As I get closer to jumping in to a home studio set up I have gradually come
around to a stand-alone Mac/Mbox2/Protools system. The G5's are of course
the priciest. I am wondering if a G4 with adequate RAM would give me plenty
of power for basic recording. What I don't want, of course, is to underbuy
and then have to take up smoking to give me something to do while I wait for
the box to process effects, virtual instruments, etc.

Can anyone explain dual core vs. dual processor? It seems some of the G4's
have this as well.

Thanks,
Hal

On Sun, 21 May 2006 20:44:09 GMT, "Hal"
trained 100 monkeys to jump on the keyboard and write:

As I get closer to jumping in to a home studio set up I have gradually come
around to a stand-alone Mac/Mbox2/Protools system. The G5's are of course
the priciest. I am wondering if a G4 with adequate RAM would give me plenty
of power for basic recording. What I don't want, of course, is to underbuy
and then have to take up smoking to give me something to do while I wait for
the box to process effects, virtual instruments, etc.

My personal suggestion would be to either get the biggest G5 you can
afford, for longevity, or wait for Intel DuoCores to make their way to
the PowerMac line.

Can anyone explain dual core vs. dual processor? It seems some of the G4's
have this as well.

They're very similar (from a programming perspective), but there's a
fundamental difference: a dual core processor has the equivalent of
two processors on one chip, while a dual processor machine has two
separate chips in it.

For instance, the motherboard in my home server is a dual processor
P3/1Ghz setup, meaning it has 2 separate P3/1Ghz chips in it.

A Quad G5 has two dual core processors in it, for a ridiculous amount
of processing power (with a price tag to match) and the equivalent of
four chips.
--
jtougas

"listen- there's a hell of a good universe next door
let's go" - e.e. cummings

basically what the other guy says is right - buy the biggest machine you can
afford. The more processing power you got the more you can do. A g4 at
this stage of the game is very limiting.


"Hal" wrote in message
om...
As I get closer to jumping in to a home studio set up I have gradually
come around to a stand-alone Mac/Mbox2/Protools system. The G5's are of
course the priciest. I am wondering if a G4 with adequate RAM would give
me plenty of power for basic recording. What I don't want, of course, is
to underbuy and then have to take up smoking to give me something to do
while I wait for the box to process effects, virtual instruments, etc.

Can anyone explain dual core vs. dual processor? It seems some of the G4's
have this as well.

Thanks,
Hal

On Sun, 21 May 2006 16:44:09 -0400, Hal wrote
(in article ) :

As I get closer to jumping in to a home studio set up I have gradually come
around to a stand-alone Mac/Mbox2/Protools system. The G5's are of course
the priciest. I am wondering if a G4 with adequate RAM would give me plenty
of power for basic recording. What I don't want, of course, is to underbuy
and then have to take up smoking to give me something to do while I wait for
the box to process effects, virtual instruments, etc.

Pro Tools already has free virtual instruments: Xpand.

If you're going with an LE system, go for the G5 with at least a GB of RAM. I
have 1.5 GB and a dual 2 GHz G5. Works for me, but I don't do stuff like
trying to put in a high end stereo reverb on every channel.

Regards,

Ty Ford






-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

Hal wrote:
As I get closer to jumping in to a home studio set up I have gradually come
around to a stand-alone Mac/Mbox2/Protools system. The G5's are of course
the priciest. I am wondering if a G4 with adequate RAM would give me plenty
of power for basic recording. What I don't want, of course, is to underbuy
and then have to take up smoking to give me something to do while I wait for
the box to process effects, virtual instruments, etc.

Can anyone explain dual core vs. dual processor? It seems some of the G4's
have this as well.

Thanks,
Hal

Hal,

The other posters are essentially correct.

Dual processors means two completely separate processing chips, two
independent CPUs. With the cost of two CPUs and a motherboard capable
of hosting them) engineers found a less expensive approach: take two
CPUs, combine them onto one chip, and harness the power of two CPUs
with only one socket on the motherboard. This lowers the cost of the
motherboards and allows for the power of two CPUs (also known as cores)
with a lower cost than the previous setup. So "Dual Core" refers to
two CPUs put together on one chip.

