Best Mac for Rock band home-recording studio [on a budget]

jdenmo

New member
Hey guys,

I'm in quite the unique predicament. I won a contest and have several thousand dollars to spend on music related gear.

In my budget, I've set aside roughly $1000 to $1600 for a Mac (leaning towards a desktop and not a laptop though). I am in a 3 piece Hard Rock band (vocals, guitars, bass, drums .etc) and am currently looking for a mac I can run my interface through. We're young, mostly hard rock/stoner rock/classic rock and won't be doing any midi stuff, remixing, computer effects- pretty much just recording instruments with microphones into and interface into the computer and program.

As far as interfaces go- I still haven't decided on one. It will be digital, 8 mic lines, .etc- not really important as I have several I'm choosing between that come along with DAW. Looking at the Presonus Studio 192 3.0.

I'm choosing Macs as it seems to be the music industry standard and has top notch specs and quality as well as programs like Pro Tools, Garage Band, .etc. I don't know much about different operating systems and if I should download/install certain ones on this theoretical mac- for the most part though I figure I'll be fine on the default system.

I am in Canada and can't build my own computer or buy one used- it has to be retail from a Canadian distributor (As per terms of the prize). Once again, looking to spend under $1600.

As far as quad core, memory, hard drive, .etc.. not sure what I particularly need.
Here's some of the options I'm looking at:

iMac: iMac Computer, Apple iMac Desktop - Best Buy Canada
Refurbished iMac - Apple Certified Refurbished Desktop Computers - Apple for Education - Apple (CA)

I figure this might do the job?
Apple iMac (MK142C/A) 21.5" Intel Core i5 Dual 1.6GHz Computer
Apple iMac (MK142C/A) 21.5" Intel Core i5 Dual 1.6GHz Computer : Apple iMac - Best Buy Canada

Any recommendations or information is much appreciated. Thanks guys!
 
Hi there,
I am a mac user and a fan of OS X but if this is your reason for going Apple....

I'm choosing Macs as it seems to be the music industry standard and has top notch specs and quality as well as programs like Pro Tools, Garage Band, .etc.

stop and do some more research. ;)


There's no industry standard, nothing is unique about the hardware, Protools is cross platform/doesn't come with Apple computers, and Garage Band is a toy. :p
Logic is Apple's professional audio suite but have a look at the pricing on it. It's far from free.

Do a bit of research on the hardware you'd be getting.
You can often buy an equivalent i5/i7 (whatever) Windows machine for less money. Maybe that's not true under your circumstances? I don't know.

On the other hand, there's a damn good list of reasons why I use Apple computers....
I'll spare you that list but don't buy one 'cos you think you need to.
 
Hi there,
I am a mac user and a fan of OS X but if this is your reason for going Apple....



stop and do some more research. ;)


There's no industry standard, nothing is unique about the hardware, Protools is cross platform/doesn't come with Apple computers, and Garage Band is a toy. :p
Logic is Apple's professional audio suite but have a look at the pricing on it. It's far from free.

Do a bit of research on the hardware you'd be getting.
You can often buy an equivalent i5/i7 (whatever) Windows machine for less money. Maybe that's not true under your circumstances? I don't know.

On the other hand, there's a damn good list of reasons why I use Apple computers....
I'll spare you that list but don't buy one 'cos you think you need to.

Hey man,

I wrote this thread pretty quick without going into details so i just threw out some quick points off the top of my head. However, I assure you I've done enough research to convince myself I prefer one over a windows equivalent. Just trying to be as accurate as possible
 
Alright cool. The part I quoted is a bit worrying, that's all. I just didn't want you to make the decision for the wrong reasons.

Is buying used definitely out of the question?
You could get a 2011 Mac Mini i5 for about £300 in UK. Perfectly capable of what you're proposing although, of course, you'll need a screen.
They house exactly the same hardware you'll find in a Macbook Pro of the same age, which is what I used as my main recording rig for the last 5 years.

I do much more intensive work than you're describing.

If it is out of the question buying used, you're on the right track with the refurb store. There's nothing 'second hand' about the items in there. They're all sold as retail would be would be barring, perhaps, the outer packaging.
I wonder can you increase the savings with a student discount? Are you a student yourself or do you have one in the family?
 
Alright cool. The part I quoted is a bit worrying, that's all. I just didn't want you to make the decision for the wrong reasons.

Is buying used definitely out of the question?
You could get a 2011 Mac Mini i5 for about £300 in UK. Perfectly capable of what you're proposing although, of course, you'll need a screen.
They house exactly the same hardware you'll find in a Macbook Pro of the same age, which is what I used as my main recording rig for the last 5 years.

