Mac Mini + Live Multitrack Recording Options

[Marcia]

You will be just fine with either the mac mini or a powerbook. FYI... I use an older 1Ghz Powerbook and have recorded 10 track simultaneously with the MOTU 828 breakout box. And that was with the Mac's small internal drive. The (very) important thing to note is that you must max out your RAM for the best recording/mixing/effects results. I have 1Gig of RAM in mine and, though older, it is a smokin' workhorse. So you should be plenty fine, my friend.

When people say their computer isn't good enough and they are running only 256 Mg of RAM, well... no wonder. You can't run a marathon if you don't have any calories in your bloodstream.

[Tree Leopard]

Quintron,

Ah, but I did make one brazen assumption - that you'd have just a little more cash at your disposal. I've got a better feel for what you're doing now.

Ok, at the risk of addling you brain all the more...

...Marcia just mentioned the MOTU 828 mkII. I'm guessing it can't be too much more that the Edirol. The 828 mkII comes with Audio Desk 2.x, the little sister of Digital Performer 4.5 (which = upgrade path).

The drivers for Mac are very stable and the DP / MOTU forums are very good. For recording similar material, I can vouch for satisfying results. Could work well for tracking with a Mac Mini. It an option.

Macs aside, I hope this first step is very successful for you and the venue!

Btw, which venue?

[Quintron]

Cheers again for all posts,
@ editbrain, Yes you are correct that all these extras add up. I have at least two extra monitors and a bunch of Keyboards lying around so no added costs for me thankfully. I have an external HDD also so I jyust have to worry about the mini.
@ Marcia: Good to read that. 10 tracks! Nice to know they are available if needed... ON the issue of Ram I'm going to wait and see what others do when they get their Minis shipped. There are conflicting reports online as to whether or not you actually void your warrenty by installing more ram yourself. (the e430 asking price for 1gig apple installed ram is a bit rich). After reading reports it is still unclear if you will void warrenty simply opening the box or void warrenty if you break one of the clips while doing so. I feel you should be able to upgrade yourself, if not it will I presume become a talking point about possible underhand tactics by Apple to lure unsuspecting customers into unnecessary upgrades once on site. You can get 1gig ram online in the US for about e150 bring the total cost of a mini to e700 approx. Still reasonable. I guess they will be opening them up and disecting them within days so we'll know soon. From what I can see the ram upgrade is a pinch once the case is opened. I think it should be simple regardless. If its easy I'll get a base spec then do upgrade myself if not I'll have to suffice with 512MB.
@ Tree Leopard: The MOTU you and others mentioned sounds excellent. The whole audio capture card thing is a grey area for me at the moment so suggestions like these are welcome. I chose the FA101 as I've seen a few in action and they come highly recommended but I'm sure threre are quite a few that would suit. RE Budget, Yes its a concern but upgrade options are something I'll have to bear in mind. With savings on a mini I could stretch to a better audio unit I suppose... The math looms.... :-)
The venue is The Boom Boom Room, Dublin.
I don't know the rules on hotlinking but a bit more info can be found here.. A fledgling site I should add.. something else I have to work on
hxxp://www.theboomboomroom.tv
All the best,
Q.

[JBeat]

Quintron, I just bought the 1.42GHz Mac Mini and upgraded to 512MB or RAM. I'm a newbie to Macs, and Garageband, but I've had as many as 12-15 tracks going at a time with absolutely no lag or hiccups. As for swapping out the RAM, it will not void the warranty, and is not that hard once you see how to do it. There are videos on the web that show you how, check out: http://www.macworld.com/hot_topics/macmini/index.php for detailed instructions. The main drawback to the mini is that the maximum RAM is 1GB and it is a single chip, so you have to remove one to install one. I love mine, and now I know why everyone thinks Macs rock, because they do!!

Good Luck.
JBeat

[gogmagog]

if the budgets is a constraint why not install a MAC desktop in your sound booth (on a table next to the mixer) if you get a second hand
mac tower this would reduce costs significantly - but iam guessing that portability is also a req. Iknow people who are finding it hard to give away gargantuan old macs

i think you should avoid the mini mac like the proverbial....its a little on the limiting side

Well, now I'm confused. I was going to buy a mac mini and upgrade to the DVD Rom and the iGig memory. I'm maybe glad I found you guys before I did it.

