Buying Mac pro laptop.What do I need to record with it/setup

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jlbaxe

jlbaxe

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I am buying a mac book pro laptop and was wondering how I should get it set up. I'm not looking for the most expensive set up but want to be able to record guitar, pics and vid with out having to go over board. I was thinking about the middle of the line.

2.66ghz
320 hard drive
4Gig ram

It cost another $200 to make the ram 8 gig. Do I really need that? I would rather get the Apple TV set up.

I'm not recording any pro quality stuff but do have alot of demo tapes and recordings of a friends band from the 90's that I want to copy to CDs.

What should I use to go from guitar-amp-cab-mic eliminator to the mac pro? Is garage band good enough for this? Also would like to record like Sam Hill does for his utube vids. Thanks for any suggestions. Jamie
 
It comes with Garage band,ive been using that for several years but it's not stable,so i asked the same question a couple of weeks ago,and took James Lugo's advice and bought Pro Tools,and i'm
still trying to figure it out :confused:
 
What about 2.53 2.66 or 2.8 ghz and 4 gig ram ok or should I really go with 8 gig ? At the store they push for 2.8ghz 8 gig ram and 15 or 17 screen. I like the 15 inch, had a 13 inch laptop and 17 looks way to big.
 
Might wanna hold off. They should be updating their laptops in a few months.
 
my Mac has 2 gig of ram...updatable to 4..its more than enuff. I run LogicPro & Presonus interfaces. If you have some "friends" local who are Mac Geeks...chances are they have Logic Pro & can score it off them for a case of beer & save yourself a few hundred dollars!!

and of course the stores push more.. they want to sell the most expensive. Check the Apple site for the refurb stuff..i bought one & its perfect..and saved about $700... and it still has a warranty! then spend a few extra bucks for the Apple extended warranty. you can save yourself a ton of dough & get something super!!
 
unless you need to edit some epic porn movies or something, 4 gigs of ram is plenty for music. i did tons of full band demos on just 1.6
 
Im running Logic pro and a tc electronic konnect 24D. Very satisfied.
 
Thanks I was looking into the tc konnect 24d later.
WhammybarAllstar":3jtr1tew said:
unless you need to edit some epic porn movies or something, 4 gigs of ram is plenty for music. i did tons of full band demos on just 1.6
Click to expand...
so Sounds like I'm safe with 2.6 ghz and 4 gig ram. As far as editing porn :D I thought I'd post that part of the question on another site :lol: :LOL:
 
They just updated to 10.6.2 snow leopard a few months ago.
 
I run a 2.16 Mac Book Pro with a Firewire 410, or a simple 1/8 to 1/4 guitar adapter, and Garageband. Never had a problem with the exception of a very rare app crash.

CaseyCor":2dkyixnq said:
Code001":2dkyixnq said:
Might wanna hold off. They should be updating their laptops in a few months.
Click to expand...
this.
Click to expand...

The only problem with that is... Apple is always updating the laptop lineup.
 
jlbaxe":215pvvuy said:
Thanks I was looking into the tc konnect 24d later.
WhammybarAllstar":215pvvuy said:
unless you need to edit some epic porn movies or something, 4 gigs of ram is plenty for music. i did tons of full band demos on just 1.6
Click to expand...
so Sounds like I'm safe with 2.6 ghz and 4 gig ram. As far as editing porn :D I thought I'd post that part of the question on another site :lol: :LOL:
Click to expand...

Reason why I went with the 24d was that it has 4 inputs. I got one zillion tapes from the old portastudio days, that I can move over. Nice. :thumbsup:
 
verderacer":4krnq2v8 said:
I run a 2.16 Mac Book Pro with a Firewire 410, or a simple 1/8 to 1/4 guitar adapter, and Garageband. Never had a problem with the exception of a very rare app crash.

CaseyCor":4krnq2v8 said:
Code001":4krnq2v8 said:
Might wanna hold off. They should be updating their laptops in a few months.
Click to expand...
this.
Click to expand...

The only problem with that is... Apple is always updating the laptop lineup.
Click to expand...

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/12/01/fir ... nuary-3rd/
 
Get a HD that is 7200 RPM if you're going to be recording straight to the internal disk. The more RAM you have, the better off you will be. Don't buy the RAM from Apple. Get it from http://www.macsales.com. It's a hell of a lot cheaper there and it's the same thing.

I use a Metric Halo interface with a Mackie Onyx 800R tied into that with a few outboard preamps for different colors. If you're just wanting a simple setup, the Apogee Duet might be a good choice for you. It's about $500. The Presonus Firepod, which someone mentioned earlier, will give you more preamps than the Apogee and should be found fairly cheap on eBay.

Mics.... Start out with a SM57 or Audix i5 and play around with mic positions, new amp settings and EQ.

As far as a DAW, Apple comes with Garageband. It's all right for doing basic stuff, but Logic knocks its dick in the dirt. I you want to use Pro Tools, you're going to have to stick with M-Audio interfaces or spend a little more for the Digidesign stuff, which is outdated IMO.

Best of Luck!
 
This ^^^ macsales has got great pricing on stuff. I had to increase the ram on my mac pro because of the plug-ins I use. I dont think you would have to do that with Logic. (not sure) I would take the new Logic over pro-tools any day (I have pro-tools) :yes: I hate the VST plug-in platform that P-T uses, and I am not fond of the converters that Digidesign uses. They talk like its the stuff, but they have been playing catch-up for years. It was outdated when I got it :no:
 
JTyson":12p8o14x said:
This ^^^ macsales has got great pricing on stuff. I had to increase the ram on my mac pro because of the plug-ins I use. I dont think you would have to do that with Logic. (not sure) I would take the new Logic over pro-tools any day (I have pro-tools) :yes:
Click to expand...

My 2 gigs of ram didn't cut it for Logic when I was using Superior Drummer. Superior alone took over 1 gig of ram once I started adding a bunch of extra drums. Now I got 10 gigs and have no issues running shit tons of plugins.
 
JTyson":1voypenv said:
Well, there you go :D :thumbsup: excuse me while I choke on my foot :lol: :LOL:
Click to expand...

What I was getting at was that it depends on what plugins you run. If you stick to Logic plugins and use them in buses for multiple tracks, it'll be a lot easier on ram and processing power. However, certain plugins can take a lot of ram. I'm a big fan of running as much ram as you can afford. It'll make life easier in the long run.
 
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