I do much more intensive work than you're describing.

If it is out of the question buying used, you're on the right track with the refurb store. There's nothing 'second hand' about the items in there. They're all sold as retail would be would be barring, perhaps, the outer packaging.
I wonder can you increase the savings with a student discount? Are you a student yourself or do you have one in the family?

Thanks for the info. Only real concern I have with macs at the moment is that the new El Capitan OS X has been having problems with several USB interfaces as far as syncing, latency and .etc... which is why I'm a bit hesitant to get a mac/interface at this moment with out lots of research. I think I'd prefer to run Yosemite (the last OS) assuming no major audio-quality changes have come from this new release.

As far as prices go- I've considered re furbished products, posted a link to ones here in Canada in the original post above. I am 21 and currently in college so I would get a student discount, totally forgot about that!

Here's the refurbished local ones I'm looking at: Refurbished iMac - Apple Certified Refurbished Desktop Computers - Apple for Education - Apple (CA)
any particular ones that stand out? I'm pretty confused about older macs... i.e., whether or not a 2013 one will have any issues with a new interface (particularly this one) https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-192
 
Yeah, that's not really too big a deal.
I'd strongly recommend going firewire (thunderbolt compatible). I've always used FW/thunderbolt on mac.
It's going to be sitting there doing nothing else, while USB is going to be busy doing other jobs.

Presonus and Motu make good FW interfaces with apple compatibility. I use a motu 828 mk2 right now, although it needs outboard preamps so not much use for you.

Staying on Yosemite or earlier isn't a big deal. You don't need to be bang up to date, OS wise.

That refurb list is exclusively iMacs, so is it safe to say you're set on those?
I'd rather have the 2.8ghz mac mini with fusion drive and have to buy a screen, than the 1.6ghz iMac for $100 more, but it's your call man.
The iMac screens are nice, to be fair.
 
I've been using an old Mac Mini Mid-2010 model (Core 2 Duo 3.x Ghz, 4GB RAM, 300GB HDD) with just one working USB port as my recording studio machine for a while now. I use an 8 port USB hub to plug in my interface, midi controllers and everything else USB and it works fine. I'm in the process of installing everything I use on a Windows 7 machine with an AMD Quad Core processor to compare the two. Before I used this Mac Mini I used an old Macbook Pro that was even less impressive on specs (only 2 USB ports on that one) and it worked fine too.

If you're planning on recording your band doing rock music the refurbished Macs you posted the link to will be plenty. I'm mixing a song right now with 20+ tracks and my Mac Mini handles it fine.

I'm not disagreeing with Steen's assessment that Thunderbolt is a good choice for the reasons he stated, but you can get a good USB interface for cheaper and my TASCAM US-1800 works great (even with my USB port limitation and going through the hub). If you're on a budget I think a USB interface is a fine choice, maybe look for a USB to start and then upgrade to a Thunderbolt interface? It seems Thunderbolt interfaces, from the trusted brands I recognize, are more expensive so if there are good inexpensive interfaces then I apologize if this info is misleading.

Good luck. Let us know what you end up with.
 
Yeah, that's not really too big a deal.
I'd strongly recommend going firewire (thunderbolt compatible). I've always used FW/thunderbolt on mac.
It's going to be sitting there doing nothing else, while USB is going to be busy doing other jobs.

Presonus and Motu make good FW interfaces with apple compatibility. I use a motu 828 mk2 right now, although it needs outboard preamps so not much use for you.

Staying on Yosemite or earlier isn't a big deal. You don't need to be bang up to date, OS wise.

That refurb list is exclusively iMacs, so is it safe to say you're set on those?
I'd rather have the 2.8ghz mac mini with fusion drive and have to buy a screen, than the 1.6ghz iMac for $100 more, but it's your call man.
The iMac screens are nice, to be fair.

Thanks for the info dude, that actually helped re-assure me I'll be okay as I was confused about mixing and matching macs to interfaces. Knowing that a refurbished one will do the job, I feel alot better since that will be the only real reason I use the mac (for recording/mixing/mastering songs).

As far as mini macs go, I'm not too familiar with the difference and pros/cons with macs. Would the 2.8ghz be that much better than the 1.6ghz, as in, what benefits does that have? I think I'm going to stick with the PreSonus, it seems like something I'll be able to use for years.

I've been using an old Mac Mini Mid-2010 model (Core 2 Duo 3.x Ghz, 4GB RAM, 300GB HDD) with just one working USB port as my recording studio machine for a while now. I use an 8 port USB hub to plug in my interface, midi controllers and everything else USB and it works fine. I'm in the process of installing everything I use on a Windows 7 machine with an AMD Quad Core processor to compare the two. Before I used this Mac Mini I used an old Macbook Pro that was even less impressive on specs (only 2 USB ports on that one) and it worked fine too.

