imac studio

D

Denzel85

New member
-I've just purchased an Intel Duo Core 2.0 gHz imac.

-Initially i will be using Logic Express.

-I'm going to bump the RAM up to 1.5 gig.

Originally i was going to use a Focusrite Saffire Pro or a Presonus Firepod for my audio interface.

I was also going to buy a USB external hard drive with a 16 mb cache.

However... i've been told that a USB hard drive can be problematic for audio, and that i'm better off getting a firewire hard drive.

I've also been told that the two firewire ports on the imac share the same bus, which i'm told means they will both be competing for power (?).

So if i use a firewire hard drive, where does that leave me with the audio interface? there doesn't seem to be that much option for USB audio interfaces.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
 
I would say that the firewire hd is expendable if its between fw interface and a hard drive.

How many simultaneous tracks you looking to record at once?
 
Honestly I dont know. Depends on what else is plugged into the USB i guess. Generally, USB is not used for high performance anything
 
You can use a USB Hd for recording but it should be of the 2.0 variety.

Your I-mac should have a few firewire ports so you wouldnt need to chain from mac to fw device to fw device which is better anyway.

The mac does have USB 2.0 ports so just go look for a high capacity USB 2.0 hard drive with atleast a 7200RPM spin or get a 2.0 enclosure and get a drive.


I have used a USB 2.0 drive as an audio drive for a couple of year with my laptop no problems for me......

-Blaze
 
HUH!?!?!!?!?!?!!?
Click to expand...

Sure,
Short of the parallel port, it's the slowest, traffic dependent I/O on any computer. Granted this is the 21st century and the speed on a USB 2.0 device is a theoretical 480 Mbps. USB 2.0 HDs are obviuosly fast enough, but hog down the usb with a bunch of other stuff and you may have problems.
 
Just a note...

Watch Closely as well if you have USB MIDI Interfaces...
Sometimes an extra hard drive mixed with a MIDI interface or a Printer that demands communication can cause an issue...

Why not just record internally?
I've got one of the iMac DuoCores as well and it runs great when recording with Logic Pro7... ??
 
the firewire ports, so i'm told, are 8 watts shared... would this be sufficient amount for an interface and HD?

i'm told the presonus firepod has it's own power supply too, would this help?

obviously i'm keen to avoid USB as i'm hearing mixed reports!
 
Yep

Using an external power supply always seems to be a better route if you have the 'plug space'... Run the Firepod with that adapter and that should help only in terms of power, not bandwidth...

The reason you're hearing mixed reports about USB is probably because up to a few years ago the USB 1.1 standard WAS slow... You could run an audio interface on it... But, you could only gain about 6 audio lines at a time... With the new 2.0 standard it's suppoosed to be faster than Firewire...

USB was originally designed to be ONLY a replacement for serial / It wasn't meant to be a replacement to firewire... When companies first came out with USB devices it was strange because it was like making a CD Burner that went through your MOUSE Port to burn CDs!

I think the upgraded standard was really a push from PC manufacturers as firewire was more adopted by Macintosh... USB took off as PC manufacturers adopted the new 2.0 standard...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top