What Mac To Buy?, I am wondering if a quad intel is necessary or whether a dual g5 can c Options

[JonRaven]

Hello there,

first time visiter, first time poster here...

I am currently using a powerbook 1.25 and I want to move into the ability to use some robust virtual instruments like toon track's "ezdrummer" and spek's "atmosphere", along with interested in the new east west quantum leap app called "gypsy" and the like.

My powerbook just wont cut it of course so I am thinking about getting a desktop mac.

Can anyone tell me from real world knowledge whether I could do everything I want with a used dual g5 or whether I really need to bite the bullet and get the new quad 2.66 intel?

I know ram is a big thing so I will upgrade either machine wiith atleast 4 gig ram.

I will be looking to do realistic backing tracks for my songs with virtual instruments and then adding say 16 tracks of audio tracks as well to the track.

Any ideas? Of course the music stores and the mac store are just out to sell the newest greatest of everything so you can't really get any honest opinions based on personal experience so I came here.

Can anyone discuss this with me?

Thanks and glad to be part of the group.

[ironhead]

well a dual power mac g5 not an imac can of course runs really good but it all depends and how much your you will be buying it for .
You can also network two any two mac computer in node for more power
but if your planning to to sell your mac book and buy another i think it's best to buy the latest model like a mac pro because technology moves fast and each day the softare will put more burding on your processor .
And computer gets old fast.
i hope that helps let me know.

[JonRaven]

Hello there and thank you for replying with your thoughts.

I intend on keeping my powerbook to do web design and such on as that is my day job right now and this way I can leave all that stuff off my audio production machine and make it only for audio to hopefully avoid any issues that using one machine for everything sometimes will cause.

I am currently thinking about any powermac between say a dual g5 2.0 with 4 gig ram all the way up to the new quad intel 2.66 with 4 gig ram.

I have indeed heard of this nodeing thing and I hear it is amazing but only if your using logic. Which right now i have pro tools 6.7 and have been using logic pro 7 for my midi stuff.

Any thoughts now that I have given more info?

Thanks again.

well a dual power mac g5 not an imac can of course runs really good but it all depends and how much your you will be buying it for .
You can also network two any two mac computer in node for more power
but if your planning to to sell your mac book and buy another i think it's best to buy the latest model like a mac pro because technology moves fast and each day the softare will put more burding on your processor .
And computer gets old fast.
i hope that helps let me know.

[hahaworld]

Hello, friend!

I have had lots of problems with my G5 pre-Intel 2.5GHz Quad. Slow disk errors, out-of-memory problems, etc. I run Logic 7.2.3 with 6.5G RAM. From what I gather, the pre-Intel Mac Quads don't cooperate well with Logic 7 because of a 32 vs. 64 bit phenomenon. Apparently, Logic doesn't recognize all the power in the Quad, nor does it recognize or necessarily care how much RAM you have installed. To give you some perspective, I scored an entire movie on my 1.33GHz G4 laptop with 2G RAM last year without a hitch using EastWest's Platinum Symphony, Spectrasonics Stylus RMX and the built-in instruments that come with Logic. When I fire up my Quad, I can barely have 2 virtual instruments going at once. This is heartbreaking, but I unfortunately did not consult the forums before I bought the Quad. Hence my current pathetic story. You are doing the right thing by consulting this forum, because these users rock! Unfortunately, I have no experience with Intel Macs, but I'm sure someone 'round here will. Good luck!

HaHaWorld

[mortalengines]

Definitely make sure that ANY Mac (or PC) you buy has been tested and approved for use by the digidesign developers (they will often mention which ones they HAVEN'T YET tested and can't recommend them for use). If you are on 6.7, I am not sure that that is even Univeral Binary compatible and therefore you may want to budget for the PT 7 point-whatever-it-is-now.

[JonRaven]

wow you guys are awesome. I am sooo sorry your pre intel quad doesn't do anything for you my friend.

I have a close friend who runs a g5 1.6 and that is a single processor and he says he runs multiple instances of kontakt and multiple instances of eastwest silver and even higher end sample based virtual instruments and he told me tonight he has tried many times to tax his system but it just keeps giving him more and more power. He told me he has 3 gigs of ram and multiple high end libraries and even though he never converts his midi to audio.... he can run multiple instruments in logic and protools and his 1.6 still keeps on spinning away.

Now I have talked with numerous others in the supposed biz and they keep telling me...newest and greatest. They obviously think the newest and greatest are the newest and greatest but not base don actual proof or personal use.

