Using Apogee With An Avr Options

[aldrahn]

im planning onbuilding my first daw
an imac 2.4ghz and adding 2gb of crucial memory
and logic 8 for 900 pounds
an external harddrive for 65 pounds
then adding an apogee duet for 330 pounds

i have a harmon kardon reciever and acosutic energy evo 5.1 speakers which cos a fair bit so im hoping i can implement my home cinema with making music on my mac

i dont plan on using many outside instruments such as guitar or recording vocals for the music i intend to make

the i mac has an optical output/input than i can connect to my avr
but im curious if that negates with apogee

can i use both at the same time, ie be in logic creating tunes with the added sound of the apogee coming through my avr systems speakers

or would it make more sense to get a firewire audio interface wih its own optical inputs, ie a 130 pounds cheaper presonus firebox

thanks if anyone can help

This post has been edited by aldrahn: Wed 14 May 2008, 15:31

[mortalengines]

I would get the mac and use the optical outputs with your AVRs at first. You are going to get a lot of responses that will tell you that you really need to get some MONITORS which operate on a flat frequency response, and they are correct in saying so. You see, home surround systems (yes, even the high end ones) tend to be hyped in certain frequencies that may not help your mixes translate well. However you can decide that later. There is a band called Deerhoof that swear they do all of their mixing thru some really old Yamaha home loudspeakers (or something like that) and it is something that they are used to. I imagine it was pretty trial and error for them along the way. It took me a while to get used to my monitors (my home monitoring is WAY less than ideal). So what I am saying here is just get the Mac, get to work, make some mixes and see how well the mixes translate to SEVERAL different systems and go from there. If you are happy then there is no point to getting stuff you don't really need after all. If you aren't, keep trying to adjust and figure out what your speakers are or are not doing for your sound. If you are still struggling....bite the bullet and go ahead and buy some KRKs or some good Mackies or Genelecs or whatever your budget will allow. For what it's worth though....some of the best music out there was a result of people making the best of what they had. Also the opitical output of your Mac should do just fine for what you are doing. Most people look to the Apogee converters for getting the signal IN to the computer (if they are concerned with high end ouput converters, it is usually for using outboard effects, reamping, analog summing, etc....).


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