[Panzer]

Greetings

I have a question about an older mac and doing recording/mixing with it. The mac is an 8600 with a g3/500 cpu, maybe 512mb ram and a 4gb and 6gb disk (?). It's currently running OS 9 (I think?). I gave it to my brother several years ago so I don't recall the exact specifications. It's very dated but could run OS X and has a usb pci card for interfacing with whatever mixer he wants to use.

My bro wants to start doing multi track recording and would like to use this computer rather than buying something new (expensive), cost is a big factor here. He is looking at the Tascam US-122 to get the sound into the computer and then using whatever software to mix and edit it.

So ok, here is the question. Is it unreasonable to expect that this system can handle that kind of work? Is this stuff more cpu, ram or disk intensive? I mean would garage band under 10.4 on this thing be usable or completely out of the question? Would he be better off trying to find a 5 year old version of pro tools?

What do you guys think, is this an impossible mission or is there some hope.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

[PacHead]

Originally Posted by Panzer

Greetings
Is this stuff more cpu, ram or disk intensive?

Actually, all of the above. Each one is important to audio. I wouldn't skimp on any of them.



I'm not even sure if garageband will install on that, and if it did certain features would be disabled, such as software instruments.

Macs have never been cheaper. A macmini will blow that system away.

He might be able to do a few audio tracks with that system using some old software, but I'm not sure if the hassle and problems he will run into is even worth it. As far as mixing anything, one heavy duty plugin will choke the entire system.

People used 8600's for audio back in the day, but these were used with Protools TDM systems, which didn't rely on the Mac processor power.

[analogika]

FORGET OS X on that machine.

It would be an experiment in willpower, nothing more, just to prove that it can be done. It may even be able to do something useful, but audio will DEFINITELY NOT be among those things.

GarageBand's minimal requirements, btw, are a 600MHz G3 - and that assumes the appropriate surroundings - motherboard, system bus, RAM, etc, etc, etc., and only covers a few basic tracks and *maybe* a software instrument or two.

You won't even be able to hook up the tascam without an extra USB card.

Stick with OS 9, add OMS for MIDI (free), and find an old, old version of Logic or Protools Free or something, if it absolutely, positively HAS TO be that machine. Good luck finding a Mac serial MIDI interface and a functional audio card.


Advice:

Keep the monitor, and get a Mac mini. Upgrade the RAM as budget allows, but realize that RAM is necessary for audio.