iMac suggestions for storage & audio interface

Hi all, aside from occasional word processing on Macs back in college computer labs (mid 90s), I am completely new to Macs and absolutely loving my new refurbished 20" iMac 2.66. Why'd I wait so long!?

I'd really like some input from you Mac-knowledgeable folks to help build my system right the first time, and thus, save myself from time and ca$hola. Here is my situation:

• I am looking for a recommendation for a decent audio interface. This will be for solo home recording. Bass, guitar, vocals. I don't need to record many tracks simultaneously since I will be using this solo at home for the majority of the time. I am looking for a good, solid, 'bang for buck' recommendation. Firewire or USB?
  
• I currently own a 1TB USB WD Elements harddrive that I bought for my previous PC. I bought it to store all of my iTunes lossless music (currently 100gig and increasing slowly). My current iMac has a 320GB harddrive. I am concerned about the internal harddrive being filled with my iTunes music. Additionally, I need a plan for where I will store my garageband (future logic express) recordings. What do you recommend? Should I keep this USB external harddrive and continue to use it for my iTunes and future garageband (logic express sometime down the road) files? Or, should I try to get rid of it (sell it to someone I know) and replace it with a firewire external? As far as I can tell, I will need to decide if I am going to go firewire for the external or firewire for the audio interface.
  
• Additionally, I would like to use Time Machine. Should/can I do that using my current 1TB USB external? Maybe I should go a different route?

Sorry for being all over the place, and thanks for your help.
I'll be back on the forums after work to respond to any follow-ups if necessary.

Thanks for the responses! You guys rock.
Here are my follow-ups:

VirtualRain said:

I would suggest you look at a Lexicon U22 audio interface. Full featured, looks great, and sounds awesome.

I don't think Firewire has much advantage over USB and even Apple is shifting away from it slowly.

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Looks pretty cool, and the price is right. Do you own one? I'm a bit ignorant of all the technojargon details. What do you really like about it? Do you have enough experience to compare it to the EMU0404 suggested by another poster below?

thegoldenmackid said:

In terms of USB vs. Firewire Externals. iThink most will agree there is a pretty substantial benefit of having Firewire. If we are solely talking about back-ups and you are planning on doing them overnight or when you are out, etc... USB is probably fine, but having Firewire for anything would be nicer given its higher speeds and consistency.

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Mm thanks.

My internal iMac HD is 320GB. I currently have over 100GB of lossless music. I'm concerned about hogging up my limited internal space with all that music, which is why I'm considering external storage. Perhaps I should keep my USB 1TB external to use strictly for full nighttime backups/time machine, and buy a new firewire external to serve as my 'music hub' with my itunes lossless and future garageband/logic express recordings.

Thoughts about that idea?

musio said:

I bought the EMU 0404 usb ...in white!

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=610&subcategory=611&product=18388

It's brilliant!
separate volume control for headphones and monitors
all the i/o you need
ground loop switches
great converters used in the high end protools cards
cheap!
sits on the desk nicely next to the imac..

Absolutely the best bang for the buck peice of gear that looks nice in white to boot. Read reviews - people rave about the converters. Good praise from head-fi.org

As for external drives, you'll find a lot of information on this hot swapable, will grow with you, device. one word for you.

DROBO​

http://www.drobo.com

P.S.

always backup your gear. Imagine the feeling of loosing your whole itunes library? good. backup.

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That EMU looks nice, and the price is right.
How would you compare/contrast it with the above suggested Lexicon U22?

That external solution you suggested looks great, but is out of my price range. Taking cost into account, what would you suggest for a Firewire external that would meet my needs (serving as the source for my lossless tunes and music recordings) and be a good 'bang for buck?'

ChrisA said:

Yes, get Time Machine. But it is only useful if you get it it's own disk drive. That drive needs to by roughtly 1.5 times as large as ALL the DATA on the computer. But think ahead you will have more data later. Always used you LARGEST disk drive for Time Machine.

You TM drive does NOT need to be fast. So,.... Buy a nice new FW drive for your data and then use the old 1TB USB drive for TM. Later buy a larger FW drive for TM and use the old USB drive for off-site backup.

Once you start investing tame in "making stuff", be that photography, music or writing then you really want a good backup system that includes TM and multiple redundant copies and off-site storage. Keep that "extra" 1TB drive, maybe even buy a couple more

Buy any of the USB or FW interfaces. If you are only doing a very few channels you don;t really need the more expensive FW device. Look at the specs. You really do want 24-bit samples. But you decide if 48K samples per second or 96K is enough. But do go for 24-bit. Also look at the company's driver download page an see if they are up to date and making frequent releases and stil suport older products.

