i am going to have to buy a mac. will i get decent performance out of a 1.67mhz g4 book, with 2gigs of ram?
what kind of difference in performance will i notice coming from a P4 3.2, with 1 gig of ram?
how do you mac users like tracktion? where can i go to find more information about tracktion on a mac?
thank you kindly
lee
tracktion on a mac
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- KVRist
- 426 posts since 14 Apr, 2003 from Switzerland
Not compared to the kind of machine you seem to be used to.will i get decent performance out of a 1.67mhz g4 book, with 2gigs of ram?
I also have a PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz and I have a Athlon XP 2800+ PC. For audio stuff the PowerBook has roughly half the performance of the PC. The PowerBook is a wonderful machine but for serious producing you'd wish you had more power.
Possibly worth to mention that I don't use any external synths or processing units, so all's done on the computer.
Cheers, Pädy
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- KVRian
- 663 posts since 28 Feb, 2003 from out
Better wait for the next macbook pro model, I think.
I have a 1ghz PBG4, it performs ok with T2, but I really almost never use T. Mostly because it does only VST, and the absence of decent timestretching.
On the other hand, with the new PB's you'll have to wait for mackie to release T as a UB to use it...
Sorry, not much help I'm afraid.
I have a 1ghz PBG4, it performs ok with T2, but I really almost never use T. Mostly because it does only VST, and the absence of decent timestretching.
On the other hand, with the new PB's you'll have to wait for mackie to release T as a UB to use it...
Sorry, not much help I'm afraid.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1820 posts since 28 Mar, 2005
any other laptop models, either apple or pc that you'd recommend? mine got stomped on last night and it's dead.
i have to replace it by yesterday. so im kinda doing some hasty research right now, so as to order in the next couple days...maybe tonite.
i've got five bands backed up waiting, lol. im screwed essentially. i need some help from my fellows here. it sure would be nice to get some good advice. im kind of in a daze right now from the turmoil this has caused, and may not be making a decent decision.
i have to replace it by yesterday. so im kinda doing some hasty research right now, so as to order in the next couple days...maybe tonite.
i've got five bands backed up waiting, lol. im screwed essentially. i need some help from my fellows here. it sure would be nice to get some good advice. im kind of in a daze right now from the turmoil this has caused, and may not be making a decent decision.
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- KVRist
- 426 posts since 14 Apr, 2003 from Switzerland
No first hand experience of a PC notebook here. But I guess any Centrino will be fine - as long as it got no shared memory.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1820 posts since 28 Mar, 2005
im going to go with the 12 inch powerbook G4. i can afford it, for one thing... the specs are way above what's needed to run tracktion. ill be getting the max ram and ill have an external 7200rpm hdd.
what kind of a track count do you think ill be getting with this thing? will i still be able to record 16 simultaneous, and then mixdown with enough vst plugs for at least ten of those channels? (using 1-2 plugs a chan max)..
i know it's not gonna be the P4 3.2 that i had, but will it at least keep me goin with 16 channels?
i feel retarted, i just don't know the mac realm yet.
but this is what i can afford, and this is what im getting. am i going to be able to make demos for my locals? or am i f**ked?
...sigh...turmoil, despair...worry.
what kind of a track count do you think ill be getting with this thing? will i still be able to record 16 simultaneous, and then mixdown with enough vst plugs for at least ten of those channels? (using 1-2 plugs a chan max)..
i know it's not gonna be the P4 3.2 that i had, but will it at least keep me goin with 16 channels?
i feel retarted, i just don't know the mac realm yet.
but this is what i can afford, and this is what im getting. am i going to be able to make demos for my locals? or am i f**ked?
...sigh...turmoil, despair...worry.
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- KVRist
- 426 posts since 14 Apr, 2003 from Switzerland
16 tracks should easily be possible. Whether you're going to be able to add dynmics to each of those tracks is entirely up to the plug-in you're going to use. If it's the built-in Tracktion stuff, you should be safe. If it's the Mackie stuff, I think 16 tracks might be a little much. WaveArts TrackPlug is very easy on the CPU, if that's an option for you.
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- KVRian
- 703 posts since 15 Aug, 2005
I have a 1.33ghz 17" Powerbook with 2gb ram, recording to an external Firewire drive and I have samples (BFD, etc.) stored on a 2nd external firewire drive. I'm pretty happy with the performance. I wish I had a faster internal drive (mine's only 4200rpm), but it's working pretty well.
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- KVRAF
- 27007 posts since 3 Feb, 2005 from in the wilds
Why do you have to switch to Mac?
