Mac For School/recording, beginner looking for help Options

[sleepparalyzed]

hey all...new here to the mac music forum...was seeking some advice on getting started. i'm thinking about getting an imac g5 for school as i will be majoring in music with a recording emphasis most likely. im guessing i will probably start learning mic techniques and the ins and outs of pro tools my 2nd or 3rd year. this will be used for school (word processing, presentations, etc.), making electronic music (not hard trance stuff...more downtempo/trip-hop like bjork, radiohead, boards of canada, etc.), and recording. here are the specs with a student discount:

$1,399.00

17-inch widescreen LCD
2GHz PowerPC G5
667MHz frontside bus
512K L2 cache
512MB DDR400 SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load 8x SuperDrive (double-layer)
ATI Radeon 9600
128MB DDR video memory
56K internal modem

i know i need to upgrade the RAM...i think if i order online, i can upgrade the RAM to:

1GB - 2 DIMMs for $112
1GB - 1 DIMM for $157
2GB - 2 DIMMs for $427
don't understand the 1/2 DIMMs, anyone know about this? not sure which one to choose out of these three.

do you think the 160GB 7200rpm hard drive will be ok?

as far as speakers, should i be getting low-mid price range monitors or just high quality stereo speakers and a sub?

as far as software goes, i'm thinking about pursuing the MBox with protools LE and ableton live lite 4 and reason adapted. i'll probably get an edirol pcr-a30 for a midi controller as well. can i use reason and ableton and pro tools all at the same time? does ableton support midi? i'll probably end up getting recycle for some editing too. any other software options?

all comments/suggestions are welcome.

thanks in advance for your help,
greg

[arvidtp]

just beware the Mbox: its drivers and the hardware itself is very flakey. Beleive me, I own one and i often feel like kicking it when it just stops working randomly, or never starts working. Pro tools M-powered might be better for you in lieu of a more expensive Digi 002 rack?

oh yeah - ableton + MIDI = yes, but the reason that comes with PT is pretty limited. And you can use all of them at the same time. it should be possible on a G5.

This post has been edited by arvidtp: Sun 15 May 2005, 15:40

[sleepparalyzed]

i think the m-powered and a firewire interface is one good option...however, the reason adapted being limited and ableton live being a digidesign lite version doesn't really interest me. i've been reading a little bit about logic pro 7 and i'm thinking about getting that...only problem would be later on having to use pro tools if i get more into recording. i think logic might fill my needs for sequencing, midi, and plugins...anyone use logic pro 7 in combination with other software and get good results?

[arvidtp]

i was a pro tools guy, but now i use logic 6.4 for like everything. I am not a session-tracking-recording guy but more of an experimental music composer and logic i have discovered is more my style. Pro Tools is a bit overrated i think, especially the LE versions. Audio editing is a little less intuitive in Logic, but i have very rarely come across anything i couldn't do in logic that i could in pro tools. Some things logic does much quicker/automatically.

[Bloot]

I've been exceptionally happy with protools - both LE 001 on a G4, and now 002 on a G5 and I use the 002 rack, mostly for live singers and instruments - I use a bit of midi for rhythm stuff. Editing in PT suits me down to the ground, as I come from the Ampex tape plus safety razor generation. Also the basic pitch controls and similar supplied plug-ins cover my most immediate requirements.
I've got Logic 6.4 on the drive but I just haven't yet had time to get into it, and for all Logic's extra sounds and midi facilities, PT's so fast just get a recording done and dusted. One last point, I find that Protools is quite elegant in it's operation, if a little old-fashioned

[arvidtp]

I'll agree there. Pro Tools IS elegant. What is not so elegant is the Mbox hahaha. I think the 002s are ok. Sorta high CPU usage still, but not that bad. I guess i am coming at it from more of a realtime performance standpoint than a strictly studio standpoint. Pro Tools does have definite advantages in the area of streamlined interface and often you dont have to think about what you are doing - it just comes naturally. Thats good for many things, but it lacks flexibility sometimes. But this is a crazy MaxMSP guy talking!