Buying a mac....for msuic

Hiya new here, i play the guitar and keyboard and am looking to start recording my music, im going to use Logic Pro 7 and was wondering what are the differences if i was to get a macbook and not go pro?

I prefer the size and design of the macbook but i dont want to regret it down the line....can i still maybe upgrade after on the macbook?


Thanks in advance for any help

chronic said:

Hiya new here, i play the guitar and keyboard and am looking to start recording my music, im going to use Logic Pro 7 and was wondering what are the differences if i was to get a macbook and not go pro?

I prefer the size and design of the macbook but i dont want to regret it down the line....can i still maybe upgrade after on the macbook?


Thanks in advance for any help

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If you're just recording yourself, buy logic express and put the other $750 towards the computer. Problem solved.

Thanks dude, i got my macbook i diddt bother getting pro as that should be enough, i need it portable otherwise i wouldve spent alot on a desktop mac.

I am just recording myself but will be recording other bands onit aswell, or at least parts of other peoples playing, ill get on with garage band and then upgrade to logic express eventually i jst cant fork out another 700 for logic pro 7 right now as ive jst spent 2500 on a roland fantom x7, presonus firebox and the macbook all in one day!


Is using garageband, then upgrading to logic a good idea, are they both similar?

On another subject i got a Roland MV8000 for sale if theres any takers, it has the vga and mouse expansion upgrade aswell which cost me 250, i jst havent bothered using it to be honest as ive been playing everything live and not started recording, now ive got my macbook and synth i dont see the point in me having the MV8000.....

chronic said:

Thanks dude, i got my macbook i diddt bother getting pro as that should be enough, i need it portable otherwise i wouldve spent alot on a desktop mac.

I am just recording myself but will be recording other bands onit aswell, or at least parts of other peoples playing, ill get on with garage band and then upgrade to logic express eventually i jst cant fork out another 700 for logic pro 7 right now as ive jst spent 2500 on a roland fantom x7, presonus firebox and the macbook all in one day!

On another subject i got a Roland MV8000 for sale if theres any takers, it has the vga and mouse expansion upgrade aswell which cost me 250, i jst havent bothered using it to be honest as ive been playing everything live and not started recording, now ive got my macbook and synth i dont see the point in me having the MV8000.....

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13" screen = suck for recording

You should also invest in a larger lcd to hook it up to.

At my studio I have the 15" MBP running right next to a 22" LG monitor with the dual display setup and sometimes wish I had two 24" monitors....but spending over $1300 on a monitor setup isn't something I can do right now.

for real isit that bad? i got a 24" dell ultrasharp right next to it on my windows pc , or theres my samsung 40" tv right next to it that has svideo and lcd connection. maybe i can hook up sum sort of switch between the two like the old nintendo switches between computer and tv


isit poss to get a firebox type module that u can use svideo out on the macbook?


i got the 13" for the convenience the cheapness, and plus i love the black!

chronic said:

Thanks dude, i got my macbook i diddt bother getting pro as that should be enough, i need it portable otherwise i wouldve spent alot on a desktop mac.

I am just recording myself but will be recording other bands onit aswell, or at least parts of other peoples playing, ill get on with garage band and then upgrade to logic express eventually i jst cant fork out another 700 for logic pro 7 right now as ive jst spent 2500 on a roland fantom x7, presonus firebox and the macbook all in one day!


Is using garageband, then upgrading to logic a good idea, are they both similar?

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Logic Express is lightyears ahead of Garage Band, just by the virtue of being able to use Re-wire, Audio Units and have the "Environment." I highly doubt you'll feel the need to go to Logic Pro, which simply gives you more plugins (which you can buy anyway) and removes input channel audio limit and changes the bus limit from 8 to 64. However, you can workaround these limits very easily by bouncing tracks intelligently. Logic Pro allows 192khz recording as well, Express 'limits' you to 96khz... more than enough for you, I'm sure.