I am mac based, and rather like them, but you are talking about switching with a bunch of gigs waiting. It is different and you are going to have a learning curve and it seems like you are setting yourself up for some headaches to depend on any new operating system without any time learning it.
If you are sure you are going with the Mac, make sure you give some time using it before depending upon it for a paying gig. You should be able to get a good deal on price since most people now want the intel mac laptop.
good luck
I am mac based, and rather like them, but you are talking about switching with a bunch of gigs waiting. It is different and you are going to have a learning curve and it seems like you are setting yourself up for some headaches to depend on any new operating system without any time learning it.
If you are sure you are going with the Mac, make sure you give some time using it before depending upon it for a paying gig. You should be able to get a good deal on price since most people now want the intel mac laptop.
good luck
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1820 posts since 28 Mar, 2005
the commercial studio that i will be merging with will be using logic. so i have to use that professionaly. personally, when i work with artists outside this new partnership, i use tracktion.
so i am going to have to move to mac. the learning curve will suck, but ill deal. that's a small concern.
the main concern for me is will i be able to track small bands and do small "demo" projects on tracktion with the 12" 1.5ghz G4 powerbook? 16ch's in. a few overdubs, and some vst plugins. all done in the box. all audio, no midi.
i can deal with using simple plugins, as our main system is now logic, and ill no longer be able to use the cpu intensive plugs that i'm obviously used to using, on this mac. but ill deal. to simplify at this point would be a very nice thing anyway...
so im going to go with the advice given and assume that the 12" will work, but not as effectively as my P4, and just adapt.
thanks for the input fellas.
up next: my primary hdd is physically busted, my secondary hdd is suspect to be busted and my third external hdd also took a beating. they're all making rattling noises when shaken lightly except for the secondary drive, which doesn't seem to be all that abused. any suggestions about what to do about data recovery?
who can i go to in the us? do you think a local shop would be able to transfer some data off these busted disks? if not, my rep is blown and im screwed.
my guts are wrenching right now. it's so very stressful.
will i be able to use my pc tracktion edits on the mac if i am able to recover them? im petty sure this can be done. matter of fact, im sure of it. nvm. but it's down th getting the files recovered...
sorry to lay this on ya. i have no real friends in this town to talk to about this so it's all stored up inside and festering.
im done...
so i am going to have to move to mac. the learning curve will suck, but ill deal. that's a small concern.
the main concern for me is will i be able to track small bands and do small "demo" projects on tracktion with the 12" 1.5ghz G4 powerbook? 16ch's in. a few overdubs, and some vst plugins. all done in the box. all audio, no midi.
i can deal with using simple plugins, as our main system is now logic, and ill no longer be able to use the cpu intensive plugs that i'm obviously used to using, on this mac. but ill deal. to simplify at this point would be a very nice thing anyway...
so im going to go with the advice given and assume that the 12" will work, but not as effectively as my P4, and just adapt.
thanks for the input fellas.
up next: my primary hdd is physically busted, my secondary hdd is suspect to be busted and my third external hdd also took a beating. they're all making rattling noises when shaken lightly except for the secondary drive, which doesn't seem to be all that abused. any suggestions about what to do about data recovery?
who can i go to in the us? do you think a local shop would be able to transfer some data off these busted disks? if not, my rep is blown and im screwed.
my guts are wrenching right now. it's so very stressful.
will i be able to use my pc tracktion edits on the mac if i am able to recover them? im petty sure this can be done. matter of fact, im sure of it. nvm. but it's down th getting the files recovered...
sorry to lay this on ya. i have no real friends in this town to talk to about this so it's all stored up inside and festering.
im done...
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1820 posts since 28 Mar, 2005
actually, i've changed my mind to get the 15" G4 Powerbook 1,67ghz machine with a gig of ram in it. this should be alright eh?
...anybody? it's a lot better than the 1.5ghz i'd think.
...anybody? it's a lot better than the 1.5ghz i'd think.
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- KVRian
- 975 posts since 31 Jan, 2005
My personal experience of my 12" iBook is that:
* 12" is from time to time to small a screen, but I can manage.
* No audio input suxxors, especially when you want to use it as a small portable recorder, I got the UX2 after testing a few other soundcards, but now I'm kind of satisfied, its still more to carry then I had before.
To answer your question about your tracktion PC edits, the answer is yes, but you have to make sure that you have all the plugs on your mac that you had on your pc-edits.
Hope everything works out for you, datarecovery can be a pain, and sometimes very expensive.
I've used R-Studio http://www.data-recovery-software.net/ with great results myself, but if its serious hardware issues you have, you might have to cough up the serious money.
