Processor choice? / Home Studio? Running 80 tracks on Logic Pro X

I am currently in the process of building a home studio, I am now at the point where I am looking for a desktop mac.

I'm a composer and I use Logic Pro X running about 80-90 tracks.
The system needs to be able to handle that.

I'm not sure where to start, I don't really care about the graphics or the benefits of something that I will not be using.

I just need Logic Pro X to run smoothly.

Processor choice? Mac Pro's?

My budget is pretty low as I am just starting out.

Between 500-700 hundred.

My equipment so far.

Apogee Duet 2
Monitors
6TB External Hard Drive (Sample Libraries)
Roland Controller

I have also been looking into Mac Pro's not the new one but the big silver one.. sorry for that. haha.
But is intel xeon fast?? I'm sorry I am completely useless with this stuff.


Apple Mac Pro 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 16 GB RAM
"WOULD THIS WORK" To run Logic Pro X

Please help!

Thanks in advance.

No.

Logic Pro X requires OS X 10.9.5 minimum - link.

A Mac Pro 1,1 highest version of OS X it can run is 10.7.5 - link.

I don't use any of that software, but I would guess you would need a 2012 Mac Pro (with as many processors as you can get) or newer and a minimum 32 GB RAM.

Thanks for the quick reply.

it is installed with Apple Mac OS X 10.9, Mavericks

If you're saying that the Mac Pro 1,1 you're looking at has been hacked to run Mavericks, that will certainly break at some point, and probably when you least want it to.

I'd suggest rejigging the budget to stretch a bit farther so you can get a more recent Mac Pro. I second Tom's suggestions.

You changed the computer in your original post while I was typing out my response.

There is no way I could conscientiously suggest that a 6-7 yr old computer will do what you want either.

Thanks guys. Something like this..????

32GB (4x8GB) Memory Ram For Apple Mac Pro 5.1 (2012) Quad 6 & 12-Core all CPU's
Processor's Quad Core: 3.20Ghz MPN: Mac Pro Desktop 5.1 (2012) Ram Upgrade
Processor's 6-Core: 3.33GHz Release Year: 2012
Processor's 12-Core: 2.40GHz, 2.66GHz and 3.06GHz

The Mac Pro is the professional work horse in the Apple line. If you go for an older Mac Pro do not go older than the 2009 model (4,1) and 2010 (5,1) is even better. I do very little with audio but I do a lot with Premiere Pro and video. I have a 2009 firmware updated to 5,1 (2010) so I could run dual Westmere processors. It will let me mix up to six cameras at a time (HD quality) with no hiccups. And yes, Xeon processors are fast but how fast depends on the processor model number.

Our Audio people have a 2013 iMac, i5 with 8GB and a 1TB internal hard drive an 2TB external thunderbolt connected drive. I have no idea how many tracks they are running but I think it is around 16-20? I do know it has no problems handling what ever they are doing.

If the you can find a dual processor Mac Pro 2009 or newer this will give you something that is more upgradeable. As to the Mac Pro you have in your post - with out knowing the year I can't really give you a better answer.

Lisa

Edit: well you changed a few things before I posted. The 2012 will definitely do much better than what you had listed before.

Sorry about that.

I would say those are getting in the ballpark. I'd let someone using the software weigh in on the # of cores it may take based on your scenario.

Thanks for everyones help so far.. But I am still so confused..

Could anyone recommend a model, year, how many processors.

to run Logic Pro X 80 tracks.. without hiccups..

budget £1000

80 tracks of Logic Pro is going to be pushing any machine you pick, even a brand new one, without a ton of FAST storage and a ton of RAM.

Its usually between 40 and 50 but I wanted the computer to be able to handle a lot of tracks, but I rarely use that many.

Why don't you tell us what you're using to do that now and the problems you face.

I'm using a studio at college, and I have no idea of the equipment and I asked the supervisor working in there and he doesn't have any idea, he wasn't the one that put it all together.. College is useless.. haha

It sounds like you are looking for a heavy duty work horse. Mac Pro is first and second is an iMac maxed out.

Here are a page of potentials in the $1000 range on eBay

Still guessing on how much machine you need but with a budget of $1000 it is limiting. Unfortunately Macs are not cheap especially if you want a powerhouse.

Lisa

£1000 ≠ $1000 Lisa.

At the moment, £1000 = $1,477.64 US.

Ouch! Missed that! Thanks for the catch. :Blushing:

In my defense - The OP originally said 500-700 hundred and I guess I assumed and I never caught the change in the second post. But I stand corrected.

Lisa

Could someone just recommend a model for £1000 UK Sterling that I could run Logic Pro X on with around 60-70 tracks, using plug ins and external hard drive 6 tb sample libraries. I want to do this as a career but my budget isn't huge, plus I have spent a lot on sample libraries.
I need something reliable.

Thanks guys, one thing to keep in mind, speak to me like a kid, because I have no idea what things are when it comes to computers, I can catch on pretty quick but if you could go into depth I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

As I mentioned previously, this is a very daunting challenge given the low budget (yes, £1000 is very low for a machine for what you want to do ... wasn't that long ago something that powerful simply didn't exist, and when they first came up to that level they would cost 10x more easily).

For example, that's a huge hard drive (and not one -- there aren't any 6TB hard drives I know of, so that would need to be stored on a RAID array just for starters, and that's before you figure out a way to back it all up), and you'll certainly need it to be either SSD or connected by Thunderbolt to get the kind of performance I'm sure you're after. The boot drive should be SSD as well for performance sake, and you'll need tons of RAM as well. I'm not an expert in this area, but I do have friends who do this sort of thing for a living (scoring films and TV shows, etc) and they're all on recent Mac Pros that are pretty tricked out with cards and storage.

I'm in no way trying to discourage you, and someone here who does this sort of work all the time would have more insight than I would, but to me £1,000 is the budget for a really good home computer, not the budget for a professional-level machine capable of doing what you've outlined with the necessary speed. Hopefully I'm wrong and an older machine can fit the bill, but I think you're still looking at at least double that figure for fast storage and backups.

Thanks for your honesty. I think your right about the budget being too low, maybe I will stretch to spend a bit more. I mean the new mac pro? the cheapest version, that should run everything smoothly right?
I don't mind investing in something like the mac pro if it will last and do everything I need it to do.