Best config for music editing

[SeattleMoose]

My first post here!!

I have been mulling over what config to get. As someone who's been recording and editing on Logic and an MP 1,1 for many years I'm in sore need of an upgrade.

Since my graphic needs are modest compared to video people it seems to make sense get the 4-core and configure it to 6 or 8 or 12 depending on budget. The only difference would be the less powerful GPU which is OK.

Also, since non-Apple ram is much cheaper, I might as well get it with the minimum pre-intalled and upgrade it myself to the max.

Finally, since it will be nice to have sample libraries and Logic project files each on their own drives, it seems an unnecessary expense to have a whole TB flash. I could get a 500GB and keep the other stuff on external SSDs

Does anyone think this is a bad plan?

This is precisely my plan too. I currently run logic 8 on a 2007 MBP. This is a more exploratory approach that allows for future growth and expandability based on actual need. Perhaps the entry configuration will be so outstanding that we can spend our money on plugs, Studio hardware, and instruments as opposed to additional computer upgrades.

 

[propower]

If I decide to replace imac with nMP for my Studio set up I would get

Quad --> upgd to Hex
Base GPU
256G SSD
32G Apple Ram

I easily fit my OS and programs on a 256G SSD and if I need more later that can be replaced. GPU - don't care. 32G Apple RAM costs $100 more than OWC - might as well let Apple do it.

This would be a ridiculously good Audio machine.

 

[nathan43082]

I run Pro Tools 11 and, until early December, was running an 8-core 2.8gHz Mac Pro 2008. On that system, with a Geekbench 3 of about 10.5k and a slow-as-hell memory subsystem, I was able to run quite a few plug-ins at once before I hit the brick wall. It died on December 10th.

I had one of the new iMacs, specifically the 4-core (8 threaded) 3.5gHz i7 with 780M card (for gaming on the side). It was a temporary "loan" from Apple until I decided what to do (really bad timing on losing the old computer). I tested Pro Tools 11 on that machine and it seemed like it could handle as much as I threw at it. It was quite absurd. I opened an old session and loaded up every track with several CPU-intensive plug-ins and it just laughed at me. I even had several Waves LinEQ plugs in series on the master track. They may have optimized it, but it used to eat up a *lot* of CPU. I think I even instantiated a few Altiverb instances with long tails in a few places. Once I saw how powerful the iMac was, I very nearly decided to keep it instead of waiting for the new Mac Pro.

However, sanity took over and I realized that, no matter how good the iMac was, a 6+ core Mac Pro would be better, especially for those times when I want to switch to Windows and play Rift, SWTOR, FFXIV, WoW or one of the many games I have via Steam.

I ended up ordering the 8-core model with 1TB SSD, 16 GB RAM (meh, I can always upgrade if I need to) and the D700s (mostly for gaming, but also for when I do video stuff in FCPX, After Effects CC or whatever). With its 26+k Geekbench 3 score, super-fast memory subsystem and absurdly-fast internal drive, I cannot imagine it will ever balk at anything I throw at it in Pro Tools.

I toyed with the idea of getting the 12-core, but the extra expense was difficult to justify, considering how much I was able to throw at the iMac plus the fact that it would be slower for those times I want to just pig out on gaming.

Hopefully, that helps.

(FYI: You can hear the kind of music I was recording on the old Mac Pro 2008 at http://www.soundcloud.com/nathan-dickson)

 

[unfragile]

Video is a test session that I use to make it crash Pro tools.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN3lGsA-YtQ&feature=em-upload_owner