Mac Mini + Live Multitrack Recording Options

[Quintron]

Hi All, glad to have found this knowledgable spot!
First off I know hardly anything about Macs except they have a good track record as stable units good with audio applications.

As I'm sure is the case with many others I have become enamoured with the new Mac Mini but am wondering if it will be sufficent for what I need.

I run a small Jazz CLub in Ireland and for a long time was considering a laptop to record live gigs there. I was looking at Macs and PC laptops, but on a budget of next to nothing with the venue, all desirable options were off limits.

With this new machine there is some hope. I am looking at the 1.4Ghz mac mini with 512MB RAM option. I would also get an Edirol FA-101 usb capture card and was wondering how good these would be at live multitrack recording using Logic or Cubase (Have both). I would need to record usually up to 6 Mic imputs or 4 MIc ins with maybe 2-3 Line ins at a push. The usual setup for a night is about that. Sometimes less. Mix it down when I get home. What can I expect from this box with the FA-101 (or indeed a cheaper alternative if anyone knows??)?

Any options / help / advice greatly appreciated!

One of the sellers of this for me is that it would also be an excellent replacement for my ailing PC at home.
Adding a KVM switch I'd have the best of both worlds. Not a laptop, but a unit in the two places I need it most. (Its' lighter to transport than a lot of Laptops) and a hell of a lot cheaper!

If my above expectations are unrealistic then caould anyone suggest the max abilities of this unit for live recording. I could work something out.

Sorry for the barage of questions.

Cheers in advance,
Quintron.

[wroyj]

all i know is my mac pwerbook has 256k of memory and using
garage band i get buffer overruns just taking a stereo
feed from the board - so i'd say get as much memory as
you can afford up front

also there may be better options than garage band
i;ve been using a tascam 2488 for live recording and
it is not a bad unit for the money

*wroy

ps - if i come to Ireland can i play at your club - i do
a folk jass thing

[Quintron]

Hey wroyj. Cheers for that. Although I wouldn't use Garage band for live recording. Logic or Cubase SX I'm more familar with and I understand that they are possibily less processor intensive than GB.

I read that the HD in the mini is a laptop 2.5" 4200rpm so I guess it's too slow. I have an external USB HDD (Converted Internal - 160GB 7200rpm) that I could use but it was formatted on a Windows computer. Is it possible I could use this drive for the mac mini? Would I have to reformat could I partition some of the drive for the mini? Any ideas. Cheers.

[shaneblyth]

my external firewire drive is fat32 windows format and osx can read and write to it no worries
i keep it that way as i plug it into my motif es keyboard which can on read fat usb drives
i save (yes it does firewire 800 as well)all my digital performer audio to it so it works sweet for me.
my powerbook is basically the same as the mac mini... same speed same bus speed same hard drive (internal) so it will work as well as a powerbook... as for garage band 2 i believe it is less of a hog than 1... alot of the cpu usage in garage band is that the softsynths have alot of effects on them standard.. check it out.
maybe you could try traction which is easier on the system... mackie make it and then there is metro which alot of people like... or even express logic 7...
max out the ram to 1gig though there is only 1 slot

This post has been edited by shaneblyth: Sun 16 Jan 2005, 06:14

[editbrain]

i suggest getting a powerbook instead.
then get a lacie big disk 500gb drive fw 800.
and then somthing like a prosonus firewire audio unit.
and then logic express 6 or 7.
if all you are doing is capturing you will be fine with express.

and you will be good to go.

i record dj sets here in the states up to 5 hours long with my 12" powerbook and peak audio. also do stereo recordings of live shows the same way.
believe it or not. i can do this with the internal drive, but sometimes i carry a fw 400 external.

happy recording,
editbrain

[javiert]

I read that the HD in the mini is a laptop 2.5" 4200rpm so I guess it's too slow. I have an external USB HDD (Converted Internal - 160GB 7200rpm) that I could use but it was formatted on a Windows computer. Is it possible I could use this drive for the mac mini? Would I have to reformat could I partition some of the drive for the mini? Any ideas. Cheers.

Hi to all!!!

You can use your external USB HDD Windows Format in you apple whitout any problem.

But Notice that the USB couldn´t give it to you the speed needed to a live multitrack recording, if I was in that trouble i´d prefer to use a Firewire HDD.

If you are thinking to record in your apple and then work in your PC at home you could use the HDD formated for Windows, but if you only will work on the Apple then use the Max OS Format.

You should try to use a interface to record Firewire... it´s most stable

Cheers!!!

[Tree Leopard]

Quintron,

A thought about your objectives...

If you run a jazz club in Ireland then I'd imagine you'd have some very good artists on your books.

If these live recordings are going to be important for you, for the artists and for the Irish (or even European) public then I'd be thinking about at least doubling your budget. Which means... new purchasing scenarios and (hopefully) a much more satisfying result.

Good music deserves good audio.

Does this make sense? Or am I gleefully making brazen assumptions?

[editbrain]

i agree that you need to have good hardware for the job, but an ibook with logic express and a presonus 8 input firewire with an external drive should be just fine, and you would not have to double your budget.

editbrain.

[Quintron]

Hi Tree Leopard et al,
Firstly Cheers for all comments!
@ Tree Leopard, You are correct in assuming that the recordings would be important to me both as a continuous archive and some with possible release dates etc.
As it stands I have outside engineers in ocasionally to do professional recordings of some acts and others with good setups have offered their Computer based services with some excellent results.
Problem is, we are currently not funded by anyone but ourselves and while I would love a proper permenant solution at the venue, I see the above option as a cheap starting point with which to furnish regular recordings to other organisations so that they may see the benefits of a proper solution, so, your comments are bang on, but the cash is not there (yet) to facilatate that dream set up. Mores the pity. Good music does deserve good audio..

AS a bridging unit to a better system a year or so from now I was worried that the Mac Mini even with 512 ram would not be adequate and hence the original post.

The Mac Mini, though would solve a lot of problems:
:Help take the load off my ailing PC.
:Record Gigs at venue,
:Its bloody cheap
:Now I can afford an FA-101 or similar and a Mac from the same price as an ibook.
:Don't need Monitor Keys etc have too many bits and pices lying idle....
:Fellow musicians have raved about the virtues of Macs for their work...
:So, Mac has a decent rep as an audio processor and I want a go.. :-)

SO based on Mac User comments here I hope that my assumption is correct that the Mini with 512 and external HDD coupled with a good SoundCard and Logic or Cubase SX could scrape it! Cheers again all for taking the time to reply!
If yer ever in Dublin and ya like jazz...

This post has been edited by Quintron: Tue 18 Jan 2005, 01:08

[editbrain]

well. if you add the cost of a monitor, keyboard, mouse, audio device, and recording application. you are way over the cost of this setup which will do exactly what you need.

ibook - 999US
external hdd - 150 to 200US
presonus firepod comes with cubase 48 channel application - 599US

totally portable and capable.