Mac For Music Production ?

Craig Stuart
craigyboy Pic

4475 Posts

Whats best to get?

Thinking of buying but i know fuck all about them. Wanna get logic too.

Any advice on soundcards too ?

EDIT : i have a m-audio 192 sound card can i wack that in a mac pro?

Post edited by owner 10/25/2011 2:01:09 PM

7 months ago

GeneticJunk
kingston Pic

3017 Posts

a pro mac is the obvious choice if you can afford one thumbsup

you can pick a good spec G5 up for afew hundred these days, was loads of basic 1.8ghz 1 Gig Ram models for like 90 quid on ebay few weeks back

7 months ago

7672 Posts

get an intel based Mac. no support now for G Macs.

Go for a Macbook Pro mate. I say that as I know that you DJ so you could use it as a production machine and for gigs with traktor etc etc. You can then hook it up to a bigger monitor at home to produce on.

plenty of decent Macbook Pro's going on ebay.
thumbsup

Post edited by owner 10/25/2011 2:06:01 PM

7 months ago

Craig Stuart
craigyboy Pic

4475 Posts

might end up hackintoshing it. just been looking at this. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hackintosh-Pentium-E6600-/250910728020?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item3a6b71df54

7 months ago

7672 Posts

get him to set up your soundcard and stuff before you purchase, even if you have to buy it first and send it to him for the build. That way you know you're getting a fully working machine for what you want straight out of the box, no hassle.

7 months ago

7672 Posts

I did think about the hackintosh route but the whole reason I wanted a Mac was because Windows kept bugging out. Didn't want to chance it fucking up with Apple so went the full iMac with 3 year care plan instead. More expensive machine but worth every penny. iMac 27inch i5 quad core 4GB RAM and it hasn't fucked up once, no stutters, screen drop outs, unplanned restarts, nothing. Will put more Ram in once the 3 years is up. But I can't see me getting another machine for quite some time.

Music software will move on and become more CPU hungry but Im content with a rock solid copy of snow leopard 10.6.8 & Logic 9. Will take something special to make me change set ups now.

7 months ago

GeneticJunk
kingston Pic

3017 Posts

In reply to
get him to set up your soundcard and stuff before you purchase, even if you have to buy it first and send it to him for the build. That way you know you're getting a fully working machine for what you want straight out of the box, no hassle.

that

hackintosh can be a fucking pain to get working correctly if u dont know exactly what your doing
or just make sure you get/have a sound card that is known to work with Snow Leopard

Post edited by owner 10/25/2011 5:04:02 PM

7 months ago

Bishop

2145 Posts

Saf East

Really hard Kick drums!

I've just taken the plunge and bought myself a 15" MacBook Pro. 2.00Ghz i7 with 8GB RAM.

Turned up today, so haven't had the chance to play with it yet.

One thing worth mentioning is that it's pretty easy to get yourself an educational discount. I just gave a friend of mine who's at Uni a list of what I wanted and got her to order it for me. 15% discount straight away. thumbsup

7 months ago

GeneticJunk
kingston Pic

3017 Posts

In reply to
One thing worth mentioning is that it's pretty easy to get yourself an educational discount. I just gave a friend of mine who's at Uni a list of what I wanted and got her to order it for me. 15% discount straight away. thumbsup

good advice, got told about this at college

7 months ago

Craig Stuart
craigyboy Pic

4475 Posts

can you get the discount on finance too?

7 months ago

Jazzy Gabba with a hint country \o/

BoneIDOL

708 Posts

Yeah it is defo worth going the student discount route I got almost £400 off my MBP but ring up and do it rather then ordering it over the net as you will get more of a discount and I think you can still get finance with the student discount. thumbsup

7 months ago

GeneticJunk
kingston Pic

3017 Posts

In reply to
Yeah it is defo worth going the student discount route I got almost £400 off my MBP but ring up and do it rather then ordering it over the net as you will get more of a discount and I think you can still get finance with the student discount. thumbsup

think its 20 or 25% init?

7 months ago

Jazzy Gabba with a hint country \o/

BoneIDOL

708 Posts

Yeah think it was just over 20% and I got apple care for £50 instead of £280.

Also worth checking out the refurbished mac's in the apple store as you can still get 3 years apple care with them. supercool

7 months ago

In reply to
I did think about the hackintosh route but the whole reason I wanted a Mac was because Windows kept bugging out. Didn't want to chance it fucking up with Apple so went the full iMac with 3 year care plan instead. More expensive machine but worth every penny. iMac 27inch i5 quad core 4GB RAM and it hasn't fucked up once, no stutters, screen drop outs, unplanned restarts, nothing. Will put more Ram in once the 3 years is up. But I can't see me getting another machine for quite some time.

Music software will move on and become more CPU hungry but Im content with a rock solid copy of snow leopard 10.6.8 & Logic 9. Will take something special to make me change set ups now.

Thats a weapon of a machine!! Double up on ur ram n u'll be set for ever!! lol.

Couldn't agree more tho m8, I got my hands on the 1st gen unibody MBP with a duel-core, runs logic 9 nicely! Itchin to upgrade to the i5 tho, then I'll be properly contented as well!

IMO, what you spend extra when buying a mac, you're likely to save in PC repairs over the course of a machines lifetime, even more so with Applecare!

