Pro Tools System

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panoramical

New member
Hi there,

I'm looking to invest in a new Mac as a new DAW. The price is going to have to be as low as I can possibly afford, although I really do need it to run Pro Tools M-Powered, FXpansion BFD, Reason and some Plugins all at the same tame so I can make some decent tunes. I've looked long and hard about this, and currently my 1.42Ghz Mac Mini simply cannot hack what I throw at it, however high I put the hardware buffer when I try recording BFD drums it comlpains violently. I already have an external 7200rpm 250Gb drive, so no problems there. I was more looking into what processor I would need. Would 1.83Ghz Core Duo cut it, bundled with 1Gb of RAM?

Thanks
 
panoramical said:
Hi there,

I'm looking to invest in a new Mac as a new DAW. The price is going to have to be as low as I can possibly afford, although I really do need it to run Pro Tools M-Powered, FXpansion BFD, Reason and some Plugins all at the same tame so I can make some decent tunes. I've looked long and hard about this, and currently my 1.42Ghz Mac Mini simply cannot hack what I throw at it, however high I put the hardware buffer when I try recording BFD drums it comlpains violently. I already have an external 7200rpm 250Gb drive, so no problems there. I was more looking into what processor I would need. Would 1.83Ghz Core Duo cut it, bundled with 1Gb of RAM?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I would put more than one gig of ram in!
 
A Core Duo with a gig of Ram is a good start. I do pretty well on my PC with an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ with 1 gig of RAM. I have used BFD on it a few times (I switched to Addictive Drums) with no problems. I usually create my drum tracks and then move them over to wavs so I can unload the virtual instrument since my RAM is low.
 
panoramical said:
Major issue here though is money...there's no way I can afford a system for £1k...
Click to expand...

Buy the extra ram from a vender like Crucial.com, not Apple. I'm not saying that one gig is not useable but it will limit you. And yes I know that money is generally an issue for most of us.
 
Thanks very much guys, looks like I'll start with one gig and move it up a bit more later when I have more money. What sort of processor speed would I need, considering I would be willing to bounce down BFD tracks to WAVS? Would 1.83Ghz be enough? What about 1.66Ghz?
 
panoramical said:
Thanks very much guys, looks like I'll start with one gig and move it up a bit more later when I have more money. What sort of processor speed would I need, considering I would be willing to bounce down BFD tracks to WAVS? Would 1.83Ghz be enough? What about 1.66Ghz?
Click to expand...

Either will work, though the faster the better. Just remember to up that ram when you can. I hope it all works out for you. Seems like you have put a lot of thought into it.
All the best!
 
If money is such a big issue, why buy an Apple machine? I'm personally fimilar with both systems and can understand buying an Apple (if money is no object). However, I've found time and time again that per dollar you can get much more performance in the PC dept.
 
JoeNovice said:
If money is such a big issue, why buy an Apple machine? I'm personally fimilar with both systems and can understand buying an Apple (if money is no object). However, I've found time and time again that per dollar you can get much more performance in the PC dept.
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I believe he specified "He was planning on investing in a new Mac". As I stated (to him) earlier, it seems he has done some thinking on this.
 
I have my own reasons for buying a Mac...I don't really want to tell you what they are becauase it will just spark a PC vs. Mac debate which I don't really want. I just want a Mac!!!
 
panoramical said:
I have my own reasons for buying a Mac...I don't really want to tell you what they are becauase it will just spark a PC vs. Mac debate which I don't really want. I just want a Mac!!!
Click to expand...

Very wise. Everyone hates the spitting matches that occur gong down that road. The best to you and please let us know what you come up with!
 
DO NOT start the PC/MAC debate. get a macbook, *MADE BY APPLE* if you want to dual boot and have the best of both worlds.

btw, xp runs flawless on my macbook atm. i use it pretty much just for autocad 2006, and for powertabs!
 
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