If you're planning on recording your band doing rock music the refurbished Macs you posted the link to will be plenty. I'm mixing a song right now with 20+ tracks and my Mac Mini handles it fine.

I'm not disagreeing with Steen's assessment that Thunderbolt is a good choice for the reasons he stated, but you can get a good USB interface for cheaper and my TASCAM US-1800 works great (even with my USB port limitation and going through the hub). If you're on a budget I think a USB interface is a fine choice, maybe look for a USB to start and then upgrade to a Thunderbolt interface? It seems Thunderbolt interfaces, from the trusted brands I recognize, are more expensive so if there are good inexpensive interfaces then I apologize if this info is misleading.

Good luck. Let us know what you end up with.

Haha thanks for this info man, as it seems you're doing and have done something extremely similar. I didn't even consider a Thunderbolt interface to be honest- just looking at USB stuff mostly. I'm really leaning towards this PreSonus Studio 192 USB Audio Interface | Musician's Friend as it looks extremely easy to use, well designed, has as many mic lines as I need plus top notch sound quality so I hear. I would definitely check out some similar options, possibly even a bit less, for USB.

Also- what is the actual difference between Thunderbolt and USB as far as sound recording goes? I looked up some stuff online and it seems like Thunderbolt is faster and more manageable, albeit much more expensive and interface-dependent which kinda steered me away. Is USB 3.0 fine?
 
I'm not disagreeing with Steen's assessment that Thunderbolt is a good choice for the reasons he stated, but you can get a good USB interface for cheaper and my TASCAM US-1800 works great (even with my USB port limitation and going through the hub). If you're on a budget I think a USB interface is a fine choice, maybe look for a USB to start and then upgrade to a Thunderbolt interface? It seems Thunderbolt interfaces, from the trusted brands I recognize, are more expensive so if there are good inexpensive interfaces then I apologize if this info is misleading.

Hey man. You're right about USB interfaces being cheaper and readily available but, just to be clear, I'm not advocating a thunderbolt interface at all. Those are, generally, very expensive.
I'm advocating a firewire interface. Thunderbolt is firewire compatible.

Issues with USB interfaces are so common, especially with bus powered interfaces, and the thunderbolt/firewire interface is sitting there doing nothing.
Personally, I'd never buy any audio interface that doesn't have a true path to ground - A proper mains power connection. That's kind of a different point, to be fair.
 
Hey man. You're right about USB interfaces being cheaper and readily available but, just to be clear, I'm not advocating a thunderbolt interface at all. Those are, generally, very expensive.
I'm advocating a firewire interface. Thunderbolt is firewire compatible.

Sorry, my bad, I mixed them up unintentionally. The firewire interfaces I looked at were more expensive than some of the "common" USB interfaces. I was referring to firewire and not Thunderbolt. But you are definitely more experienced in this stuff than I am.
 
Cool man.
I know plenty of people use USB interfaces without issue, of course. Worth mentioning that.

So many macs have thunderbolt/firewire sitting there doing nothing, though, so may as well take advantage of that.
It's also rock solid and way less likely to have issues noise/buzz/ground issues.

I think firewire gets a bad name all-round because of the possibility of having chipset issues depending on your motherboard.
This isn't an issue on Mac.
 
I am somewhat in the same boat in regards to the Apple Computer conundrum although I generally record with more tracks, I use "Instruments" and I use "Plug-Ins" thus I have been doing research.
I would love to buy a Mac Mini because I have a 27" Video Monitor, mouse, keyboard and so on but based on current Mac-Mini technology, I've been told by a number of people, "no, don't buy the Mac Mini but if you do, go for the i7 upgrade and max out the RAM to 16 GB" but that puts the cost very close to the 2.6 Quad-Core 21.5" iMac which is what most people have been suggesting I do.
However, adding 16 GB RAM to that model then switching up to a SSD puts me over the $1600 mark. :-(
I also get many suggestions to buy a late 2012 Quad-Core Mac Mini which makes sense because the 2012 quad cores beat the crap out of any Mac-Mini Apple is selling currently.
I have a Focusrite 8 Pre-X with Thunderbolt 2 and, unfortunately, don't know if the older Macs that only have a Single Thunderbolt Port would be able to take advantage of 2X speed increase.
It's looking like 21.5 but perhaps with a Hybrid Hard-Drive.
In your case, the PreSonus 192 is a nice piece of equipment but at that price point you are getting closer to the much faster (Thunderbolt 2) Focusrite 8Pre.
Those darn computers have us in a Pickle!!! ;-)
 
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