1) I was thinking of using a Firewire Presonus FirePod up front to record, say, two acoustic guitars and three vocal mikes up front. (This is the smaller of my two bands). Will the system be too slow to do this?

2) How many songs can I record in a row with three vocals and two guitars before I have totally maxed out the memory and the 80 gig hard drive? (I was expecting to be able to use this as a live recording application, but I fear that there is not enough memory in the world).

3) In relation to the first question -- I am planning on using garage band at this time. (I know NO recording except for old analog stuff -- a 16 track recording class in the late 1970's, other analog multitrack studio experience as a musician from the early 1980's, and one bit in the mid' 90's where I just played my part and went home.) Will Garage band even do multiple track recordings this way? If not, I guess the consensus in another thread was Tracktion?

3) Firepod is a firewire deal. I relation to question number 1, how do I get a bigger, faster, harddrive on-line given that I have used up the Firewire plug on the FirePod? Do they have hubs? I should warn you, I have had trouble with hubs diving me insufficient power messages before.

Just FYI -- I would buy a laptop, but I have bad shoulders and tennis elbows. I also write, can't afford two computers, and can't type on a laptop all day.

So it's a problem.

Thanks for any input in advance.

[editbrain]

Kate,
For your sitution i would recomend a G5 iMac 20" display. get as much memory as you can.
the firepod has an extra firewire port for you to use a hard drive in a chain, but if you get the iMac you would get a firewire 800 external hard drive, and the firepod would use a firewire 400 port. the firepod comes with cubase sx which is a pretty good 32 track recorder with support for virtural instruments. also the iMac would come with garageband 2 so you would be set either way.

i think that your best choice is an G5 iMac. semi portable, doesn't take up much room, powerful (way more power than the mini), and comes with a nice apple display.

have you considered this route?

happy recording,
editbrain

Thanks, editbrain, I am looking into it. I think the middle one with a gig of memory maybe -- One question, though. Why are you suggesting the 20 inch screen?

Question for all -- am I trying to ask to much of poor little personal computers? I mean, maybe I should be not expecting so much of something that is meant for an all around computer use tool -- Maybe I should just get the mini with 512 and the cheaper drive. I can do my browsing and my e-mail and my writing for $599. Then I can save up and get a better maching for recording like several thousand dollars? (yeah like that's gonna happen any time soon)

Really -- am I asking too much for even an iMAc to do -- real time multitrack recording??

Thanks

Kate

[Quintron]

Hi again all,
ALl I can say about Mac Mini is that a lot of my friends use Powerbooks and ibooks to multitrack record gigs between 4-8 instruments and they have never had any complaints. The Mac Mini while underspecced compared to an iMac etc is somewhere between an ibook and a powerbook (with 512 ram min) in terms of its innards so I really don't see it as a problem for recording. I too have gone off the Edirol in favour of the firepod for the 8 X bal channels and recommended preamps.

I'm going to go for it with this set up.

Mac is ordered and I'm getting the firepod in a few weeks. I really dont see it as a problem for recording.
Its not a top specced setup by any means BUT it is adequate and that really is sufficent for what I need.

I would recommend an external HD to record but even adding all of these items up you still save over the laptop counterparts provided you have a Monitor and keyboard lying spare which a lot of folks seem to have.

Will it multi track record live? From what I've scoured all over the net and firsthand info from experienced users.
It will.
Thats all I require, in fact while not ideal you could get quite decent results with an even lower specced machine.
People have been live recording and pushing their macs for years.

The only thing I'm confused about is the direct monitoring aspect on say a Firepod. If I send all my imputs to the firepod to record and then send the signal out of the firepod and into individual channels on the desk for a seperate live mix, does the direct monitoring mean that this method doesn't tax the processor to much hence the "no latency direct monitoring label"?

All the Best,
Q.

[editbrain]

well the 20" for one has the greater screen area. that is going to come in usful when you have to arrange and edit your recordings. you will have plug-ins open an arrange window maybe a mixing board view all open. why would you not want the largest screen possible so that you can see better what you are doing?

i have to say that if you think that the iMac will not do what you want. how are you going to accomplish what you want with a less powerfull computer.

i record on the road with my powerbook it is a 1st generation 12" 867. it does fine. i use logic 6 pro on it.
in the studio i have a dual G5 2x2 with lots of ram, and a 20" cinema screen.

i was just suggesting a computer that you would not out grow in 6mo to a year once you started getting into your projects.

happy recording,
editbrain