Mac Quad And The Right Sound Card?, I need some expert advice... Options

[TonyMusic]

Okay, so I'm buying a mac Quad, and need some advice on how some things work...
I'm getting a Logic Pro also, and obviously need a sound card or maybe two?

What I need from the computer is to be able to playback at least 100 tracks of 24bit/96kHz at the same time...I don't need that many of in/outs...the hole music making process is going to happen mainly with soft synths, plugins and so on. No need to record a symphony orchestra.

The price range isn't that much of a problem, though I don't have money for Pro tools yet.

So my question is, what kind of sound card/s do I need. What would be the best solution...Or is pro tools HD3 the only one that can do this?

[TonyMusic]

Like, can I get that with 3 RME HDSP MADIs...or is it even possible to put more than one in the g5 system? Madis product description says it supports up to 32 channels at 96 kHz...so 3 of them would make 96 tracks...

[lepetitmartien]

Well, it'd be easier if you told us how many I/O you need now. if you want the system to be expandable etc.

Now RME, MOTU, Presonus do their job nicely. As do more higher end interfaces…

[gpax]

The very first thing you will need to find out is who is producing the newer PCI express cards for the latest model G5s. PCI and/or PCI-X is no longer supported as the architecture has changed. Many companies have just recently started announcing plans to release PCI express audio interfaces - and others yet to commit.

gpax

[TonyMusic]

Well, all I'm going to be recording is vocals and acoustic guitars and so...and I'm going to get Focusrite Liquid Channel for pre...so there isn't any need for those in the sound card. And I won't be recording many instruments at time...so maybe like 8 channels in 8 out...Everything in the mixing department is going to happen in Logic Pro with plugins etc...

I would like the sound quality to be very top end...but is Pro tools then the only solution? I really wouldn't want to spend more than 4000-5000$ on the sound cards at the moment...

for Lepetitmartien.. Now RME, MOTU, Presonus do their job nicely. As do more higher end interfaces… [COLOR=blue]

What would in your mind be higher end interfaces? Apogee?..I think that would go on the same price range as Pro tools...

The things I'm lookin for is the large track count with sound quality 24bit/96 kHz....like near 100 tracks...and low latencies...other wise good quality...it doesn't have to be pci per say...or does it?

[TonyMusic]

Okay...and I did little more research of my own, and it seems that Apogee Symphony is pci Express, and it offers 32 channels of 24bit/192 kHz, and you can put 3 in one Mac G5, so that would give 96 channels of 24bit/192 kHz...so that would be just dandy!

Oh, and I just found the price, whisch is 716$ for one...so that would be well within the price I had thought.

Some other suggestions?

[TonyMusic]

Lol, this is becoming a chat with myself...but I just realized that I'm not sure if I'm on the right track with this...

My need for Logic is to playback at least 100 tracks at 24bit/96 kHZ, that doesn't require different channel for everytrack, right? Sorry if my questions are stupid, but I'm a bit new with this. So is the track count only depending on the CPU power of the computer, or?

[mortalengines]

100 tracks is a pretty outrageous need (& you may be looking at networking several G5s to get it going with Logic (or get that aforementioned PRO TOOLS HD rig with multiple farm cards), unless you are going for some kind of 80s Whitesnake/Bon Jovi sound, or doing post production for film (a very big, big budget film at that) you probably won't need more than 32 tracks & if you do, you need to hire a consultant to help you build a seriously professional studio.

You would probably concern yourself with multiple outputs if you happen to be using multiple tracks & you want to "mix outside of the box" (that is, go from your soundcard & sum through a really good mixer/console/analog summing device you can submix in your DAW & assign your 100 tracks to 8 or 16 (or whatever your soundcard will support) stems. This is true audiophile crap I am spewing here: Typically, I will just render my finished product to a 2 track file & then see about doing some quick mastering in a 2 track audio editor program. But I am thinking about trying the analog summing thing soon after reading a recent article in Electronic Musician magazine.

As converters go, you can't get much better than Apogees (for the money) & you want to ask yourself how many simultaneous inputs you REALLY need (I have a PC with 8 in & a MAC with 12 in & really, I've never used more than 2 at a time, but I want to be ready for when I actually have a band to record). If you plan on recording a band - 16 to 24 inputs should be sufficient, but there are budget minded bands out there that make GOOD records with 2 inputs & alot of overdubbing).

Try not to get too far in over your head if this is your first jump into DAW recording- Just get some good reliable gear to start with. I don't want to sound discouraging but you will need couple a' three months with Logic before you really get comfortable anyway. This is what bugs me personally about Computer music in general...Back in the day with my guitar/keys/drum machine & 4 track all I had to do was plug & play & trust me... now, it's a whole lot more complicated & I "program" music as opposed to actually "playing" music (not that this new way is without its rewards).

[TonyMusic]

Yeah, I just realized, that we're kinda talking about different things, 'cause I didn't think and confused things...

The G5 and sound card/s are making the soul of my studio. Nothing going in or out to outboard mixer or such...the only thing going in, is the Liquid channel. And out to the monitors...

So what I ment was, that I would be having I quess you call them virtual tracks in Logic, like 100 or so...combined the virtual instrument track and virtual audio tracks (I think the virtual instrument tracks have to be bounced anyways, because of the CPU overload otherwise happening)...and those then would be assigned to 2 channels or so...is that right? So maybe the question should be frased as, can the G5 Quad play that amount (if I do a lot of bouncing effects too) and what would be the best sound card for this kind of job? And can the Quad playback 100 aiff tracks at 24bit/96kHz each?

What I'm looking in the sound card is quality of course...

Did that clarify my question?

[mortalengines]

Basically you can use as many tracks as your CPU can handle & this is where it gets interesting- your computer will usually stream your tracks directly off of your hard drive so that by itself doesn't require THAT much CPU - soft synths & plugs (effects) are the real culprits here - Logic probably has a way to "freeze" these tracks as a way to preserve CPU (also you can buy DSP cards like Universal Audios UAD-1 that will relieve the strain from your CPU). 100 tracks is still gonna be tough, I imagine, on a G5 & you will have to go through a little trial & error to figure out what it can & can't handle. The cool thing about the current batch of G5s & logic is their networking ablility.... you can spread the load over several different computers (even PCs) if you can't quite handle what you need to do with the G5. I hope this answers your question. As for multiple outputs - the two that you are using to monitor with will serve just fine (you can produce high quality mixes inside the computer with Logic).