7 months ago

Craig Stuart
craigyboy Pic

4475 Posts

In reply to
a pro mac is the obvious choice if you can afford one thumbsup

you can pick a good spec G5 up for afew hundred these days, was loads of basic 1.8ghz 1 Gig Ram models for like 90 quid on ebay few weeks back

prob go for a g5. didnt even know about them. thanks smile

7 months ago

GeneticJunk
kingston Pic

3017 Posts

In reply to

In reply to
a pro mac is the obvious choice if you can afford one thumbsup

you can pick a good spec G5 up for afew hundred these days, was loads of basic 1.8ghz 1 Gig Ram models for like 90 quid on ebay few weeks back

prob go for a g5. didnt even know about them. thanks smile

just be aware that post intel-mac software wont run on a G5

7 months ago

Craig Stuart
craigyboy Pic

4475 Posts

just wanna run logic 9 and some decent vsts really. will it do that?

been looking at this .. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Power-Mac-G5-Tower-2-5GHz-DUAL-Processor-4GB-RAM-500GB-HD-DVD-RW-/170721397675?pt=UK_Computing_Apple_Desktops_CV&hash=item27bfc9cbab

Post edited by owner 11/1/2011 11:06:42 PM

7 months ago

Aaron Kuruption
797 Posts

Sunshine Coast

Gurner Music!

In reply to
just wanna run logic 9 and some decent vsts really. will it do that?

been looking at this .. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Power-Mac-G5-Tower-2-5GHz-DUAL-Processor-4GB-RAM-500GB-HD-DVD-RW-/170721397675?pt=UK_Computing_Apple_Desktops_CV&hash=item27bfc9cbab

Mate read the post above yours again. Anything post intel most probably will not run on the G5. I know a lot of older vst's i've tried to run won't run on my intel mac. Not even sure if logic 9 would run on a G5?

7 months ago

Craig Stuart
craigyboy Pic

4475 Posts

right then. im thinking of building a hackintosh reccomended build on here http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac

its the 1 at $442 down the page

been watching some youtube vids . looks pretty simple to do

Post edited by owner 11/2/2011 12:01:30 AM

7 months ago

Simon Parkes - FrozenUK
sjp Pic

8966 Posts

Llanidloes

Melodic

A hackintosh is a really great way into the world of mac.....but you need patience and read up on the hardware needed that needs very little in the way of changed kexts (the Macs DLL's/Drivers)

I was lucky with my Dell Laptop as it had similar insides to a macbook pro and ran on OSX Leopard virtually unchanged (Vanilla) but not successfully upgraded to Sow leopard as yet. It works well with Logic 9.14... so no need for SL!!

I finally got an imac and realised i wish i'd saved and gone straight to mac...you still cant beat the real thing. Mainly due to stability and not wondering if i can get a specific driver to run the hardware...

Decent VST's (or AU's) need decent processing power and memory.... dont limit yourself.

But if you get the right machine or right PC hardware combination and decent Hackintosh tutorial...then you will be extremely happy you went mac thumbsup

7 months ago

3377 Posts

Deffo seriously thinkin of switching to logic 9 after havin a proper play with it. Hackintosh seems very very tempting, but goin to buy 1 pre built/ready to run.
http://www.applehacks.co.uk/ is only based in Derby, so should be good for after support as half hour from me.
http://www.applehacks.co.uk/i7_2600K_BitFenix_Merc_and_Coolermaster_500W_PSU/p801222_4705643.aspx this 1 seems good for the ££?

7 months ago

3377 Posts

Any advice on soundcards too ?

EDIT : i have a m-audio 192 sound card can i wack that in a mac pro?

Check M audio's driver database dude, got some for my old Ozone the other week, to run on a mates macbook pro running Lion idea

6 months ago

I make these machines and do not have stability issues of any kind. I always advise that if you have the money go for the real thing. My machines are for gamers, dual booters, and students to use as a gateway to the world of mac. I just want people to get better hardware for their hard earned cash. I have built over 50 machines now all retail non pirated software and have never had one sent back.

With all that said as long as you don't plan to poke around you really don't need to know anything about mac drivers and the such. I am very pleased that my creations at applehacks.co.uk are reaching the right audience. Thank you for the mention.

6 months ago

Simon Parkes - FrozenUK
sjp Pic

8966 Posts

Llanidloes

Melodic

In reply to
I make these machines and do not have stability issues of any kind. I always advise that if you have the money go for the real thing. My machines are for gamers, dual booters, and students to use as a gateway to the world of mac. I just want people to get better hardware for their hard earned cash. I have built over 50 machines now all retail non pirated software and have never had one sent back.

All ok as long as you plan the machine around OSx not the other way around! just a tip.

6 months ago

I have been making machines for studio use recently running Logic 9 with FireWire m-Audio devices. As Apple decided to go the intel route most hardware will work on a hackintosh it is just a case of finding the correct combination. I am working on a six core i7 3930K quote at the moment. Studio hacks are somewhat easier as the on board sound is not usually needed as external FireWire devices are preferred, this opens up a few more motherboard combinations. Also since the second generation Core i processors have integrated HD graphics there is generally no need for complicated graphics card setups.

If anybody would like to know more http://www.applehacks.co.uk

6 months ago

2414 Posts

i bought my mac pro for 1000 with a mac monitor its 8core as well, i would just buy the real deal if you can afford it, I love it i was using my laptop before which was blasting upto 100%cpu use all the time my mac pro hardly breaks a sweat

6 months ago