* 12" is from time to time to small a screen, but I can manage.
* No audio input suxxors, especially when you want to use it as a small portable recorder, I got the UX2 after testing a few other soundcards, but now I'm kind of satisfied, its still more to carry then I had before.
To answer your question about your tracktion PC edits, the answer is yes, but you have to make sure that you have all the plugs on your mac that you had on your pc-edits.
Hope everything works out for you, datarecovery can be a pain, and sometimes very expensive.
I've used R-Studio http://www.data-recovery-software.net/ with great results myself, but if its serious hardware issues you have, you might have to cough up the serious money.
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- KVRist
- 182 posts since 25 Nov, 2004 from From Madrid to Heaven
Im a Windows XP user (prefer to say XP or OSX rather than PC or Mac, cause at the end both are PCs), and recently started an Audio Engineering Program at SAE Institute, where only OSXs are used.
I have to say that, in my expierence, almost no learning curve took place. In fact it was easier than expected ....
So, no worries about that. Good luck mate.
I have to say that, in my expierence, almost no learning curve took place. In fact it was easier than expected ....
So, no worries about that. Good luck mate.
Tom
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- KVRist
- 65 posts since 17 Dec, 2004 from IRELAND
Be careful. The cpu performance on Macs is not good especially if you use higher sampling rates such as 48.1 or 88.2. I can only use 5 or 6 tracks at these rates. Mackie have confirmed to me that this is a problem and will be fixed. Pc users will confirm that you can use up to 30 tracks and more no problem on a decent PC. I prefer Macs myself but I personally only need a limited amount of tracks so I can manage but I would advise you to stay with PC if using lots of tracks and plug-ins.Pädy wrote:Not compared to the kind of machine you seem to be used to.will i get decent performance out of a 1.67mhz g4 book, with 2gigs of ram?
I also have a PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz and I have a Athlon XP 2800+ PC. For audio stuff the PowerBook has roughly half the performance of the PC. The PowerBook is a wonderful machine but for serious producing you'd wish you had more power.
Possibly worth to mention that I don't use any external synths or processing units, so all's done on the computer.
Cheers, Pädy
Cheers
Dave
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1820 posts since 28 Mar, 2005
im concerned about a performance drop, obviously. and now that i hear that macs are less effective at highre track counts, i am more concerned.
i'm going to have to go to mac anyway for my new partnership, but those will be boxes, not laptops, so my main concern about the mac laptops, is, do you fellas think in reality, that i will be able to get at least 16 tracks from a live performance onto disk, and then use the tracktion effects and some of the less cpu intensive plugs to get things done with my side projects?
im kind of stuck with needing to go mac out of respect for my partner and our mutual need to be able to pass along info between machines. so i have to get the mac. that's done. but the track count isue that was brought up kind of makes this scary.
the highest track count i ever did inside a real working project that made me money was around 25, on the XP machine. i used sparing effects as i like to keep things simple. ala steve albini, if you will, lol.
as long as im able to get 16 tracks with some overdubs, using sparse/light cpu effects, and come up with a decent sounding project, ill be happy as a lark.
i guess im kinda locked in now though, so i guess we'll see.
do you mac users mind if i come back to you with qeustions and things when i get the mac and start the migration? i promise ill go light on ya.
ha!
thanks fellas! i know it's not the best move, but it's one i have to make.
im going to love the mac OS, im just not going to like the lower track count i suppose. can anybody confirm or debunk the lo track count theory?
i'm going to have to go to mac anyway for my new partnership, but those will be boxes, not laptops, so my main concern about the mac laptops, is, do you fellas think in reality, that i will be able to get at least 16 tracks from a live performance onto disk, and then use the tracktion effects and some of the less cpu intensive plugs to get things done with my side projects?
im kind of stuck with needing to go mac out of respect for my partner and our mutual need to be able to pass along info between machines. so i have to get the mac. that's done. but the track count isue that was brought up kind of makes this scary.
the highest track count i ever did inside a real working project that made me money was around 25, on the XP machine. i used sparing effects as i like to keep things simple. ala steve albini, if you will, lol.
as long as im able to get 16 tracks with some overdubs, using sparse/light cpu effects, and come up with a decent sounding project, ill be happy as a lark.
i guess im kinda locked in now though, so i guess we'll see.
do you mac users mind if i come back to you with qeustions and things when i get the mac and start the migration? i promise ill go light on ya.
ha!
thanks fellas! i know it's not the best move, but it's one i have to make.
im going to love the mac OS, im just not going to like the lower track count i suppose. can anybody confirm or debunk the lo track count theory?