There are some other subtle differences as well but that is essentially
the story.

There were dual processor G4s but they were discontinued some time ago.
The latest dual core Mac minis and iMacs are the first lower-cost
units to use dual processors of ANY kind. Prior to that you had to get
a tower.

Bottom line: you can get by with a G4 but you'd be doing exactly that
-- getting by. It would be adequate for basic recording but I would
wait because as soon as Pro Tools is Intel-ready you can get a
dual-core Mac mini or iMac for relatively little money. Assuming
you're going LE and not TDM, either one of those will provide plenty of
power for what you're doing and if for some reason you find them
inadequate you can upgrade in the future without sacrificing too much
as they hold their value pretty well.

Hope that helps,

Craig

http://www.pro-tape.com

Adobe - Apple - Audio Technica - Denon - Digidesign - Maxell - Quantegy
- Sony

Which brings up imac vs. tower if I buy a g5 now. Downside of imac?
"Mr. Tapeguy" wrote in message
oups.com...

Hal wrote:
As I get closer to jumping in to a home studio set up I have gradually
come
around to a stand-alone Mac/Mbox2/Protools system. The G5's are of course
the priciest. I am wondering if a G4 with adequate RAM would give me
plenty
of power for basic recording. What I don't want, of course, is to
underbuy
and then have to take up smoking to give me something to do while I wait
for
the box to process effects, virtual instruments, etc.

Can anyone explain dual core vs. dual processor? It seems some of the
G4's
have this as well.

Thanks,
Hal

Hal,

The other posters are essentially correct.

Dual processors means two completely separate processing chips, two
independent CPUs. With the cost of two CPUs and a motherboard capable
of hosting them) engineers found a less expensive approach: take two
CPUs, combine them onto one chip, and harness the power of two CPUs
with only one socket on the motherboard. This lowers the cost of the
motherboards and allows for the power of two CPUs (also known as cores)
with a lower cost than the previous setup. So "Dual Core" refers to
two CPUs put together on one chip.

There are some other subtle differences as well but that is essentially
the story.

There were dual processor G4s but they were discontinued some time ago.
The latest dual core Mac minis and iMacs are the first lower-cost
units to use dual processors of ANY kind. Prior to that you had to get
a tower.

Bottom line: you can get by with a G4 but you'd be doing exactly that
-- getting by. It would be adequate for basic recording but I would
wait because as soon as Pro Tools is Intel-ready you can get a
dual-core Mac mini or iMac for relatively little money. Assuming
you're going LE and not TDM, either one of those will provide plenty of
power for what you're doing and if for some reason you find them
inadequate you can upgrade in the future without sacrificing too much
as they hold their value pretty well.

Hope that helps,

Craig

http://www.pro-tape.com

Adobe - Apple - Audio Technica - Denon - Digidesign - Maxell - Quantegy
- Sony

Hal wrote:
Which brings up imac vs. tower if I buy a g5 now. Downside of imac?

Downside of iMac is that Pro Tools will not run under Rosetta (the
emulation technology that allows programs compiled for Power PC to run
on Intel machines) and a dual-binary or Intel version has not yet been
released; however it is expected at the end of this month so basically
any day now.

The iMac doesn't have the expandability of a tower (PCI slots, dual
internal hard drives, etc.) and limits you to the monitor that's
included, alebeit a very nice one. You'll still be able to use
external hard drives for content, USB devices etc. From what you've
described I think you'd be OK with it unless you want to go TDM, bigger
than 20" monitor or need other specific options that an iMac doesn't
have.

Craig

http://www.pro-tape.com

Adobe - Apple - Denon - Digidesign - Marantz - Open Labs - Panasonic -
Sony - Waves

Craig wrote:
The iMac doesn't have the expandability of a tower (PCI slots, dual
internal hard drives, etc.) and limits you to the monitor that's included,
alebeit a very nice one. You'll still be able to use external hard drives for
content, USB devices etc. From what you've described I think you'd be OK with
it unless you want to go TDM, bigger than 20" monitor or need other specific
options that an iMac doesn't have.

