Anyone recording on a Mac Mini?

  • Thread starter Thread starter NeveSSL
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NeveSSL

NeveSSL

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Hi all!

I was wondering if anyone was recording on a Mac Mini? I personally seem to have fewer problems using ProTools with Macs and I've been curious for a while, anyway, so I was thinking about picking up a Mac Mini, especially since they are rumored to be upgraded very soon. :)

They seem beefy enough to do fairly well with as-is. Core2Duo processors, 2GB or RAM, and just record to an external drive. Easy enough. :) Plus I would bet the new ones will support 4GB of RAM, and maybe have HDMI (if Apple has listened). We'll see.

Any thoughts?

Brandon
 
I do. My second machine is a Mac Mini, 1.83GHtz, 2BG RAM, 120GB HD and 160GB external USB2.0 HD. It's fed with an externally powered FireWire interface, so not much load. The Mini, like my main Mac, runs Logic Express 8 with a few different plugin packages.

The only issues I've had are pretty generic to any computer recording system. If I get more than six or seven EXS instrument tracks up against multiple audio tracks, sometimes the system needs a few seconds to get everything going. The few times I've gotten the "system overload" message, I just rewind, let it sit for a moment, and I'm back up and running.

The drawback to the Mini is, IMO, the 2GB RAM limit. For my voiceover and light recording, this is not an issue. If you want to record 16 tracks of 24/96 audio at once - could be a problem. If future iterations of Mini's solve the RAM limitation, be careful that Apple doesn't kill the FireWire port, as they did on the consumer level MacBook.
 
Awesome... thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. :)

I really hope they don't kill the firewire port on it... that would SUCK. We'll see, though. I wouldn't be too terribly surprised.

I'm thinking they should definitely up the ram, but, again, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't, simply because this is their lowest offering and they will want to give people incentive to move up to more expensive models.

Here's to hoping! Rumor is, the new one will be announced on January 6th at some kind of conference. We'll see.

Brandon
 
Current Mac Mini machines will (unofficially) take 3 GB. There are kits from OWC and other folks for them. You can also get a very small performance boost by putting in 4 even though it will only see 3 GB of that. Not much point going over 3, though, really.
 
Sweet... thanks for the heads up.

The only reason I can think of to add 4 over 3 is simply because of price. You can get 4GB of DDR2 now for around $50. So I guess in short, why not? :)

I may not be able to afford it anyway. I actually don't have too many problems with PT in Windows. My wife sometimes gets reverb happy with her tracks and makes the weirdest things happen... lol... but I don't usually have many problems with it. On top of that, I jonesing for other gear... like a Digimax FS or an RNC to go with my new preamps I'm building and racking up... or maybe even a new mic to plug into said preamps. :)

Thanks for the replies!

Brandon
 
dgatwood said:
Current Mac Mini machines will (unofficially) take 3 GB. There are kits from OWC and other folks for them. You can also get a very small performance boost by putting in 4 even though it will only see 3 GB of that. Not much point going over 3, though, really.
Click to expand...

Wow. Thanks for the tip!
 
FWIW, guys, there may be an announcement of an upgraded Mini on January 6th. There are rumors flying around, anyway. :) Here's hoping to 8GB of memory, Meroms standard, and a $100 price drop! :D

Brandon
 
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