[cptcaveman]

Hi,

has anyone tried using a Mac Mini for home studio music production.. i would be very interested to know how many audio tracks/effects etc.. the machine can cope with...

Cheers

[OogaBooga]

Best thing to do is go to an Apple Store and check one out. I actually was wondering the same thing, so I might head on over to my local Apple Store today and download the Logic Express Trial. My guess is about the same performance as a PowerBook, but the slower 4200 rpm drive might pose a problem.

If you're going to get a new Mac for a studio, and you're short on money, I'd get a cheap Mac Mini and a 20" Alu Display. Then, in a year or two, get one of the last PPC PowerMacs to last you a while. The reason not to go with Intel is obvious -- for the first year or so audio companies will be having driver issues and whatnot with the new platform.

Of course, the best thing to do is get a DP G5 PowerMac right now, so that it'll last you well through the Intel transition.

[brother337]

Garageband will work just decently, provided you have enough RAM (gig is preferable.) The 4200 RPM drive is a bottleneck, but you can improve your real-time performance noticeably by booting off an external 7200 RPM drive.

My only point of reference was when I had a maxxed out ibook G4/800 and it couldn't even play the sample songs that came with Garageband 1. My 1.42 Ghz Mac mini was able to play them just fine, even before I installed an internal 7200 rpm drive.

Can't speak for Logic tho.

[cptcaveman]

Originally Posted by brother337

Garageband will work just decently, provided you have enough RAM (gig is preferable.) The 4200 RPM drive is a bottleneck, but you can improve your real-time performance noticeably by booting off an external 7200 RPM drive.

My only point of reference was when I had a maxxed out ibook G4/800 and it couldn't even play the sample songs that came with Garageband 1. My 1.42 Ghz Mac mini was able to play them just fine, even before I installed an internal 7200 rpm drive.

Can't speak for Logic tho.

would it be possible for you to try a little test... can you run garageband and drag in samples to create maybe 10 tracks of audio and see how it handles it.. if its coping well, the white triangle that shows the songs position should stay white.. if it goes orange or red, the computer is struggling

if you know about garageband, i would be interested to know how it copes when you add effects too...

Im using a DP G5 2.3 loaded with 2.5gb ram etc.. myself so garageband works great but a friend of mine whos budget is very tight (and hes never had a mac).. would like to know what he could expect from a mac mini for recording.