I have been doing recorded audio programs for years, including all the music editing etc. And I'm also a musician. Recently got bitten by the music creation and editing capabilities and want to create the background music for my spoken audio tracks. Think of it kind of like scoring a movie, only not as complicated. And I also do some electronic dance music.
Been using Ableton Live Studio and Push. Also using Omnisphere, Trillian and Stylus RMX.
Currently I have a late 2011 iMac with an 3.4 Ghz i7 processor and 32 gigs ram. It works real well. But... it does not have USB 3. And it has the original, slow thunderbolt ports. And, I have used up all my ports. I do have a Thunderbolt dock coming from OWC that will give me USB 3, but that takes away from the Thunderbolt bandwidth - so...
At this point, I'm considering buying a Mac Pro. First because it has lots of Thunderbolt ports and USB 3 which would give me greater throughput and it would be nice to have the latest, greatest.
By the way, I also have a 1 TB SSD thunderbolt for all my instruments/sounds in Live. And a several other drives for managing the scratch files etc. As well as a 12 TB raided backup drive. So reasonably well set drive wise.
I'm considering doing the following. Buying the 6 core processor nMP, with dual D500 gpu. Shipping it directly to OWC and having them install...
1. a 2 TB SSD,
2. 64 gigs of ram
The Mac Pro 6 core costs: $4000 (with the dual D500 gpu).
The upgrades above total: $2300
So all together it would cost $6300. And I would have a 2 TB internal SSD, 6 core processor and 64 gigs ram. And all the I/O ports that are currently possible on one machine.
Here are a few questions:
1. Does the audio including the VST Plugins (which is the most intensive thing I do with the computer) use much in the way of the GPU processing? Would the dual D500's be enough or would you spring for the D700's?
2. Would it be a huge increase in ability to get the 8 core processor? For about $2200 I could get the latest 3.3 ghz 8 core from OWC. But would it be worth it for my application? I'm thinking not so much.
I suppose I could wait till end of 1st quarter ish 2015 to see if anything new cometh.
Am I on the right track here?
Suggestions? Thoughts?
Been using Ableton Live Studio and Push. Also using Omnisphere, Trillian and Stylus RMX.
Currently I have a late 2011 iMac with an 3.4 Ghz i7 processor and 32 gigs ram. It works real well. But... it does not have USB 3. And it has the original, slow thunderbolt ports. And, I have used up all my ports. I do have a Thunderbolt dock coming from OWC that will give me USB 3, but that takes away from the Thunderbolt bandwidth - so...
At this point, I'm considering buying a Mac Pro. First because it has lots of Thunderbolt ports and USB 3 which would give me greater throughput and it would be nice to have the latest, greatest.
By the way, I also have a 1 TB SSD thunderbolt for all my instruments/sounds in Live. And a several other drives for managing the scratch files etc. As well as a 12 TB raided backup drive. So reasonably well set drive wise.
I'm considering doing the following. Buying the 6 core processor nMP, with dual D500 gpu. Shipping it directly to OWC and having them install...
1. a 2 TB SSD,
2. 64 gigs of ram
The Mac Pro 6 core costs: $4000 (with the dual D500 gpu).
The upgrades above total: $2300
So all together it would cost $6300. And I would have a 2 TB internal SSD, 6 core processor and 64 gigs ram. And all the I/O ports that are currently possible on one machine.
Here are a few questions:
1. Does the audio including the VST Plugins (which is the most intensive thing I do with the computer) use much in the way of the GPU processing? Would the dual D500's be enough or would you spring for the D700's?
2. Would it be a huge increase in ability to get the 8 core processor? For about $2200 I could get the latest 3.3 ghz 8 core from OWC. But would it be worth it for my application? I'm thinking not so much.
I suppose I could wait till end of 1st quarter ish 2015 to see if anything new cometh.
Am I on the right track here?
Suggestions? Thoughts?
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