[livatlantis]

Hey all!

I'm planning on getting an iBook G4 with 1.2GHz processor (512MB RAM) and I was wondering if that was good enough for sound recording and mixing. I plan to use GarageBand and maybe other recording/MIDI software.

My instruments are mostly analog. Guitars, Bass, Vocals. The drums can be prgrammed though. I want to eventually buy better hardware (mixer, preamp, keyboard...) to hook up onto this system.

How much processing power and memory do you really need to do this kind of work?

[Spheric Harlot]

Buy the very maximum of everything you can afford.

The iBook sounds about right for your needs.

Get more RAM, though.

[livatlantis]

Right, thanks.

Also, if I get Logic later on (to move on from GB), will the processing power of the the 1.2GHz G4 do? :O

Thanks!

[mattsgotredhair]

Logic is nice, but how much are you looking to spend? Is this a serious commitment or is it just for enjoying in your free time?

[livatlantis]

Oh, the Logic part comes later if (under the condition) that I still have the interest I have now. Besides, though its not a good thing, one Mac dealer (probably the only one?) said he had a copy he could give me (for a much lower cost). In Nepal, you can't avoid piracy, you really can't. So that's how I plan to get Logic (Express, I guess).

Oh, and its for fun at this point

A start for a VERY BASIC Mac-based home studio

What say you on the G4?

[mattsgotredhair]

well i have yet to run any recording programs on my laptop, but my general advise would be to get more RAM. I've never done audio on any computer that has less than a GB, so I would definately recommend that. The 1.2 G4 should do fine for you as hobbie recording computer, but youre going to want remember that the faster the processor and ram, the more tracks and processing power your going to get in your sessions. I've never used Logic, since most of the studios I've worked at have used ProTools. I don't know if you're familiar with ProTools, but any of the TDM systems use cards to do the processing of your tracks and plugins, not your actual host processor. I've run huge 48+ track sessions on a 333 MHz G3 without a problem because of this, so that may be something you want to consider. But hey, I don't even have any of that stuff for my personal use, so it's not like I'd even say thats a route youd want to go (its probably a little too expensive). I'd still go by getting the best processor and RAM that you can, cause those will matter the most.

[livatlantis]

Right. RAM, I'll definately add to the 256 MB eventually.

Processing, well... Can't afford anything more than the 1.2GHz. How many tracks (CD-quality, around 5 minutes) do you think 1.2GHz and around 512MB RAM will support?

For starters, I would require 2 for guitars, 1 for bass, 1 programmed drums, 1 programmed keys, 1 special effects (sometimes) and 1 (or 2) for vocals. That would make it around 8 for most of my projects. Will 8 tracks of around five-minutes AIFF/WAV quality work well on my 1.2GHz iBook?

Thanks

Oh, and I need a USB based line-in right? (iBook doesn't have one built in, and I think that's good considering I don't want the moving wires to destroy it).

[mattsgotredhair]

well for starters, the length of the recording has no real affect on anything, it wont affect needing more RAM or anything.

I think that 8 tracks will probably run fine on that. I run 20 or so on my PC that runs 1.7 GHz with 256 MHz RAM, and thats windows, so you can guess that would probably run near equivalent with your computer, probably worse than yours actually.

hope that helps.

oh yeah, and youre going to need a seperate drive to record to. and just a different partition wont work. I'd recommend an external firewire. i use lacie, but theres some others out there, but everyone i know uses lacie pretty much, so id recommend checking them out, theyre great.

[livatlantis]

Thanks!

I guess the iBook can do more than what I normally require, then.

About that firewire HDD, that'll have to come in later as well

Thanks!

[SSharon]

Two things. Get a faster hard drive. The stock 4200rpm drive will slow you down more than you think. Second, get an external drive anyway because you will eat up space, also just build it yourself no reason to pay a premium for some company to do it for you. If you want the warranty just get a seagate drive with a 5yr warranty, then even if the case goes out thats only $25 or so.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by SSharon:
just build it yourself no reason to pay a premium for some company to do it for you. If you want the warranty just get a seagate drive with a 5yr warranty, then even if the case goes out thats only $25 or so.

problem with that is that the 25-dollar case *may* have inferior chips that don't measure up to Firewire's bandwidth (I have one cheap FW case that only gets 11MB/sec, while my others get >30MB/sec). Unusable for anything but most basic audio stuff.

If you go with, say, LMP or LaCie, that is not an issue.

-s*