DAW system
Hi all,
So my PC is currently on sale finally, and my speakers have sold...next is the HDTV monitor... but I'm still procrastinating over which iMac arrangement to get and what is best in terms of how I should upgrade it for my purposes. So any specific help would be much appreciated for a once and final time
The iMac 27" (I'm going to get) will be used for music recording/production mainly. There will be some imaging/CAD work also going on every-now-and-then. Other than that, other small time work (documents, etc) will get done on a laptop elsewhere.
I plan on using either Cubase or Logic (does anyone know any accurate rumours of a new Logic version coming soon?) for the music production.
Now the internet seems to be lacking a lot of fresh (2012-13) discussions regarding these new macs with audio production, or discussions regarding fresh use of SSDs for music production. However from what I can gather SSDs are great for applications and the OS, but wouldn't be too practical for saving actual audio files due to the continuous writing/saving you will be doing (and the limited writes you have on SSDs. Although, saying that, I get the feeling the number of writes is still well beyond what I could achieve in the space of 3-5yrs' worth of writing/saving audio files to (before I assume I'll be willing to upgrade my computer situation)). A bonus to using an SSD also for the audio files would be the complete silence from SSDs (great when trying to mic up and record!).
For audio, what appears to be best is to use three drives: 1) OS + apps, 2) Audio files, and 3) sample libraries, virtual instruments. I'm not sure I'm someone who is going to be overloading the samples; the majority of my recording/production will be 'rock' based, using a fairly limited range of instruments of a typical rock band, as well as the usual required instruments for the odd case of creating music that falls in the range of other projects (from classical to electronic). But I definitely don't need wads of extreme virtual instruments and samples. I like my music to be 'true', essential and replicable if performed live.
So, if I'm going to use three drives, what three drives should I be using? Should I be using an SSD for OS/apps, another SSD for samples and virtual instruments - both internally, and an external HDD drive to save/store audio files? Or, could I simply use x2 internal SSDs, one for OS/apps, the other for samples and for current audio files, while using an external HDD to save other audio files to once they're done? This would allow the external (noisy fan) HDD to be disconnected while recording, etc and used only as a way of storing/backing up audio files once they're fully completed and no longer need to be on the internal SSDs. (I can back up the external HDD to another HDD)
Is this going to be the best method?
(Other possibilities: use x1 SSD for OS/apps and samples & x1 internal HDD for storing? Just use x1 SSD for OS/apps/samples and an external HDD for backup?)
I feel like I've been looking so long and hard at so much detail that I can't see the wood for the trees!
If people could recommend which would be the best situation, and therefore which version of the iMac I should buy and what personal upgrades I should do, that would be absolutely fantastic!
Do I need to buy the Fusion drive version if I'm to remove the HDD for a 2nd SDD? OR just buy a single SSD version and add a 2nd SSD?
Is this the most appropriate solution, or overkill:
Buy iMac27" w/:
3.2GHz CPU
8GB RAM
1TB HDD
680MX graphics card
£1,710 (through education store - I'm a teacher
)
Then I can buy the kit to open up the mac, and upgrade to:
CPU - i7 3770, 3.4GHz
RAM - 16GB (Crucial?)
H/D - buy Samsung 830 128/256GB for OS, buy Samsung 830 256/512GB
- or buy the 1TB Fusion drive version, keep the Samsung SM128E, buy a 256/512GB Samsung 830, taking out the 1TB HDD (can I turn this into an external HDD to backup to? Or could I sell the 1TB HDD- would that be worth it, what if I need to get something repaired- if Apple see it gone will they declare the warranty void? - would I even get much back for selling the HDD?)
I'm trying to do this to the best I can for a solid audio (DAW) computer without spending way more than I need to, but without leaving myself close to running out of storage space quickly.
- Would RAID 0 be worth it (this was briefly mentioned to me in an earlier post but would like this cleared up a little - little worried about one drive screwing up and meaning I've lost two expensive SSD drives!)??
SORRY- this post is really long! but it's doing my head in how much I'm thinking about this with so many possible options!? Thanks for any help!
WahWah
