Old iMac for recording

[rob aylestone]

I was in the UPS collection point, 2 doors down from the studio - and it's a computer shop. The guy I leave parcels with was just polishing an iMac - the slimmer design to the older one I have. I thought it looked nice - i5 processor, 8Gb Ram and a new SSD. I've been using my old MacBook Pro - same spec, but it's a bit flaky with all the ins/outs hanging off an adaptor from the two USB-C connectors. Shoving in an SD card can dislodge it and it loses contact with the external drive with all the sample libraries on. I asked how much - he said £195. I bought it, and spent the rest of the day putting Cubase 12 on it, and then faffing around trying to get the libraries authorised - as I'd just done this to the MacBook, of course the Spitfire libraries locked and I'm waiting to get them unlocked.

The damn thing is so quick, the picture excellent. and for £200 I have a great computer. These older Macs are worth a serious look - OS wise, I think I have 2 or 3 years at least before the software won't work, and I guess I just keep Cubase 12 on it, and upgrade the other computer in the home studio. I finished typing this and already Facebook is giving me adverts for refurbished Macs!

 

[TAE]

Yep that's just about what I'm running...Think it's a 2013 27". I'm not a heavy user of plugins, just reaper doing it's thing and the most tracks I've done is about 10...smooth as silk..i5 with a 1 gb SSD think I paid about 300 for it and then $150 to have the SSD upgraded about 4 years ago...

These new M1 thingys sound groovy and I am intrigued by the UAD stuff. I could upgrade if I wanted to but I am really trying hard to purge and avoid "GAS". Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. I have the Xr18 if I want to do a band recording but at this juncture that is probably not going to happen ( probably should sell it) .Generally it's just me. I am using a Behringer USB mixer that allows me to send two tracks at time to reaper and that's fine.

Because I'm lazy, time is limited and I really like doing my live schtick, I have to admit I'm pretty OK with me just plugging that Behringer mixer into my damn iPhone and doing live stereo recordings on the voice record pro app.. Damn fine clean audio and if I feel ambitious I can always shoot a video of the performance at the same time and I have the audio and video record of that performance wham bam...

Patience is a virtue...that I have no time for...

A little Dylan jam captured live a year ago.. The volume is way too low on this one but I have that resolved and you get the idea...USB digital stereo out from the Berry mixer to a USB Lightning adapter directly to the iphone...@ Midway you really get to hear the harmonizer and how frickin cool that is live...UNFORTUNATELY...the way I'm using it with 2 mics one going straight to the board with some verb, the other going to the Harmonizer and the harmonizer is on all the time...works bitchin for the fade in fade outs BUT can not be pulled off with speakers on ...only with headphones or you get this horrible bleed back that destroys the magic of the moment...alas it is a ton of fun and very cool in the moment of a live performance...

 

[TAE]

BTW read up on it you can put more Ram than 8 ..I believe I went to 16 no problem when I first got it a few years back..it exceeds the max but does function and is recognized

 

[Steenamaroo]

+1 to all that.
This is a handy site for determining the real max ram values.

"I think I have 2 or 3 years at least before the software won't work,"
If you're not concerned about being on the cutting edge you could get years out of it beyond that.

I moved to M1 last year because I felt it made sense with the age and used value of what I had before that but, honestly, I could be working away on a 2011 i5 and be happy enough, performance wise.
Enjoy!