It might be worth mentioning that the new Intel-based iMacs have a mini-DVI
out port, into which you can now plug an external monitor and have an
"extended desktop" (rather than having the second monitor display the same
image as the internal monitor).

- John

On Mon, 22 May 2006 14:53:33 GMT, John Albert
wrote:

It might be worth mentioning that the new Intel-based iMacs have a mini-DVI
out port, into which you can now plug an external monitor and have an
"extended desktop" (rather than having the second monitor display the same
image as the internal monitor).

Other PC/Mac issues apart, I can't see that the iMac is of interest as
a DAW anyway? A general-purpose machine isn't going to have the
hardware required. Why should it? But it should have room to slot
it in.

On Mon, 22 May 2006 14:53:33 GMT, John Albert
trained 100 monkeys to jump on the keyboard and write:

It might be worth mentioning that the new Intel-based iMacs have a mini-DVI
out port, into which you can now plug an external monitor and have an
"extended desktop" (rather than having the second monitor display the same
image as the internal monitor).

I know that under OS 9 it was possible to have an extended desktop
with any Apple with an external video port. I would be surprised if
OS X had stepped backward on that point.

But I would highly suggest going the Tower route to the OP, for the
expandability.

--
jtougas

"listen- there's a hell of a good universe next door
let's go" - e.e. cummings

Hal, do not buy any Mac for Protools right now. The Intel Duo laptops and
minis have proven surprisingly good for audio, so do not get a G5 tower, and
G4's are overvalued.

In article ,
"Zigakly" wrote:

Hal, do not buy any Mac for Protools right now. The Intel Duo laptops and
minis have proven surprisingly good for audio, so do not get a G5 tower, and
G4's are overvalued.


Check out ebay. G4's are finally getting dirt cheap. Man, did that take
a long time ...

But I do agree on an Intel Mac if he can afford it. Many folks with
mbox's aren't looking too spend much. Anyone here running an Intel Mac
Mini with an mbox?





David Correia
www.Celebrationsound.com

Hi,
I record and mix 20+ albums/year and I still use PT 5.2 on my OS9.1 and it
works well.
For the same money of a new G5 + Digi002 you can find a used dual chip G4
plus + an "old" TDM mix plus system (which is expandible) running on OSX and
PT 6.4.
IMHO I'd think about that.
F.

Federico wrote:
Hi,
I record and mix 20+ albums/year and I still use PT 5.2 on my OS9.1 and it
works well.
For the same money of a new G5 + Digi002 you can find a used dual chip G4
plus + an "old" TDM mix plus system (which is expandible) running on OSX and
PT 6.4.
IMHO I'd think about that.
F.

I think this is a worthwhile suggestion but since the new iMacs are
faster than the old G4s and will be able to run the latest version (7.1
has some nice new features) I would not go for an older TDM system for
the kind of work he's doing. I think TDM is probably overkill for his
needs.

Craig

http://www.pro-tape.com

Authorized Apple Pro Video Reseller - Authorized Apple Service -
Rentals - Pro Video/Audio

Thanks everyone, I will hold off for a bit.
I'm off to work in another city for a week and will check back then.
"Mr. Tapeguy" wrote in message
oups.com...

Federico wrote:
Hi,
I record and mix 20+ albums/year and I still use PT 5.2 on my OS9.1 and
it
works well.
For the same money of a new G5 + Digi002 you can find a used dual chip G4
plus + an "old" TDM mix plus system (which is expandible) running on OSX
and
PT 6.4.
IMHO I'd think about that.
F.

I think this is a worthwhile suggestion but since the new iMacs are
faster than the old G4s and will be able to run the latest version (7.1
has some nice new features) I would not go for an older TDM system for
the kind of work he's doing. I think TDM is probably overkill for his
needs.

Craig

http://www.pro-tape.com

Authorized Apple Pro Video Reseller - Authorized Apple Service -
Rentals - Pro Video/Audio