need some advice :D (first time mac buyer)

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mattzilla

Guest
hey guys, was just wondering if its possible for you to supply me with some honest advice. ive only used PC's and never had a mac, but im starting to get into a bit of music production/making beats and ive really been reccomended to buy a mac.

ive been into my local mac shop and was heavily reccomended to get a powermac g5, but im kind of on a budget... if i need a powermac g5 to get good performance then ill get one, but i really want one of those sexy 23" displays (wont be able to afford that with a powermac)

anyways basically what im doing is just playing around with an aka mpd16, maybe at some point get some decent software (as i have to buy and not download- GAHH) maybe logic or something. its not gonna be running through an amazing soundsystem or anything, just generally for personal pleasure (incase i get totally hooked, maybe need something a bit upgradable)

sooooo... i really want an IMAC g5 (would just fit perfectly into where i want it, looks, size, everything). will this do what i need it to? will i need to get a decent external soundcard? upgrade ram? (im looking at the 2ghz, 512mb ram, 160gb hdd, 20" screen version). but basically i mainly need to know if it will give me the performance i need, having never done any music production on a mac before.

thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give me

matt.
 
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badmojo

Guest
I have the iMac G5 and I absolutely love it. If you're into music production you'll probably like Garageband which comes with any Mac you purchase. I've showed a couple friends my 17" and one of them immediately went out an purchased one. They are great machines and not as bulky as a Powermac.

I say go for it, but put at least another 512 mb of ram in it (there's an open ram slot) and no you don't need to buy it from Apple. As far as the sound card goes you cannot expand the sound as it is built in. There is an audio-out plug in the back to utilize other speakers. The built-in speakers aren't very good.
 
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mattzilla

Guest
badmojo said:
I have the iMac G5 and I absolutely love it. If you're into music production you'll probably like Garageband which comes with any Mac you purchase. I've showed a couple friends my 17" and one of them immediately went out an purchased one. They are great machines and not as bulky as a Powermac.

I say go for it, but put at least another 512 mb of ram in it (there's an open ram slot) and no you don't need to buy it from Apple. As far as the sound card goes you cannot expand the sound as it is built in. There is an audio-out plug in the back to utilize other speakers. The built-in speakers aren't very good.

when i spoke about getting the external sound card i meant a usb 2 model, so i could output it to a decent amp/speakers.

after hearing the views from a mac biased salesperson in my local store i asked someone about PC's vs Mac (someone i know with both), and it was explained to me that the reason the mac osx is so stable/good in general is because there is no settings to tweak/play with, its just permanently its its 'out of the box' state.

ive been told that i can upgrade with just standard kingston ram because apparently its 99% mac compatible.

for file transfer would i be able to connect it to my current LAN? file share with my pc and download box (win xp home/win 2k pro respectively) to get my samples from them? using wifi

its nice to know i can use a imac g5, because thats what i really wanted

thanks for the advice
 
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AndrewK

Guest
Hi Mattzilla,
in terms of audio production, you shouldn't have problems doing it on the imac, but make sure there is an audio in port which I'm 99.9% sure there is, but just in case, check. I don't know of any external sound cards that will work with Mac, which is another reason for the PowerMac since you can add a sound card if you aren't happy with the built in one which is actually really good.
If you're looking to actually record anything, I would recommend you get a multichannel firewire box (forget exactly what it's called) which allows you to record multiple sources at the same time and pretty much functions as a sound card. My friend owns one that is made by a company called Edirol and M-Audio makes them too - they're compatible with Garageband too which helps.
It can use regular ram as long as it's the right type. I use a PowerMac G5 and it doesn't matter which ram I use as long as it's PC3200 DDR ram.
You can also connect it to your Windows network and share files using WiFi.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions
 
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.Joel

Guest
Focus on getting an iMac, my mate studies at SAE (School of Audio Engineering) here in melbourne and their production systems are the Dual G5 setups, but all the standard systems are G5 iMacs. You will only need a dual G5 if you are plugging it into $500,000 worth of recording equipment as they do ;) Otherwise the general use labs all have G5 iMacs.

Regards,

Joel
 
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mattzilla

Guest
thanks guys, the advice is all good.

all i really need to know about is the soundcard, im pretty much sold into imac g5's now, but if i cant get a decent usb soundcard or a solution for my setup then ill have to get a powermac.

these multichannel soundboxes... ive never heard of one before, prolly just coz ive always been for internal gear on my pc. does it just act totally like a soundcard? my inputs from the akai mpd16 will be direct to USB, i was just looking for something that would give me a better quality sound when outputting to speakers.

i need to try and find out if the akai mpd16 is compatible with garageband. would i have to contact apple for that? or is garageband compatible with a lot of stuff. also how good is garageband as a piece of software? is it worth getting something like logic?

thanks :D
 
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AndrewK

Guest
I think you'll be very happy playing audio back through the built-in sound card in the iMac. The thing about the external box I mentioned is it lets you record multiple audio channels at the same time and will let you listen to what you recorded as well through the software you're using.
If the Akai mpd16 has usb ports, it could be compatible with the imac, but check the requirements for it or contact Akai to see if it's compatible.
 
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mattzilla

Guest
i know its mac compatible, i just dont know if i could use garageband to import the beats i make with it, or if id have to buy logic
 
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mattzilla said:
i know its mac compatible, i just dont know if i could use garageband to import the beats i make with it, or if id have to buy logic

You could also try Audacity, which is free and you can try it on your current platform since it's available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. I have used it on all three platforms with good result. You have nothing to lose other than the time to experiment. Between that program and Garageband or something else you might find it a good tool.

No, I don't have anything to do with Audacity other than being a satisfied user of the program.
 

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