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[jsquare]

Hey, hey. I'm new here and figure this is the place to ask. Here goes: For a while I was stuck in the land of the PC at a studio I was working in and hated it. I'm now fortunate enough to purchase my own Mac system and need some advice. I have $5000 and need at least 8 analog ins and outs. I'm thinking about a dual processor G4 450 running Logic Audio Platinum 4.6. For an interface, I like the Motu 2408, but have read about

Also I read that the Emagic Unitor midi interface works better with Logic than the Motu stuff. I like Motu products, but don't care for their lack of tech support. I plan on doing mostly composition and midi, but need a system that can be expanded later to accomodate live 16 track recording.
I have a friend who wants to do long distance collaboration. He has a Protools Mix Plus rig. Doesn't Logic have the ability to save time stamped SDII files he can import into Protools? How about putting a 4 count at the top of each audio track? You would think it would be relatively easy to line up in Protools. I also need to work with others who are in PC land. Can't I format a Zip disk in the Mac for PC and save .wav files that their PC can deal with?

Any advice would be most welcome. I'm excited about my new system and want to make some good choices.Thanks in advance.

[jsquare]

Thanks for the insights. I prefer the 2408, it is a great deal, but, this guy insists on me giving him Protools sessions on cdr. I think you can save plug in and mixer settings this way. I may end up with a Digi 001 setup. I know the 2408 blows away the 001 in almost all ways, but I really do want to be able to work with Protools studios and don't want to spend hours doing transfers and imports in order to do so.

That Rocket network thing is cool, but this guy uses Digital Performer. I've used Logic for years and will probably stick with it, but get tempted by Performer sometimes when I see my film score heroes using it. What is the max I should pay for a stock used dual 500 G4. They listed for $3500. No more than half?

One guy suggested I look into a used early version of Protools d24 with a single dsp card and interface. Sounds good, but I may need to wait since I'll also need mics, preamps, etc. and my whole budget would be devoted to just the G4, software, and hardware, leaving nothing for actual music making, only computer power