I've been looking into soon getting my first Mac and I'm looking at
getting a Mini Mac with 1 Gig of RAM and 80 Gigs of hardrive space with
Logic Pro 7 and the plan is to use the Mini solely for recording.

I've talked to several different Apple employees and fellow classmates
about whether or not this would be a good idea and I seem to get a
different answer every time I ask.

If you know anything about the Mac Mini's capabilities when it comes to
Logic Pro 7, please respond with some help.

-chadk
www.myspace.com/XfenderX

In article .com,
"Chad (XfenderX) Kirkpatrick" wrote:

I've been looking into soon getting my first Mac and I'm looking at
getting a Mini Mac with 1 Gig of RAM and 80 Gigs of hardrive space with
Logic Pro 7 and the plan is to use the Mini solely for recording.

I've talked to several different Apple employees and fellow classmates
about whether or not this would be a good idea and I seem to get a
different answer every time I ask.

If you know anything about the Mac Mini's capabilities when it comes to
Logic Pro 7, please respond with some help.

-chadk
www.myspace.com/XfenderX


Sounds like a great idea if you're short on cash, and can't get a
G5. Will you also get a firewire audio interface as well?

In article .com, "Chad
(XfenderX) Kirkpatrick" wrote:

I've been looking into soon getting my first Mac and I'm looking at
getting a Mini Mac with 1 Gig of RAM and 80 Gigs of hardrive space with
Logic Pro 7 and the plan is to use the Mini solely for recording.

I've talked to several different Apple employees and fellow classmates
about whether or not this would be a good idea and I seem to get a
different answer every time I ask.

If you know anything about the Mac Mini's capabilities when it comes to
Logic Pro 7, please respond with some help.

Depending on how many tracks you plan to work with, the Mini's internal HD
may or may not be up to the task. If you're planning on lots of tracks,
you might want an external HD.

--
Jedd Haas - Artist
http://www.gallerytungsten.com
http://www.epsno.com

jackfish wrote:

Sounds like a great idea if you're short on cash, and can't get a
G5. Will you also get a firewire audio interface as well?

Most likely.
Right now the plan is to get a really good 1 or 2 input interface with
awesome mic pre's and record things like drums that will need more than
2 mics at a time at the studio I work at and just transfer them into
the Mini from there.

-chad

I'd like to have at least 24 tracks with EQ and effects
and yes I am planning on getting a good external hard drive
but I just wanna make sure that the mini can still keep up during
playback without timing out or causing time delays while recording new
tracks

do you think that I'll be able to accomplish this?

-chad

"Chad (XfenderX) Kirkpatrick" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'd like to have at least 24 tracks with EQ and effects
and yes I am planning on getting a good external hard drive
but I just wanna make sure that the mini can still keep up during
playback without timing out or causing time delays while recording new
tracks

do you think that I'll be able to accomplish this?

-chad


The 1.6GHz CPU is a little shy for a full mix, but from there Macs get very
expensive in a hurry.

I'm not up on current 2-channel interfaces, but you should be able to find a
24/96-capable one with direct monitoring for under $300. But when I say
24/96-capable it means in and out, which requires USB 2 or Firewire. And
direct monitoring means the ability to mix the recording inputs with the
computer outputs in the analog domain for zero-latency monitoring. That's
the only thing shamefully missing from the Presonus Firebox, but is very
well addressed in the Firepod. Without direct monitoring during overdubs
you have to disable all plug-ins, but with it the performer monitors the
dressed-up mix and you can even have reverb on the channels being recorded
without printing it. It can really help musicians feel more comfortable and
confident.

If you're planning to use outboard preamps, then direct monitoring can be
done with a basic mixer, so the interface doesn't need built-in support.
Just split the preamp's output to the mixer and the interface, mix the
computer output with the recording channels outside the interface. A
compressor between the preamp and the mixer can help too.

Zigakly wrote:
"Chad (XfenderX) Kirkpatrick" wrote in
message
ups.com...
I'd like to have at least 24 tracks with EQ and effects
and yes I am planning on getting a good external hard drive
but I just wanna make sure that the mini can still keep up during
playback without timing out or causing time delays while recording
new
tracks

do you think that I'll be able to accomplish this?

