Quote:

LT,
I had assumed you were considering a MacPro instead of an iMac. So, my question is this. What audio interface are you going to use? Can you configure the iMac with two hard drives, especially if you're going to be doing a lot of audio data. A single hard drive with two partitions doesn't really work if you have lots of audio tracks, because your system uses it, and it gets used to write and read audio. You should have a dedicated drive for audio and a dedicated drive for the system.

WIth an iMac, it appears that you can only use USB or Firewire, instead of a PCI or PCI-e audio card. What were you planning on using?

Gary



Gary, I'm not sure if you can have two hard drives in an iMac. I suspect not, but I don't really anticipate doing a lot of audio tracks. I bought my current system expecting that I would be doing a lot more recording and it turns out I didn't. When I tried to do some simple couple track recordings with BIAB or a midi file as a backup track, sometimes it worked, but more often than not the computer would start sputtering and mess things up. (that is using separate hard drives for the system files and for data/tracking -- however, I was just using my soundblaster card and who knows what other things on the system might be slowing it down. I can't say I spent a lot of time troubleshooting).

I have tended to simply use BIAB, and for fairly basic things -- as a backup band for practice and to put together some lead sheets. But who knows whether I may get motivated to do more recording/mixing in the future, especially if things actually work without frustration. So the hard drive issue is something to keep in mind. The MacPro looks great, but boy are they pricey. For what I tend to use the computer for, I think the MacPro might be overkill.

As far as an audio card, I haven't gotten that far yet. The options are open, so a firewire or USB card would be fine with me.
I'm sure I could find something that would suit.