I use my MacBook for Logic Express and my 2.0ghz Core Duo/2GB RAM is more than enough - especially with an external Firewire 7200 RPM HDD. I use Logix Express + Ableton live along with several Audio Units such as the Moog Modular, Polysix and Monopoly (from Korg's Legacy Collection), and can still comfortably record 24-bit audio from multiple sources, adding real time effects. The CPU barely gets warm... but seeing everything on the screen is a real pain... I'd definately go for the MBP next time.

Zoolook said:

Logic Express is lightyears ahead of Garage Band, just by the virtue of being able to use Re-wire, Audio Units and have the "Environment." I highly doubt you'll feel the need to go to Logic Pro, which simply gives you more plugins (which you can buy anyway) and removes input channel audio limit and changes the bus limit from 8 to 64. However, you can workaround these limits very easily by bouncing tracks intelligently. Logic Pro allows 192khz recording as well, Express 'limits' you to 96khz... more than enough for you, I'm sure.

I use my MacBook for Logic Express and my 2.0ghz Core Duo/2GB RAM is more than enough - especially with an external Firewire 7200 RPM HDD. I use Logix Express + Ableton live along with several Audio Units such as the Moog Modular, Polysix and Monopoly (from Korg's Legacy Collection), and can still comfortably record 24-bit audio from multiple sources, adding real time effects. The CPU barely gets warm... but seeing everything on the screen is a real pain... I'd definately go for the MBP next time.

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so how does the MBP help? 2 inches doesnt make much of a difference (on a screen) ifits gonna **** me off within a couple months i might aswell return it 2mro and get the Pro.....

chronic said:

so how does the MBP help? 2 inches doesnt make much of a difference (on a screen)

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Higher resolution.

My Dell Inspiron is fine for recording apps. It's a 17" notebook, but has 1920x1200 resolution, which is standard for most 24" widescreen LCDs and which was just added to the 17" MBP

They're two different screen sizes but the same resolution. The same amount of info fits on both, just one is within 24" and the other is scrunched into 17".

15" MBP is something like 1440x900 I think and isn't the macbook close to 800x600? I don't think it may be that little, but it's not much bigger.

So you'll have smaller fonts and graphics and such, but you won't have to continuously scroll to expand and compress the tracks for editing and such and fitting 6 different plugin windows onto a screen isn't a nightmare. That's why I suggest atleast have another monitor so you can run dual monitors. You'll get it once you start recording...

edit: Which isn't to say you made the wrong choice, just if you're planning on doing it professionally, staring at 13" of space and having to work with that limitations for hours at a time day after day isn't pleasant.

im torn! i wanna crack open the box and get started, (i havent got the firebox yet but i still wanna get the feel ofit, ive been a windows user for years and never even switched on a mac b4) but i think ill sleep onit, the macbook specs says

"1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 768, 1024 by 640, 800 by 600, 800 by 500, 720 by 480, and 640 by 480 at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 at 3:2 aspect ratio"



ive just checked around prices and realised id have to fork out another 600-700 for the mac pro 17", its just whether its really worth it to me, i suppose like u said in your original reply the money i save on not going logic pro 7 and going express could cover that....im really undecided



would logic express really enable me to master my music to burning?


i can see already what u mean about the plugins tho it could get tiresome

you should be fine, however see if you can get a external monitor. about the MV send me a pm if possible

thanks for all the help guys i just checked my finances and no way can i go for the pro let alone logic pro!!!!

im good anyway just spend over 2grand, thats enough for a long while, especially seeing as im unemployed! got lots of toys to play with...

thanks again guys, speak soon no doubt im sure ill have lots of problems to irritate you all with

chronic said:

so how does the MBP help? 2 inches doesnt make much of a difference (on a screen) ifits gonna **** me off within a couple months i might aswell return it 2mro and get the Pro.....

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It's just not the screen size, it's the resolution difference, so you can fit a fair bit extra on the screen. Ideally of coursem you'd have a 20" cinema screen!

well ive got going and its great even garageband seems cool with the little keyboard, gonna plug in my guitar a bit later right now im jst getting acustomed to it, the sound quality is so much better with a jack 2 phono to my amp out the headphone then my pc was!