Music Production

[themagicmonkey]

Hi

A newbie 1st post question as I am just moving over to an I-mac following years on a custom built PC. My question relates to the hard drive options on the new 2012 model, for reference I am considering going for the 2TB Fusion drive on a i7 3.2 etc. Am I best going for the fusion drive when music production relies on recording to another drive to avoid glitches or do I go for SSD only or standard Hard drive and record to an external thunderbolt drive (will these be an efficient method).

I realise it may have been covered elsewhere but hope you can help as I am sitting by the computer ready to order when it finally releases.

Many thanks

[Icaras]

Hi, welcome to the forums. Firstly, there isn't a 2TB Fusion drive. They only offer in 1TB and 3TB. Not sure why there isn't a 2TB. There's a lot of questions as to why Apple gimped the BTO options in such a strange way. I would have loved to get a 512GB SSD only drive if they had it.

I'll also be using my iMac for music production purposes and I've actually been pondering the same question as to where to put my project files. I was going to ask this at Logicprohelp.com because I'll also be getting the fusion drive as well and I wonder if an external drive would still be beneficial.

But so far I do plan on keeping all my sample libraries on my Fusion drive. I don't think that will be a problem. And If an external recording drive is still the way to go, I'll be getting a fast external USB 3.0 SSD drive from Lacie for this. But honestly, I don't know what the best approach would be with the Fusion drive.

Anyway, hopefully someone can give us some more insight to the matter.

[themagicmonkey]

HI Icarus

Great thanks for the reply, I may go for the top of the range ssd, though I know it costs a fair bit I'm not sure if it will be fit for purpose as I've not used ssd before

thanks.

[francolargo]

Originally Posted by Icaras

I'll also be using my iMac for music production purposes and I've actually been pondering the same question as to where to put my project files. I was going to ask this at Logicprohelp.com because I'll also be getting the fusion drive as well and I wonder if an external drive would still be beneficial.

But so far I do plan on keeping all my sample libraries on my Fusion drive.
Anyway, hopefully someone can give us some more insight to the matter.

I have used Logic on my Mac Pro without a fusion drive, and now I added a SSD and 2T Caviar Black in DIY fusion drive mode. Logic files are not THAT heavy - it's not like video. In my new configuration I keep everything related to sound (Logic and Ableton Live) plus data on the fusion drive. Final Cut assets (HD video) go elsewhere. Cheers!

[Icaras]

Originally Posted by francolargo

I have used Logic on my Mac Pro without a fusion drive, and now I added a SSD and 2T Caviar Black in DIY fusion drive mode. Logic files are not THAT heavy - it's not like video. In my new configuration I keep everything related to sound (Logic and Ableton Live) plus data on the fusion drive. Final Cut assets (HD video) go elsewhere. Cheers!

Wow, nice. So everything, Logic, samples, and project files all on the fusion drive and working smoothly? That's what I want to hear!

I was hoping the fusion drive would allow everything to be in the box without any external enclosures. Great to hear, thanks for sharing your experience!

[Pie Chips Salad]

Buy a mac mini with either pure ssd or fusion drive

1. mini has hyper threading i7 Logic will show 8 cores i5 desktop doesn't
2. You could nearly buy a mac mini server dual ssd for the price of 768gb flash of imac alone
3.Audio ins and outs / Firewire 800
4.You don't need graphics power HD4000 is fine.

Ive done this myself I was going to spend 3g's on an imac. instead I sent 1700 on a beautiful 27 ips high res anti glare monitor and bought a fully specced mini.

[tears2040]

Originally Posted by Pie Chips Salad

Buy a mac mini with either pure ssd or fusion drive

1. mini has hyper threading i7 Logic will show 8 cores i5 desktop doesn't
2. You could nearly buy a mac mini server dual ssd for the price of 768gb flash of imac alone
3.Audio ins and outs / Firewire 800
4.You don't need graphics power HD4000 is fine.

Ive done this myself I was going to spend 3g's on an imac. instead I sent 1700 on a beautiful 27 ips high res anti glare monitor and bought a fully specced mini.

+1

The only reason people need iMac is for graphics like Editing. Music production relies solely on everything else. Cpu, Hard Drive, Ram

Save money and buy a Mac mini, no need for iMac

[Fishrrman]

You might consider ordering with a 1tb HDD and a 256gb SSD (NOT "fusion drive").

Then you can either use the drives "as 2 drives" (might be advantageous to keep them separated for music production), or, see this post I put up about a do-it-yourself 256gb+1tb fusion drive from Apple for only $50 more:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...7&postcount=35

[themagicmonkey]

HI

Not sure that the 1tb HD and SSD is a BTO option on the new 2012 imac

Would using an external thunderbolt drive be quicker enough to work on biggish music projects.


many thanks

[XionCore]

Depends on the software you´re planning to use, ProTools|HD can fit every bit of sound into RAM (until it´s full...).
Just for editing, there´s no need to get a second internal drive as firewire and USB(3) are up to the task. If you plan to record (!) large sessions, like 40 tracks at once or so, an internal drive gives you lower latency and less hassle. My suggestion would be: Get the fusion-drive equipped iMac and use a fast external drive as storage for projectfiles. Over here we work on 2011 i7 imacs w/ internal HDD for up to 32 tracks in the field - didn´t run into problems once.

[Icaras]

Originally Posted by XionCore

My suggestion would be: Get the fusion-drive equipped iMac and use a fast external drive as storage for projectfiles.

About 99% of my work is midi and sample based so I don't record much audio. Would saving my project files directly to the fusion drive have any impact on performance?

