Best Mac for Logic 9

[slim tim slide]

Im about to make the grand leap into digital audio recording and have a number of friends already using Logic 9 so that's what I intend to use too. Im getting a lot of conflicting advice - some say a desktop is too noisy and thus interferes with Mic placement (it will all be in one room), some say a mini mac would be fine but I shall want to use it for quite a few other apps too, nothing to do with recording; some reckon on i-Mac. I would actually like a laptop, particularly as it will allow me to record elsewehere but hear that they run very hot and may not be suitable for using over long periods at a time. Im also not sure about the number of usb connections on a laptop. I hear some of the recent ones have issues with the ports being too close together (???) Is a laptop easy to upgrade internally? Price is not too much of an issue (though naturally I'll shop around!)


Can anyone give me some advice on this. PLEASE! It's a jungle out here!!!! It would be great to hear from people actually doing this on various models.... naturally the faster the better (the computer not the responses but that too...) Do all modern Macs use the same processors as PCs or is this complete confusion - really - what's best?

best

tim

 

[ADAADW]

Hey well i have not been doings this for long either but the best advice i can give you is a laptop. Portability is really key and it will allow you to use it for other applications. The down side is you can get better specs in a desktop for a little bit cheaper but here is my main advice.

Id say laptop (mbp 15' or 13')
More ram the better (4gb+)
large hard drive (more the better!)

If your recording instruments the most valuable things i can say are 1) the room your a recording in 2) mic's/placement and 3) a quality interface (i really like apogee products but it can be a personal preference, i use a ONE from apogee but the DUET is also an awesome piece of gear.)

so final verdict id say is laptop for sure! but see what others say as well. Hope it helps!

 

[zimv20]

some say a desktop is too noisy and thus interferes with Mic placement (it will all be in one room)

that is true, but it's probably not going to be the biggest engineering hurdle you face.

unless you're planning on doing at least a semi-pro job of treating your room, you'll have much bigger issues than the noise coming from a mac. just keep the mac away from the mic (and put it in the null of the mics) and it shouldn't be much of an issue.

 

[slim tim slide]

the spec on the i-mac (and its relative silence) make it very very tempting - i may in fact get both (a laptop-pro too) as i live in two distinct locations - i'd use the i-mac as a permanent studio installation and the macbook-pro as the portable version BUT ive been told i would have to buy Logic TWICE - this is frankly insane, its all legit, why can't I load the legal software onto two legal computers? i was told that if i loaded it onto the laptop (or vice versa) and didnt 'register' it it would still work - is this true??? - im NOT buying the same software twice and if i cant do this im gonna have to go to PC which goes against the grain.... if i load logic 9 onto a computer and dont register it will it work? (this is utterly NOT a way of bypassing the law, i just dont intend to spend money twice on the same software having already invested nearly three grand on hardware!) would i have to load a password into the unregistered version? wouldn't his effectively make it unusable? im rather angry about this, if feels like apple just wanna grab as much dough off me as possible while all i wanna do is use their products within the law!

 

[KeithPratt]

ive been told i would have to buy Logic TWICE

Does the person who told you that smell like a field of cows?

The Logic license permits for installation and running on one desktop and one laptop. As far as I know there's nothing to stop you installing it on more other than your sense of ethics.

 

[McBeats]

and even then, the sense of ethics is subjective... sooo start makin tunes!

 

[slim tim slide]

This is interesting - actually i was given the info about sole installation at the local Apple store! and at the local music store that sells logic slightly cheaper than the Apple store - they both told me I could only install on one computer so I really dont know what to believe! my ethics are 'flexible' so the question is can I install and USE Logic 9 WITHOUT registering it? This is a very important factor so any replies, even in the negative, would be very welcome - thanks!

 

[KeithPratt]

Point 2.

 

[MackPro91]

For what it's worth, I use Logic with my MBP and it's a great experience. The portability was key for me personally as I study music at college and the train journey is quite long so there's always time to chill on Logic. The performance is great and the screen is a nice size (15"). I also got a silicon overlay for the keys which shows all Logic's shortcuts which is kinda cool. My only problem is the lack of a firewire 400 port but I recently sourced a 400 to 800 cable so hopefully all will be cool

 

[kultschar]

I think you need to decide really on a few things

Portability? Then def a Macbook Pro

Personally I dont need the portability factor so I have an iMac, it is dead silent and has a large screen, I would find it very difficult to use Logic for long periods with a laptop without hooking it up to a large monitor.

Of course if your using real intensive power hungry plugins and lots of tracks then a desktop is the way to go. The new i& iMacs hold their own against 2009 Mac Pros (google Logic Benchmarks on Gearslutz for lots of info on this)

Being an iMac man, my 20" screen still is not big enough for me so I am upgrading (I needed to anyhow as it is fairly old). The i7 iMac was powerful enough for me and the 27" screen is a dream for logic and all its sub windows however I have a huge media library that also requires backups so the logical thing for me was to buy a Mac Pro (used 2008 2.8ghz 8 core)

If you need portability then its a no brainer - Macbook, if you are after a desktop then do a lot of research with regards to your needs, power and storage!!! (I would personally skip the mini mac and go for the i7 as you have a whopping great screen and enough power for a long long time)

 

[deej999]

If you do go macbook pro and want to record multiple tracks simultaneously to your system drive upgrade the hard drive to a 7200rpm drive.

If you are ok to record to an external drive (better), get a 7200rpm firewire external drive to record to.

If you are recording only one to two tracks simultaneously then son't worry about the above.

 

[RHELF]

Runs like a champ on my mid 2010 I7(7200rpm) for the most part. Definitely recommend the 5400rpm to 7200rpm upgrade. I'm thinking of upgrading the RAM in the near future. For the most part it's amazing but gets real hot and chokes a little bit while multiple instances of intensive plugins are open.

 

[jotade11]

Id say laptop (mbp 15' or 13')

I'm sorry to spam here, but just couldn't resist laughing at a 15 foot MacBook.

I'm not very experienced here either, but I would definitely recommend a MacBook Pro. As previously mentioned, lots of RAM, and I don't know if this is relevant in Audio, as much as it is in Video Editing, but maybe a FireWire 'scratch disk'?

 

[SlipryNoodle]

but what about...

so many folks talk about the BEST option, and I get that. Last year's i7 for processing and the MBP 15" for portability.

My hang up comes from for me, using Logic will satisfy a hobby need, not a pro one. Would it be fair to say that there isn't a bad option over the past two years? I personally like the idea of a 21.5" 3.2 i3. 27" quad refurbs from last year are a better deal, but 27" is HUGE. Throw an ilugger in the mix and the 21.5" 20lb imac doesn't seem bad (particularly to a drummer.)

Equally, the 17" i5 MBP is attractive for that expresscard...going eSata, USB 3 or whatever in the future. While I'm pretty sure I can daisy chain an external firewire harddrive w/my Presonus, it seems that the flexibility here is great potential as well.

Are these good compromise solutions that nobody talks about, or am I just missing something? Would the above machines suffice for hitting 32-48 tracks? While covering and recording Dark Side of the Moon on 80 + tracks might be cool, well, what are the odds?

Thanks for the help.