help this newbie ?, help Options

hey all...

i could use some advice. i'm very new to the Mac world (6 months or so) and have limited knowledge of tech-speak. with that, here's my Q...

i own a roland vs-880 expanded, which has served me well for 4 years. however, the cost of storage is killing me, as is the slow transfer of material to 250 zip discs. the small screen is no picnic either! i have the effects card in the VS 880, which isn't too bad. i don't do any work with midi or sequencers. all in all, the VS ain't bad.

now i own a 4 or 500 mhz iMac (200 some odd megs of memory, 10 gig hard drive), and have downloaded the free version of pro tools. i also have a cheap casio that i'd like to use as a midi-controller for absynth. can i use pro tools/iMac and the VS ? should i just make the switch to pro tools ? i realize that i need a way to input audio into the iMac, and some have suggested the iMic, or more expensive options like an edirol or motu 828. a Mac dealer that is highly regarded here in New York told me that the iMic was cheap and way too noisy.

long story short--is it worth it with a G3 processor ? is it too expensive to get it up and running ? should i wait til i buy a G4 (or G5) a couple years down the road ? and should i fork out the cash for OSX ? or is OS 9 just fine for this ?

thanks for all your help--feel free to contact me directly

james

[WesMozart]

Your imac is plenty good for doing things music-wise. You could get the cheap version of Cubase VST (Cubasis). You will get loads of help and info on the website cubase.net
The mac forum members there are really helpful and know what they are talking about. They have helped me out plenty of time. Visit the site, you'll be impressed.

[ash]

Hi. No offence intended, but the first reply dodges the issue. I can't really help you, but I'm a new mac user and I'm teaching myself ProTools Free. I have an Indigo iMac 500/256 with a Technics WSA-1 keyboard connected via UM-1 USB MIDI interface. I've used Cubase and like most people you'll talk to , I've since moved on to ProTools. I suggest you stick with ProTools Free for a few major reasons for the beginner: 1. It's free 2. It's way easier to use 3. The documentation is far more intuitive and beginner-oriented than the Cubase docs 4. There isn't a single studio in my home town (Melbourne, the uncontested music capital of Australia) that uses Cubase, they all use ProTools. But in the end it's a matter of personal taste really. Being an absolute beginner to MIDI I can tell you that your only significant probelms will come from OMS. The best person to talk to is Max who posts here occaisionally. But to avoid pestering him, send me an email and I'll send all the data he's sent to me: it's mostly related to configuring unrecognised MIDI modules (ie: my synth). You want to use your kb as a controller. This is fairly easy, just read all the OMS stuff, and ask any questions before you start with Absynth. I have Absynth, but haven't used it in conjunction with a seq yet. Again I reccommend baby steps - learn OMS, learn to cherish it, learn ProTools, then start to think about Absynth. As far as connecting your hardware, I hope this advice has helped a little. If you want to know more, and since you may not get any other posts (it's pretty hit and miss here) post a link to info about your machine, inc a photo, so I know what you're talking about, and we'll take it from there.
Incidentally: using soft-synths will eat processing power - so to that degree it's hardware dependent. I know it's a casio, but you may be able to increase your range of instruments by using it as a MIDI module as well as a soft-synth controller, even if it's just the standard 128 GM sounds, there'll be one or two that sound cool depending on the context you use them in.

Regards,

Ash