Hardware Questions!

[shanemccarthy]

I'm looking into gear and have a few general hardware questions if anyone can answer them. I'll be using Pro Tools 8.0.3 only.

I need an interface with at least 8 inputs. Is it worth getting the M-audio Profire 2626 interface if it works at firewire 400 when 800 is now available? Or is the 400/800 even an issue?

On choosing which mac to buy: The iMac only has one firewire 800 connection. How would you use it for recording if you need two firewire ports to run protools? (one for the interface and one for the external hard drive)

Does it mean getting a different Mac? even though the price for the imac is relatively good for what you're getting. (€1095 -3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - 4GB memory - 500GB Hard Drive)

Is it possible to partition the hard drive and record onto that, and is it a good idea? or is recording onto a Glyph External Drive with firewire 800 the best option?

Thanks for the help
Do Chara,
Seán

 

[johnsuitcase]

Not sure about pro-tools, I use cubase.

I have an older 1.8 ghz Intel imac and haven''t had any problems with firewire throughput. I think it's a non-issue for most. I regularly record 18 tracks of 24bit/44.1 audio to an external firewire (or usb 2.0) drive with no issues.

The iMac is a really good deal, I think. We're getting to the point where even cheap computer have more than enough horsepower for recording.