Laptop, MHZ Options

[holly]

I may purchase the G4 Ti 667MHZ laptop to run my Logic 4.7.
Would I be able to run all audio/audio instruments (no midi), most would be 10 tracks, I like effects too.
I would put in about 600RAM
thanks
Holly

This post has been edited by holly: Wed 13 Aug 2003, 17:18

[THE DUDE]

Yes Holly ram is the key. Load up on it as much as possible. Once you start diving deeper into your software and getting more complex with your productions your plug ins, efx etc will eat up that ram quickly. Otherwise that computer should handle the workload.

[formatj]

It will not just be about RAM, though the more you have the better and it's cheap these days so max out the computer if you can.

The computer's processing speed is more important if you are going to be using lots of Software synths and effects.
I'm using a G4 933 and running a single instance of some software synths (e.g. Moog Modular V, Novation V-Station or Reaktor) I use about 20-50% of my processor depending on the sound and number of notes played at once. I've got a G5 dual 2GHz ordered which should allow a few more tracks!

I tried the demo of Altiverb (a high end reverb) a while ago and it used nearly half of my processor.

Some software synths/samplers and effects are less hungry on the processor e.g. EXS24. I have had projects with over 32 EXS24s running.
All of my projects these days are done with 50-100% software. I usually have some tracks bounced to disk to free up the processor. I also use powercore and UAD-1 cards which also takes off some load from the computer's processor.

If you are using Logic I suggest you upgrade to version 6 which includes a new feature called "freeze" tracks.
This function does an invisible offline bounce of a track with all of its plugins into a freeze file. This file then plays instead of the original track and its plugins which are temporarily deactivated which will free up the processor.
If you then need to make changes to the track simply unfreeze it and all the plugins and their settings become active again.

Have a look at Logic's "System Performance" meter. It will show you how much processing power your computer is using. Try loading a synth into a track and then insert some effects on that track. Now play some notes. The more notes you play the higher the meter goes.

So depending on which synths and effects and how many you are using you may or may not be able to run them all at once unless you use something like freeze tracks.

This post has been edited by formatj: Fri 15 Aug 2003, 05:15

[gomobil]

Hello

Watch it carefully with PB667 and audio. This particular machine had been causing a lot of problems for audio users, and it was also listed as "not to use" by RME-Audio which is one of the finest producers of digital-audio.

Try the PB800 or even PB500 (that one i used in pretty rough live recording while implementing soundtracks on a multimedia site on Swiss-Expo last year, and was very satisfied).

Of course if you can go with the newer machines, it is better, but check it in advance.

This post has been edited by gomobil: Fri 15 Aug 2003, 15:53