G5 imac 1.8ghz - for music making running cubase etc..

[Ildon]

Macs are great for running Logic (since it only runs on Macs), but I can't see any other reason to get one for music. Logic is very nice though.

I know of a good deal of professionals who use Logic and get amazing results with it. If it ran on Windows, I'd get it, but alas... it does not.

[womoma]

It seems Logic Express is pretty capable compared to Logic Pro. I hope so, coz thats probably the direction Im going.

[kuniklo]

It seems Logic Express is pretty capable compared to Logic Pro. I hope so, coz thats probably the direction Im going.

You can do a lot with Logic Express, for sure. If you don't need all the plugins that come bundled with Pro, you should be ok. They did remove some of the nicer workflow things from Pro too though, unfortunately.

[womoma]

Im aware that Logic Pro is used by many pros, including one of my personal favourites- Lemon Jelly. But because of various circumstances, Im only in the market for Logic Express or Cubase SL.

Its a hard call, as Cubase has VST support, but Logic express definatly looks like better value and perhaps more capable.

[kuniklo]

Its a hard call, as Cubase has VST support, but Logic express definatly looks like better value and perhaps more capable.

At this point there aren't many interesting Mac plugins that are VST-only, so I don't see that as much of a factor (Microtonic being perhaps the most obvious exception).

I prefer Logic to Cubase but there's definitely a steeper learning curve. They look similar at first glance but Logic's underlying paradigm is actually pretty different. The payoff (IMO) is that once you get comfortable in Logic it's faster and more flexible.

[Sascha Franck]

As kuniklo said: No reason to get a Mac if you weren't running Logic (or some other Mac only programs for the matter). Cubase is performing like 10x worse on the same machines whereas Logic is perfectly optimized.

However, if you don't need the transportability of an iMac, it *might* be a good idea to also have a look at some of the higher spec'ed G4 dual CPU models. You may just get them second hand at a pretty good price. Now, whereas you wouldn't get a G5 CPU in them, you'll get 2 G4s - and again, Logic under OSX is making *perfect* use of dual CPUs.
I'm occasionally working on a 2x2GHz G5, and just recently I've been transfering a project which was allready running quite some plugins to a dual G4 (I *think* a dual 1.2 or so, not sure) - and I've been amazed at how well that machine was dealing with it. The only drawback would be that some of those models are rather loud, no idea which ones...

Anyways, you'll be getting quite some better performance figures out of them, compared to an iMac, and you'll probably even be getting better results than from some single CPU 1.8, assuming you'd be running Logic.

[womoma]

Thanks guys.

Youve helped to cement my view that Logic Express is a great idea for me and my mac

Goodbye my old friend Sonar, and Cubase, well you have enough friends already without me.

Logic Express here I come.