Hard Disk Space Needed For Audio?, planning my setup Options

[keybie]

I'm trying to determine how large an external Firewire harddrive I need music/video use.
I assume this is a very general question, so let me be a little more specific.

First of all, I haven't even bought the Mac yet, so I have no idea what kind of software I'll end up using. I have however decided on buying the newly introduced 15" Powerbook G4.
As for "making music". I've got lots of external hardware MIDI modules, synthesizer keyboards etc. which I currently control from my trusty Atari Mega STe running Notator SL sequencing/score software. Since I'm happy with this solution I want to continue using it that way, while the Mac will become a "virtual recording studio", syncing to the Atari computer via MIDI and recording the audio.
I have a couple of effects-processors, but adding effects within the Mac would probably be a lot more practical. A software sampler would also be very welcomed as my hardware sampler isn't very user-friendly with its floppy disks etc

Now, I don't know what audio software package would be most suitable for my use, but it looks like Emagic/Apple's "Logic express" is one of the most mentioned ones around.

Anyway, given the above information, how much disk space do musical projects in general take up? I'll have to add this to my video editing of course, but that's another thread/forum of course

[Narayan]

Hi,
Like you, I also got switched to Mac since the past 4 months. I have a G4 17" 1.66Mz powerbook. I am also using a firewire external HDD 100gig. For the past 20 years or so, I have been using Cakewalk products and their upgrades with 1.8 gig Fujitsu note book c series. I also have been using a lot of external midi and sampler / sequencer gears.

I am not very sure that the Mac is all that superior, may be becuase I am still not very familiar with the Lingo and the approach in the Macs. Logic express (I am using currently) seems to be quite a good and sturdy software for beginer Mac users like me, especially as it comes bundled with a software sampler which is quite decent. (perhaps I may upgrade it to Logic pro at some future point of time). I am yet to use a lot of plug ins, as I am still in the learning phase.

Of course, if you are recording live music with microphones etc. the provided HDD of say 100gig is going to become insufficient at some point of time. So better go for the external HDD right from the beginning, so that you do not get stuck for want of space. A fiewire HDD is the best as the transfer rate is rather fast and you may have less of latency problem.

If you are going to do video, the external HDD is a must, as these files are rather huge (say a one hour video would consume about 20gig).and you may need several external HDDs if you are doing video projects simultaneously.

Hope the above information is useful. Narayan

[keybie]

Hi,
If you are going to do video, the external HDD is a must, as these files are rather huge (say a one hour video would consume about 20gig).and you may need several external HDDs if you are doing video projects simultaneously.

Yes, I'm most definitely going to buy an external hard drive, and right now I'm trying to make a choice between several hard drive enclosures.

When it comes to the drive mechanism itself it would be really helpful to know approx how much disk space a typical musical project in Logic Express, garageband or whatever takes up. That way I can try to calculate approx. how large a drive I need for my combined video/audio needs.