Capturing To External Hdd - Fast Enough? Options

[fiddler100]

Hi Folks

I still haven't quite made it into the Mac World but have nearly settled on the following setup:

- Intel iMac 20"
- 2GB RAM
- Vantec NexStar2 Firewire enclosure + 300GB HDD
- PreSonus Firebox audio interface w/ 2x XLR inputs
- Edirol MA-15D monitors

I intended to use the external firewire HDD as my primary audio capture disk as this would leave the iMac HDD free for OS/application read/writes. Since I've never used an external Firewire HDD before, I'm unsure if it will be fast enough to capture my audio. I'm pretty sure it will be but I thought it best to check. I've only ever used PCs in the past and have always used the HDDs installed in the machine rather than external disks.

In fact, now I come to think of it, the iMac HDD is SATA. The NexStar2 HDD enclosure I was looking at uses PATA HDDs. Do you think I'd be better capturing directly to the internal HDD in the iMac or using the external for capture?

Your comments on this (and my proposed setup) would be really appreciated.

Cheers,
Fiddler.

This post has been edited by fiddler100: Sun 19 Feb 2006, 06:46

[TheCatman]

recording to external FW HD is no prob. You should get alot better results than those using USB2.0, since Firewire is at a stable 400, while USB2.0 is very variable with a THEORETICAL peak at 480. (All numbers = mbit/s)

AS for monitors, you should simply bring your favoourite album, along with some mixen you might have made on your home set-up, and listen to tehm on all the monitors within your pricerange at your local dealer. Ic anrecomend alot of monitors for you, but you really should do a simple test for yourself. (I like Genelec 8030A`s myself.) I`ve heard good things about the Edirols, but have never HEARD them myself, so I can`t comment.

For a DAW working mostly with real instruments (as opposed to virtual instruments/softsynths and such), I really would recomend ProTools with a Mbox2. It`s in the same pricerange as the Firebox/pod and gives you really nice preamps, and by far the best software for working with and editing audio. However, if you have your heart set on the presonus card (which is also very nice), than Logic is the software for you. Garageband is fun and all, and I used to do alot of midnight-bright-ideas- work on it, but after getting Logic Express and seeing how much more power my iBook seems to have in logic, compared to Garageband, there`s no doubt in my mind. Logic outperforms GB not only with features, but also with efficiency.

Those are my thoughts on your soon-to-be home-rig. (It looks real nice on paper )

<S>