Firewire 410 Or Built-in ?? Options

[Threlly]

I have moved over from using the PC as my production platform, to the Mac.
I have the 12" G4 1.33Ghz Powebook with the M-Audio Firewire 410 I used on the PC.
When I tried to run the standard demo song in Reason 2.5 on the 410 the CPU was over 50%, when switched to the built in card, it dropped to almost nothing !
Is this usual ?
Would I be better off using ASIO drivers.
I want to use Garageband to get some vocals in, and reason for the backing track, they seem to work well together, but the CPU thing is worrying having just come from a P4 3Ghz.
Would I be better off running DP 4.5 and Reason together instead.
Also (sorry), what is the minimum ram I should have, as at the moment I am struggling with 256Mb !!!


Cheers, Threlly.

[sethjacquay]

Yo Yo!

I would start by adding more RAM if you can afford it.
At least 512 MB, because my hunch is that you will be
pretty irked when using DP 4.5 with only 256 MB.
I think ideally that DP asks for 1 Gig of RAM.
You might notice that whenever you add more RAM
your entire machine feels faster.

Also, what Mac OS are you on?
10.2 or 10.3?
Make sure you have downloaded the latest FW410 driver from the m-audio website.
I use the FW 410 all the time as my output device when using Live 4 and Reason.
I don't have any processor issues unless I am running a cpu heavy synth like a
polyphonic MiniMoog V preset, also my machine is much slower than yours, a G4 800Mhz.

I wouldn't use Garageband at the same time as Reason because GB is kind of a RAM pig
and it slows up the entire machine when open and it uses more processor than it should.

Good luck with your issues. I hope this helps, but you shouldn't be afraid of your Mac.
Other than the RAM, you appear to have a very capable music making machine on your hands.
In time, you will see that it will serve you well and allow you to be very productive.

[Threlly]

Hi,
Thanks for that.
I have updated the OS to the latest as posted on the Apple website, and also the latest 410 drivers.
I think I will go for the extra 1Gb as soon as possible, and will probably cash in my Sonar v4 for the latest DP version.
I will try and stick with the 410 even though the built in card is doing such a good job !
Threlly