One good way to shop for audio interface is to download and read the user manuals. All of them are on-line. If you don't like the UM don't buy the product

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Great info!
Ok, to sum up - what I understand you are suggesting is that I use my current 1TB USB WD Elements external HD to serve as my Time Machine backup. Next, I should choose and purchase a new FW external HD for my data. My iMac internal HD is 320gig. I currently have 100gig and counting iTunes lossless music. I am guessing that for my new FW external drive, I should choose one that is 500gig?

For my audio interface, correct, I do not need to be able to do a bunch of channels at once. Only 2. You recommend going at least for 24bit samples. What difference will I notice/experience when comparing models that are 24, 48 and 96 bit? Does the sampling rate refer to how much data is recorded? IE - the difference between 128kb vs. Lossless recordings?

zimv20 said:

what software will you be using? pick that first, then your hardware.

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I will first be using Garageband on my iMac, and I plan to eventually upgrade to Logic Express. Taking that into account, do you have any recommendations?

musio said:

if you are recording yourself and it's a bit of fun don't worry at all. Even cheaper soundcards will be fine. The 0404 is more than enough. Preamps in these consumer devices are all pretty much medioka with no real big difference in this day and age unless you get over the £700 mark..which you aint, so don't worry. Years ago when pro soundcards were the big thing, it did matter.

RE firewire vs usb....time machine archives so again, it doesn't matter much. Your only choice is an external. I'd get a 2nd hand usb drobo if price is a concern

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Good to know about the preamps and not noticing much difference until you get to a higher price point.

As I mentioned earlier, I already have a 1TB USB WD Elements external HD, and I am assuming it would be in my best interests to use that as my Time Machine backup for the time being. I suppose I am now looking to get a FW External to store my iTunes lossless music (100gig and counting) and my garageband (and future logic express) recordings. My rationale about putting my iTunes music on the external is to keep my iMac operating files and my 'fun stuff' separate. Is that smart? Silly? Overkill?

ChrisA said:

Keep you current 1TB disk, use it just like you said. Keep the iTunes and your own recording on it. But plan to upgrade in stages...

The next disk to buy (Buy it ASAP) would be for Time Machine. Always use your largest disk for TM. Yes it is tempting to use the newest disk for data but, no, the largest disk should be used for TM because it will have to hold multiple copies of all your data. Buy a 1.5TB external disk. USB is "good enough" because TM runs in the background and you don't care about speed. But still I'd buy a FW800 disk for future usage.

Next buy a 1TB FW800 disk to replace your current USB 1TB disk. It will be twice as fast. This frees up the current drive to be used as a backup.

Next buy a second backup drive. Now you have enough so that you can rotate them to an off site location. Keep one at home and one at the office or a relative's house

Every year or so I replace my oldest disk with the largest one I can afford or find. That becomes my new Time Machine drive and I give away or whatever my oldest smallest drive.

If you have data you can't replace, such as live music performances or photos then you REALLY do need a couple externals dives stored far away plus TM. Lightening, fire, theft and so on are major causes of data loss so you need "off site". Once you are set up plan on buying a new disk drive every year that way, You keep up.

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Wonderful suggestions and plan, Chris - thanks so much!

UPDATE
I decided to use my current 1TB USB external for Time Machine backups. Now, I want to buy an external to use to hold all of my iTunes music and future garageband (and maybe eventually Logic Studio) recordings.

Questions:

1. What currently available 1TB Firewire compatible external hard drive(s) do you recommend?
2. I haven't yet bought an audio interface. If I'm planning to use a Firewire external for all of my iTunes and Garageband recordings, that would tie up my single FW connection. Do I need to buy a USB audio interface? Or can I get some sort of solution that would enable me to have both my FW external and a FW audio interface plugged in at the same time?

Thanks in advance for your help.

ChrisA said:

You want a FW800 disk, not FW400. But if you pug in a FW400 audio interface to the FW chain then it all slows down to FW400 speed.

You don't need FW for two tracks of audio.

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Thanks for returning to the thread, Chris.

1) You are correct - the majority of the time, I will be doing either 1 or 2 tracks of audio at a time. Solo stuff here at home. Taking that into account, do you recommend that I consider USB audio interface offerings? Any recommendations for a home hobbyist? Don't want to break the bank, but I want something that has good quality - bang for buck.

2) I just searched newegg.com for 1TB FW external HDs - there are a ton, and a wide variety of pricepoints. Any recommendations?

ChrisA - someone else posted the following audio interface suggestion in another thread today:

M-Audio Fast Track Pro. An audio interface with all the i/o the duet lacks plus possibility to run protools all on a USB port
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html

DRIVERS are what count - maudio just released some snow leopard ones. Apogee have great drivers too but you pay the price.

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Thoughts for my purposes?