-chad


The 1.6GHz CPU is a little shy for a full mix, but from there Macs
get very
expensive in a hurry.

I'm not up on current 2-channel interfaces, but you should be able to
find a
24/96-capable one with direct monitoring for under $300. But when I
say
24/96-capable it means in and out, which requires USB 2 or Firewire.
And
direct monitoring means the ability to mix the recording inputs with
the
computer outputs in the analog domain for zero-latency monitoring.
That's
the only thing shamefully missing from the Presonus Firebox, but is
very
well addressed in the Firepod. Without direct monitoring during
overdubs
you have to disable all plug-ins, but with it the performer monitors
the
dressed-up mix and you can even have reverb on the channels being
recorded
without printing it. It can really help musicians feel more
comfortable and
confident.

If you're planning to use outboard preamps, then direct monitoring
can be
done with a basic mixer, so the interface doesn't need built-in
support.
Just split the preamp's output to the mixer and the interface, mix
the
computer output with the recording channels outside the interface. A
compressor between the preamp and the mixer can help too.

You can do direct hardware monitoring with the Firebox with an app it
ships with that controls the onboard mixer. It works pretty well - you
can mix any of the 6 audio inputs together with (only) one of the pairs
of software outputs and route it to the headphone out, independently of
what's going to the other outputs. It's not at all clear from the
promotional materials that it can do this. I guess it would be nicer
to be able to monitor a separate mix of all the software outputs too,
but still this is probably a little more flexible than the FA-101 or
whatever else is in the price range. I am getting a few BSOD's on
bootup when I have an external FW drive connected as well; for me it's
no big deal since it only ever happens right on bootup and only
occasionally but something to watch out for especially if you're not as
reckless a person as I am (recommended). Other than that the latency
is great and it's a very nice cute little gadgety all-metal box.

"Zigakly" wrote in message
...
You can do direct hardware monitoring with the Firebox with an app it
ships with that controls the onboard mixer. It works pretty well - you
can mix any of the 6 audio inputs together with (only) one of the pairs
of software outputs and route it to the headphone out, independently of
what's going to the other outputs.

Hey cool, good to know. Why they don't advertise that better is very odd.



" The Firebox features a Zero-Latency DSP mixer that allows you to mix all
six live inputs with a software output stream, then route that mix to any
one of its outputs, as well as assign either that mix or a software output
stream to its headphone amplifier. "

Guess I should've RTFW...

I'm thinking it may be necessary to bouce tracks back and forth a
little bit, but from what I've seen of Logic, that should be no big
feat.
Right now I'm looking at a
href="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg=61/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/701385/"M-Audio's
410 FireWire/a as an audio interface and maybe using a
href="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/180581/"ART's
Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp/a as a nice occasional addition.

-chad

Chad (XfenderX) Kirkpatrick wrote:
I've been looking into soon getting my first Mac and I'm looking at
getting a Mini Mac with 1 Gig of RAM and 80 Gigs of hardrive space
with
Logic Pro 7 and the plan is to use the Mini solely for recording.

I've talked to several different Apple employees and fellow
classmates
about whether or not this would be a good idea and I seem to get a
different answer every time I ask.

If you know anything about the Mac Mini's capabilities when it comes
to
Logic Pro 7, please respond with some help.

I think when all is said and done it's better to get an EMac if you
are just starting out. You do need a keyboard mouse and monitor after
all, it will probabaly be cheaper, better and give you more options..

Will Miho
NY Music and TV Audio Guy
Staff Audio/Fox News/M-AES
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits

WillStG wrote:


I think when all is said and done it's better to get an EMac if you
are just starting out. You do need a keyboard mouse and monitor after
all, it will probabaly be cheaper, better and give you more options..



It's probably not his first computer, so he probably already has a VGA,
and the Mini is great with that.

Worst case $10 mouse and $30 Apple keyboard after that (if his aren't
already USB). Windoze keyboards work fine, but the pretzel and eject
keys aren't there. Mac keyboards run windoze just fine, though.

Zigakly wrote:
The 1.6GHz CPU is a little shy for a full mix, but from there Macs
get very
expensive in a hurry.

the mini I'm looking at it actually 1.42GHz
what would be the best processor to start at (keeping price in mind)

-chad