMac 2.0 core 2 duo with video live and everything:



there is about 7 virtuals and a couple of audio tracks and it was running about 20 percent.

your remix go hard homie. how did you get everything to line up like that. I have been trying to do remixes for years on logic and i can't get the timing down like that....

[MYAMS]

Originally Posted by gdeusthewhizkid

your remix go hard homie. how did you get everything to line up like that. I have been trying to do remixes for years on logic and i can't get the timing down like that....

Yeah I like your idea of doing remix to the music video. Let me reitterate his question... how do you sync the video to the audio in logic, and how do you get rid of the audio in the video?

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by Ash Holmz

whattup yall thinkin bout some serious changes to my setup and becoming much more software based. my questions is .. is a new duo core imac good enough for serious audio or do i need to holla at the 8 core joint?

currently i gotta imac g5 which is basically doo doo. i cant even get a ptle session going smoothly. i plan on swithing to logic soon. i know once i start using all the soft synths and stuff my comp will prolly just literally explode.

i wanna make sure im getting something powerful enough to run logic. Something that will let me run some serious audio without hiccups for a good 4 or 5 years. Can a top of line imac do it. Or am i better off sayin **** it and copping a mac pro? .. budget wise i would much rather go with the cheaper option, but i know from experience that buying on price when it comes to audio related shit eventually means that u buy it twice.. anybody can chime in on this?

Wow..an eight core "joint"...man I'd be f****d up for a year on one of those..

[Runna]

Originally Posted by MYAMS

Yeah I like your idea of doing remix to the music video. Let me reitterate his question... how do you sync the video to the audio in logic, and how do you get rid of the audio in the video?

first you get an acapella, then sync its tempo to the tempo of the acapella of the video. once that matches use the new tempo you get after sinking your acepella to the video and then make a beat to it

[illynoise]

You have to make sure your smpte offset is at 0 also, when I imported the video it didn't have the audio.

Thanks for the comps, it's gotten me some more work, and yes to the OP the iMac is crazy nice!

[otarb]

i would go for the 8core if youre talking about serious audio. with all the software synths out and still counting you're going to need the power to be able to handle a lot of plugins. not saying a new imac couldnt handle a big session, but im sure the 8 core will be sufficient for a lot longer.

[kincept]

my new macbook pro handles logic studio very well. so far everything i throw at it is taken very very well, combined with the duet its awesome.

Personally I like some amount of portibility the mac pro is hard to move, FSB is 1333 which the new imac are not far behind.

get an imac, or a refurbed imac 2.8 ghz to save money, and jus tsee!

I could have actually bought a less powerfull macbookpro and been just as happy! i like
recording when im cmaping in my bros treated van! its fun after a fire looking into the sky! need that portability!

[Raygun]

I've got an iMac core duo 2 ghz - the one released a little more than 2 years ago.
You can push it pretty far. Later that year, I got the Macbook core 2 duo 2 ghz and I must say that it runs even better than the iMac, due to the smarter processor. By now, it's 3.06 ghz and it has a newer chip design, twice the amount of RAM (4 gb - NOT 2 Gb) at 800 Mhz instead of 667 Mhz, FW800.. If you compare it to my setup, I think you'll squeeze at least 50 % more out of this machine in real life situations - probably more.

I'm running Logic Pro 8 and make heavy use of software instruments. I've had my iMac and Macbook choking at around 60 tracks with 2 of them being Albino and 16 of them being MOTU Symphonic instrument, which is a pretty heavy software instrument. On top of that I had inserts on almost all the tracks and I was synching the whole thing to video. This session wouldn't be a problem at all on a new iMac.

Of course, the Mac Pro is insane and if you get you're just set. It's simply a matter of money. If you can afford a Mac Pro and a large monitor, just do it. But the high end iMac is such a beauty.. it's pretty cheap for what you get and it will for sure satisfy your needs.

[rhodesp04]

i have the cheapest of the new imacs and i run pt 7.3.1 and i'm cool even with the stock 1 gb. ram. i'll have like 15 tracks with 2 waves plugins on each just for my instrumental and only be at 50% cpu usage so it's really about what you're going to do with it.

[SoundProofStudio]

I'm running Logic 8 on an iMac 2.8 ghz and 4 gbs of ram and have yet to tap into 50% of the CPU..... As mentioned it totally depends on what your going to be doing with it... If your just making beats and doing basic tracking and mixing I would say the 8 core is overkill... Unless you would absolutely need the 8 core or can afford one with no dent to your bank then Get the new iMac.... Why get a Lamborgini if you cant afford it or would never get to open the sum bitch up???? Of course we would all love one, but is it a necessity???? For most I doubt it..... Just my take though

[Runna]

Originally Posted by SoundProofStudio

I'm running Logic 8 on an iMac 2.8 ghz and 4 gbs of ram and have yet to tap into 50% of the CPU..... As mentioned it totally depends on what your going to be doing with it... If your just making beats and doing basic tracking and mixing I would say the 8 core is overkill... Unless you would absolutely need the 8 core or can afford one with no dent to your bank then Get the new iMac.... Why get a Lamborgini if you cant afford it or would never get to open the sum bitch up???? Of course we would all love one, but is it a necessity???? For most I doubt it..... Just my take though

on my imac box it says it can be upraded only to 2gigs of ram. here is the one i bought

Apple iMac 20"/2.16GHz/1GB/250GB/SuperDrive and more Computer Recording Systems at GuitarCenter.com.

i bought it a year ago the only difference is it came with 160 gigs and 512gigs of ram

[sampleit]

ALL the NEW iMacs can be upgraded to 4Gig of ram just check the website. If Its a year old then prob not!!

[Runna]

Originally Posted by sampleit

ALL the NEW iMacs can be upgraded to 4Gig of ram just check the website. If Its a year old then prob not!!

I got in januarary last year