Need Advice On Best Computer Options

[teetopkram]

Greetings, I want to set-up a small home recording studio that I can use to record 1-2 tracks at a time using analog, MIDI and possibly SPDIF (Vox Tonelab). I have two computers that I can use for this purpose:

1. A G4 desktop running at 400 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 10 GB HD, 2 USB, 2 Firewire, and a CD-ROM that reads only.

2. A G4 powerbook running at 1 Ghz, with 1 GB RAM, 60 GB HD, 2 USB, 1 Firewire (400), and a CD-ROM with read and write capabilities.

The desktop is a hand me down that can be dedicated solely for home recording purposes. However, the Powerbook is my work computer tha I use in my consulting business everyday (loaded with lots of apps).

Because I had heard that its a bad idea to use a home recording computer for any other applications (i.e, its always desirable to have a dedicated machine just for the studio), I had initially considered just getting a small mixer and putting an Audiophile 2496 PCI card into the desktop, and increasing its RAM. I could then transfer files to the Powerbook and burn the CD there.

HOWEVER, is there a better solution given my two computers?

Could I use the Powerbook for all the plug-ins, synth modules, effects, etc, and thus decrease processing demands for the desktop if I use the desktop to record? How about vice versa?

If I use the Powerbook for recording, mixing, and burning, I would have to get a Firewire interface, and they are more expensive...are they just as good as PCI interfaces? I am on a budget and am looking to save money. Which in your opinion is the best Firewire interface?

Is there a way to use one of the two computers as an external Hard Drive to help with the recording demands?

Essentially, I am looking for the experts here to help me design a nice little set-up and talk me through the pros and cons for both computers. Thanks a bunch!!!

Mark

[ourmanflinty]

You can run a powerbook in firewire target mode, hold down T as you power up. This makes it into a firewire drive and you plug it into your tower and up it pops onto the desktop , magic. Make sure you unmount it before unplugging or turning off, hold the power button down to turn off. The same goes for the tower actually.

The tower has slots, always a bonus when running audio...SCSI card, audio card, dsp card...all of these will take a load off the cpu.

Don't ask PC users for advice on running audio on a Mac for my two cents worth...
You can install s/w on a pc and find that it has stopped something else from working. Too many third party's in PC land not all reading from the same page, too many OS as well from Microsoft. So you get the urban myth that you need to focus the machine. Can't really say as a Mac only person that I have ever had much of a problem that way, PC users hate that Macs are very particular about what can be used with them, I love it, it helps.
I would say the same for the opinion that you can't have the music machine on the net, this came from a PC world too as there are so many virus out there which mean regular rebuilds.

Backup is always important