I found out today my "day job" company bought a quad 2.66 intel and maxed out the ram at 10 gigs and so I snuck into the studio and fired it up on my lunch break. It didn't have anything installed really so as the only app I could think of I fired up garageband. It took quite a while and it worried me instantly. I mean on my powerbook 1.25 I can fire up garageband quite quickly...shouldn't I be able to use it on a quad intel wiith heck loads of ram? Once loaded it was ok... I guess... based on my limited testing of apple only instruments installed... but come on... should there be any wait whatsoever?

I want to have 16-24 tracks audio playback that I record in a bigger studio, with a few plugins on each...and then be able to fatten up the mix with some killer realistic virtual instrument tracks. why at this late in the game wiith all the technology we have and the price of the new macs... does this seem troublesome????

Thanks so much for feedback... I think this posting will help a lot of people looking to buy a new production system so everyone please keep adding their thoughts.

Thanks.

[Mac Daddy]

hahaworld,

I have followed your story regarding "The Quad" from the very beginning. You were the first in 440 Forum to purchase one. I remember you saying: "It's smooth"... I asked what you meant by, "Smooth". You never answered, so I did some research, because I wanted one too.

True, 440 Forum has members who "Rock", however, they don't have access to "ALL" the Hardware and
Software that is 'out there'. Sound On Sound Magazine gives the best "Professional" advice about gear, the Pros and Cons.

I posted a review to 440 Forum about "The Quad" by Sound On Sound. The review said: "The Quad showed no advantage or benefits to musicians".

If it's any consolation, you can sell your Quad to a Graphics Company where they, "The Quad" is in very high demand. Please don't sell it to a musician, please....

[JonRaven]

Hello macdaddy, I am a little confused here. I haven't bought a quad yet. I am looking at buying a new audio production machine and I was here to see if anyone had any working knowledge of the quad intel compared to the dual g5 machine so that i could make an educated design when purchasing.

I will check out your article you posted though as that might be the answers to all my questions.

Thanks. I think you must have been referring to someone else prior.

Cheers.

hahaworld,

I have followed your story regarding "The Quad" from the very beginning. You were the first in 440 Forum to purchase one. I remember you saying: "It's smooth"... I asked what you meant by, "Smooth". You never answered, so I did some research, because I wanted one too.

True, 440 Forum has members who "Rock", however, they don't have access to "ALL" the Hardware and
Software that is 'out there'. Sound On Sound Magazine gives the best "Professional" advice about gear, the Pros and Cons.

I posted a review to 440 Forum about "The Quad" by Sound On Sound. The review said: "The Quad showed no advantage or benefits to musicians".

If it's any consolation, you can sell your Quad to a Graphics Company where they, "The Quad" is in very high demand. Please don't sell it to a musician, please....

[JonRaven]

Wait a minute... I am confused. I checked out the article you were speaking of in sound on sound and it actually says the new quad intel is good for music... so why did you say it was a bad system for musicians and that everyone should stay away from it?

I have come to the understanding over the last few days that not only does a lot of our music software not really have the ability to use all 4 processor cores at the same time...but that nodeing 2 older g5 duals together would be much better then 1 quad intel, if you are using logic anyways. even a g5 dual and then a macmini would be a robust system. But by the time you go to all that work to find and buy those systems you would be in the same price range as one new quad intel machine.

I am still very confused on what system to buy in order to handle all my audio and midi sequencing needs at this time... it almost makes more sense in a sad sad way better to go with a pc in some ways.

I don't know.... is the whole apple franchise moving toward a ipod world and not into production level machines anymore?

Grrr

hahaworld,

I have followed your story regarding "The Quad" from the very beginning. You were the first in 440 Forum to purchase one. I remember you saying: "It's smooth"... I asked what you meant by, "Smooth". You never answered, so I did some research, because I wanted one too.

True, 440 Forum has members who "Rock", however, they don't have access to "ALL" the Hardware and
Software that is 'out there'. Sound On Sound Magazine gives the best "Professional" advice about gear, the Pros and Cons.

I posted a review to 440 Forum about "The Quad" by Sound On Sound. The review said: "The Quad showed no advantage or benefits to musicians".

If it's any consolation, you can sell your Quad to a Graphics Company where they, "The Quad" is in very high demand. Please don't sell it to a musician, please....

[lepetitmartien]

I think the most important point is to decide if you want to move the software update road or not… Check what you are using that you have already in UB or not.

If you lack in the UB department, maybe a G5 or 2 would be better. If not… Now, I personally lack of much feedback from Mac Pro users, the only one I know has more issues than with the G5 he had before. The question is, is it a special case or common situation? I don't know. I've found my brand new refurbished macbook to be prone to more little hiccups than my first gen G5 on day to day non music use, and I'm a monster at maintenance and stability. So I'm in doubt for the time being.