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Hello I'd like to purchase a system that will enable us to produce professional quality audio. We have everything (mics, cables, audio boards) except for a high speed MAC to process/edit/store our sound.
Any suggestions? Our target price is $3000.00 USD
Thanks!
-seijin
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Pro Audio Suggestions Please
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#2
PinkAndGreen 
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- Group: Members
- Posts: 9
- Joined: 30-May 06
Posted 26 June 2006 - 12:31 PM
It depends on what you want to do. Are you opening a recording studio, or are you planning on doing home recording?
If you are opening a professional recording studio, you might want to wait for when Apple's Intel powered Pro towers are released (This could be as early as August/ September, but no one really knows). You could also buy a Power Mac G5, with a lot of RAM, and it should still perform for at least a few years.
Your other option, and probably your best if this is going to be a home studio, would be to buy a maxed out iMac Core Duo. I would suggest the 20", with 2 GB of RAM (third party ram could save you at least $60 dollars, or much more). You could even get a 500GB internal hardrive, even though you should have an external hard drive for your audio files. This machine would provide you with plenty of audio processing power, prehaps more than the dual core Power Mac G5. The only disadvantage is that you can not upgrade it in the future.
So I would say that you should either get a 20" iMac Core Duo, or wait for the Intel Mac Pro towers to be released in the near future.
If you are opening a professional recording studio, you might want to wait for when Apple's Intel powered Pro towers are released (This could be as early as August/ September, but no one really knows). You could also buy a Power Mac G5, with a lot of RAM, and it should still perform for at least a few years.
Your other option, and probably your best if this is going to be a home studio, would be to buy a maxed out iMac Core Duo. I would suggest the 20", with 2 GB of RAM (third party ram could save you at least $60 dollars, or much more). You could even get a 500GB internal hardrive, even though you should have an external hard drive for your audio files. This machine would provide you with plenty of audio processing power, prehaps more than the dual core Power Mac G5. The only disadvantage is that you can not upgrade it in the future.
So I would say that you should either get a 20" iMac Core Duo, or wait for the Intel Mac Pro towers to be released in the near future.
#3
CanadaRAM
- Member
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- Group: Members
- Posts: 103
- Joined: 29-December 04
Posted 02 July 2006 - 09:56 PM
What audio interface do you have? (you say you have the audio board already)? If it is a PCI card interface, then you are limited to an older PowerMac G5 (prior to Oct 19 2005, with PCI-X slots)
The obvious answer if you have a $3000 budget for the Mac alone, is a PowerMac G5 - because it is the only Macintosh that can support two SATA drives internally, and can go beyond 2 Gb RAM, and it is the only Mac with internal slots for audio hardware, such as A/D/A interfaces, SATA interfaces for additional high speed drives, and plug in hardware accelerator boards. You haven't stated a need for portability.
You want to separate your audio data and your System/Programs onto separate physical drives, so that the two functions are not contending for control of the same heads. Similarly, if you have a Firewire audio interface, you don't want to be storing your primary audio data on a Firewire drive attached to the same FW controller, if you can help it, because that is another bottleneck.
Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com
The obvious answer if you have a $3000 budget for the Mac alone, is a PowerMac G5 - because it is the only Macintosh that can support two SATA drives internally, and can go beyond 2 Gb RAM, and it is the only Mac with internal slots for audio hardware, such as A/D/A interfaces, SATA interfaces for additional high speed drives, and plug in hardware accelerator boards. You haven't stated a need for portability.
You want to separate your audio data and your System/Programs onto separate physical drives, so that the two functions are not contending for control of the same heads. Similarly, if you have a Firewire audio interface, you don't want to be storing your primary audio data on a Firewire drive attached to the same FW controller, if you can help it, because that is another bottleneck.
Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com
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