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?

[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).