I am new to the world of Macs and music, and I'm looking for some advice. I currnetly have a decent sized home studio that I have been assembling for the last few years, and I have been using an Atari (yeah... I know) for all my midi sequencing, but I really want to make the move to Mac. I have alot of midi gear, and I need some help finding a decent system for what I will be doing. I have an older performa 6400 running os 9.1 with a Sonnet G3 processor upgrade that I use as my internet connection. I really don't want to put this in my studio, due to ram issues, so I'm looking to maybe buy a beige G3. (I'm a poor musician, so I don't want to spend a whole lot of money to get started) I have a Motu MTPII serial interface, but no software other than ProTools free
;)
do any of you out there have any tips that could help me out?
I would definately appreciate any feedback that wil point me in the right direction.
thanks in advance,
Temple

you can e-mail me at cubedmusic@earthlink.net

IMO and probably a good suggestion to you is to go to ebay and buy logic platinum 4.8 or something in that range. you will have complete contol over midi and audio recording. Logic has a sample editor for cutting audio that has been recorded into you computer, a matrix editor for arrangine midi notes, an event editor for the same. you could probably find it on ebay for like .... well here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=51346

check that out. you will not be disappointed. also there is a learning curve when it comes to such a powerfull daw like Logic. but hey you have come to the right place for help. so we are here if you need us.

happy recording,
editbrain

This post has been edited by editbrain: Sun 14 Mar 2004, 06:28

Thanks Edit.... that looks like it might be right down my alley. I will be keeping watch on that one
I was checking out a power pc G3 Tower on ebay... I think I might go that route, unless anyone has any other suggestions. I have a Yamaha MD4 digital multirack that I'm using as a submixer, and I would like to find a Mac with audio i/o so I can tie into my sytem... I think I will probably stick to a machine with os9 since I'm familiar with it now... and I don't realy want to go with a blue and white g3 (since it lacks the serial port needed to run my MTP2) I still have to find a good machine, and download the drivers for the MTP, so I'm sure I will be on here asking more questions...

thanks for the support,
Temple

I forgot to mention that the g3 has 512mb Ram and a 20 or so gig hd. I'm not really looking to do a whole lot of audio tracks, maybe a max of 6 or so... and that would really be pushing it. Most (if not all) of the stuff I do is heavy in Midi, so I would't feel too bad if I cant add alot of audio, but the occasional sampling, and vocal tracks will make life alot easier. Does this sound possible on a machine like that?

thanks in advance!
Temple

will you be using outboard midi gear, or will you be using virtual instruments?
if using outboard gear it should be fine. it should be fine with audio also. i guess you could buy a firewire drive later to use for audio tracks. seems like you have the right idea to get some good use out of older equiptment. good luck. G3 tower will work especially if you are doing outboard midi modules. see if there is a G4 400 somewhere. you know a friend of mine has one that is in mint condition i will ask him if he is thinking of upgrading.

happy recording,
editbrain

I don't really plan on using many software modules... I have a ton of midi hardware right now. this is pretty much what I have for hardware:
Motu MTP2 midi interface (I'm stil trying to get it working with freemidi.. see post in <interfaces>)

Roland Alpha Juno2 synth, an older Casio... lol (I'm using it for GM) Korg MS2000, Redsound Darkstar analog synth module, Korg er1 analog drum machine, Akai remix 16 sampler (it's old... but it works great!) I have a few efx processors that I might run midi to later on, but that is about it for my external midi hardware. The Yamaha MD4 sends MTC so I can sync to software... that is how I have been working with audio, and ping/ponging tracks. I found a guy on here that has a g3 upgraded to g4... with digital performer.. so I might look into that also. The old Atari I've been using is really outdated, so I think pretty much anything g3 or newer will be more efficient for what I'm doing

thanks for the advice!

Temple