[CrAkD]

Im pondering the same thing. I run pt10 (non hd) not sure if the fusion drive will work.

[themagicmonkey]

Originally Posted by CrAkD

Im pondering the same thing. I run pt10 (non hd) not sure if the fusion drive will work.

Well pushed the button and ordered

27"
Configuration

3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-2X8GB
3TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIAGeFrc GTX 680MX 2G GDDR5
MAGIC MOUSE+MAGIC TRACKPAD-

I will add an external thunderbolt drive to save project files if I get issues

After 1 year of waiting I am delighted.

What do you guys order???

[XionCore]

Just ordered three i7 w/ 1 TB fusion. I don´t expect you to get any issues with midi-based workflow if you store the files on the fusion-drive. The sampler works out of RAM. Good choice, man!

[Icaras]

Originally Posted by themagicmonkey

What do you guys order???

Same as you except I got 8GB RAM, the 1TB Fusion drive and a Magic Mouse.

Originally Posted by XionCore

Just ordered three i7 w/ 1 TB fusion. I don´t expect you to get any issues with midi-based workflow if you store the files on the fusion-drive. The sampler works out of RAM. Good choice, man!

Thanks. Great to hear. I'm stoked!

[themagicmonkey]

Originally Posted by XionCore

Just ordered three i7 w/ 1 TB fusion. I don´t expect you to get any issues with midi-based workflow if you store the files on the fusion-drive. The sampler works out of RAM. Good choice, man!

HI

Still a bit worried that the Fusion Drive may not be the way to go as I've heard it is a 5400 drive and it may cause issue for pro audio and music production work. I do record a fair bit of audio (I will be using a Thunderbolt Universal Audio Apollo Audio Interface) I'm now thinking I should have gone for either the full SSd or a standard 1tb 7200 HD and added a thunderbolt SSD drive for my sample libraries and project files. I'm also thinking of dropping the 2gb video card as I don't think my needs will require much more than the 1gb standard - any views??b.

Help!!! I've read so much and now a little lost with so much info - hope someone can help - Many Thanks Mike

[Icaras]

Originally Posted by themagicmonkey

I'm also thinking of dropping the 2gb video card as I don't think my needs will require much more than the 1gb standard - any views??.

As others in the thread have already pointed out, you don't even need a discreet GPU for music purproses, so the 2GB is defnitely overkill. I don't recall you mentioning any needing any video performance so basically any Mac in Apple's lineup that's using the integrated HD4000 is perfectly adequate. If you're strictly going to do audio, then the GPU should be last on your priority list.

Me? I took the 2GB because I'm a big gamer too, so I had to splurge for the top end

Edit: Oh also, if you haven't read the news today, the 27" iMac has already slipped to 3-4 weeks. So any changes to your order will probably affect your shipping times and delay your order. You may want to give Apple a call and confirm this.

[monokakata]

I believe that the 27" drive is a standard 3.5" 7200 rpm drive.

It's the 21.5" that has the 5400 rpm drive.

[masp84]

Originally Posted by themagicmonkey

Hi

A newbie 1st post question as I am just moving over to an I-mac following years on a custom built PC. My question relates to the hard drive options on the new 2012 model, for reference I am considering going for the 2TB Fusion drive on a i7 3.2 etc. Am I best going for the fusion drive when music production relies on recording to another drive to avoid glitches or do I go for SSD only or standard Hard drive and record to an external thunderbolt drive (will these be an efficient method).

I realise it may have been covered elsewhere but hope you can help as I am sitting by the computer ready to order when it finally releases.

Many thanks

Choose the standard 1TB SATA 5400 rpm to storage old sessions or installers files or even set it as a time capsule
Get 1 thunderbolt RAID dock to record and stream audio (HDD), get another SSD TB dock to install Lion, DAW and VSTis. it's 10 GB/s bandwidth even the current HDD and SSDs write/read speeds are way BTL and Intel CPUs already have SRT. Use unibeast if necessary. I'll try this soon and compare for the Gearslutz forum.

Take a peek at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822240090

[turtlez]

go with the mini, you only have to replace the computer and keep the screen. plus portable assuming you have a screen waiting at the destination.

I would do this in a heart beat if my work didn't require a good GPU.

[XionCore]

Installing on an external drive is quite cumbersome, isn´t it? (I might be wrong on this one). Recording to a SSD-RAID is, imho, overkill for a normal User. Our dumb old 20" iMac performs well when recording 30 tracks out of an attached RME Fireface UFX. Maybe if you have large MADI-Loads etc. a SSD-Raid would be necessary.

My advice is still, get a fusion drive, I don´t think you´ll be disappointed when using MIDI. And if you need more dedicated speed later on, get an external (single) Thunderbolt SSD for 1/4 of the all-SSD-BTO.

[masp84]

Originally Posted by XionCore

Installing on an external drive is quite cumbersome, isn´t it? (I might be wrong on this one). Recording to a SSD-RAID is, imho, overkill for a normal User. Our dumb old 20" iMac performs well when recording 30 tracks out of an attached RME Fireface UFX. Maybe if you have large MADI-Loads etc. a SSD-Raid would be necessary.

My advice is still, get a fusion drive, I don´t think you´ll be disappointed when using MIDI. And if you need more dedicated speed later on, get an external (single) Thunderbolt SSD for 1/4 of the all-SSD-BTO.

Well I just saw the whole video of drobo. If the read/write speeds are right, I'm getting one ASAP, the whole concept of the product is fantastic and goes beyond RAID and even Fusion Drive. Plus it's thunderbolt.