If you were buying a Mac...

**Francis Belardino** · 08-01-2002, 06:57 PM

Hi all,

I will be purchasing Digidesign\'s, Digi002 running Pro Tools LE 32 track software.

My budget for the Mac PC affords me the two choices below ... your thoughts on which one?

iMac Super Drive
15-inch LCD flat screen
800MHz PowerPC G4
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
256MB SDRAM
60GB Ultra ATA hard drive
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
56K internal modem
Apple Pro Speakers

OR

Power Mac
800MHz PowerPC G4
256K L2
cache
256MB SDRAM memory
40GB Ultra ATA drive
CD-RW drive
ATI Radeon 7500
56K internal modem

My project room will be about 60% post work and 40% bands.

Thanks in advance [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

**Francis Belardino** · 08-01-2002, 07:14 PM

\"The word is that the new towers might have the new 1394b FireWire interface, with double the throughput\"

Will this be a beneficial factor to the digi002\'s firwire connection?

Thanks for you help, Lee. I must say I do love the way that iMac looks ... can you get much cooler? LOL

**midphase** · 08-01-2002, 09:11 PM

Not really, but chances are the new models will have added benefits such as DDR RAM, faster internal busses and such. If you can\'t wait, go with the iMac, it seems to give you a bigger bang for the buck and you can burn your own DVD\'s!

**thesoundsmith** · 08-02-2002, 01:38 AM

he problem with the iMac is its lackof expansion. It is SOOO easy to add RAM, a second hard drive, etc. to a Power Mac, and a real PITA on the iMac. Yep, it\'s quieter. Buy a quiet fan for the bigger box. (Personal opinion-I have a B&W G3 with g4 addon, my wife has the iMac.) FWIW.
Dasher

**Francis Belardino** · 08-02-2002, 07:46 AM

Hey all!

Thanks so much for all the great words of wisdom!!

I won\'t be spending $$$ for at least 6 months, so I have plenty of time to swim around. I think an iMac might be best for me ... I believe the memory can go up to 1 gig (sweet) and the digi002 as an additional firewire port (extra drive)...

Most of my projects for this \"away from the big studio at work\" will involve working with multimedia firms...so, DVD buring will be a big plus!

But, as I said ... I have plenty of time.

Again... thank you so much. The Giga forum, as always, rocks!! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

**Frederick** · 08-03-2002, 10:35 AM

Hello,

I am new to your forum, and at the risk of asking something that may have been addressed prior to this inquiry in perfect ad nauseum form, here are my questions:

First, to qualify this, I am a composer who is Mac-based. Currently I own a G4-533 dual processor Mac with 640 MB RAM, a 30-gig internal HD and a Glyph IDE-9 gig external running Digital Performer 2.72 on Mac OS 9.1. I use the Motu Midi Time Piece AV USB coupled with Motu 2408 MK II audio system, with various new and vintage synths and such.

I have listened to many problems involving the Halion VST solution which would tend to point in the direction of Emagic Logic as a sequencing engine. However, Halion has yet to address (at least to my own satisfaction) the quirks that separate it from the Gigastudio controls. To further complicate the problem with running Gigasamples, I use Digital Performer which is not VST-based unless it uses a VST shell program - which in my opinion further handicaps the Mac-based musician from running, say, Garritan Orchestral Strings.

My solution is to return to the idea of creating a dedicated sampling system by a stand alone Windows-based computer, running GigaStudio 160, with its own audio outs connected via adat lightpipe to my Motu 2408 and sync\'ed to midi using DP as the master.

Before I start compiling my list and buying, what pitfalls should I avoid (and please offer solutions) so that I can get the most bang for my bucks and have the system work the way I am envisioning with the least amount of downtime?

Recommended computer configuration? Audio card? Midi interface? Software?

If you, or someone you know, happen to use this particular studio configuration, please comment on how I can get this system up and running as soon as possible.

Thanks!

Frederick