Fusion or SSD with logic pro x?

[GuitarWizard90]

I'm trying to decide whether to buy a fusion drive or ssd for a 5k imac. I know the fusion drives have a portion of ssd in them but my question is which drive is more compatible for the use with logic pro x?

I have heard that ssd's aren't a good for recording because of read/write issues? Not sure how much truth there is to that..

I'm planning on getting an external ssd aswell to store samples and what not. So will 2 ssds be a good idea? I don't want to spend the extra money on ssd only to realize that I should have gone with the fusion drive because of a compatibility issue.

 

[Sirmausalot]

The NVRAM drive in the iMac is super fast (faster than most SSDs and miles ahead of any spinning drive for both read and write) and super reliable. The fusion drive is a compromise for those on a budget or who need massive internal space. At minimum, get the 512GB NVRAM drive, and if possible, spring for the 1TB drive. Not sure where you heard about read/write issues. It's true of SD Cards, not SSD drives. Though an external SSD is a good idea, so is an external HDD for a TimeMachine backup.

It's well worth the money.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Agreed with above poster. You can never have too much power when working with Logic Pro X. Even my 2012 15" with an 840 EVO takes a good 30-40 seconds when it loads up a big project, depending on how many plugins/stems you're working on. Go pure SSD.

 

[jacobluecke]

I think most folks would agree that 2 SSDs is definitely the better choice.

That said, in my Logic setup I have a 1 TB internal fusion drive in my Mac Mini and a 1 TB external thunderbolt SSD where I store all my song files and samples (pretty similar to what you are considering).

It works perfectly for me. In my experience, it's critical to keep everything to do with Logic purely on a SSD. I've had lots of issues doing anything complex while storing files on a traditional hard drive.

I should note that my Mac Mini fusion drive is homemade using a 250 gb SSD, so there's much more SSD room to work with versus the stock fusion drives being sold right now. That probably improves the performance on my machine.

 

[GuitarWizard90]

Wow thanks for the quick replies. Yes I definitely had my eye on the 512gb. Considering how fast ssd's are, would logic work fine running everything off just the one internal ssd? I do still plan on getting an external but might take me a few weeks to gather the money for one and I really want to start recording asap. So would using just the 512gb ssd be fine for a while or will there be too much of a performance hit?

 

[Fishrrman]

If you get a 5k iMac, get the one with the 2tb fusion drive (NOT the 1tb version).

The 2tb fusion setup uses a 128gb SSD portion and a 2tb 7200rpm HDD portion.

You shouldn't have any trouble with this setup at all, particularly if you "manually split" the fusion drive apart into standalone SSD and HDD drives.

That will give you a fast SSD -and- a high-capacity HDD for storage.

My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently.

 

[Sirmausalot]

Wow thanks for the quick replies. Yes I definitely had my eye on the 512gb. Considering how fast ssd's are, would logic work fine running everything off just the one internal ssd? I do still plan on getting an external but might take me a few weeks to gather the money for one and I really want to start recording asap. So would using just the 512gb ssd be fine for a while or will there be too much of a performance hit?

You should be fine running everything off the internal flash including storing material there. Although failure/corruption is highly, highly unlikely, make sure you have a backup. I don't know how many GB your projects usually are, but estimate you have at least 250GB comfortably for projects. The rest will be for operating system, apps, and other files. Eventually you'll want to move everything external.

 

[doublehead73]

I have a beastly hackintosh i7 6 core. But I recently bought a gtx970 for Oculus Rift development in PC mode. It pretty much bricked my osx install. So now I'm considering the option of getting legit system for Audio. (I have plenty of legit Macs, just none for audio). I am also stuck at the question: 27" iMac with 2tb fusion, or 256gb ssd. Silly being how easy it is to crack open and add your own, but I don't want to kill my warranty if am springing for a legit iMac. Yet... I AM in fact trying to save as much money as possible... (if my 6core hackintosh didnt reveal that).

Choices: $2,299.00 3.3 i5 with 256gb SSD or 2TB Fusion
$2,549.00 4.0 i7 with 256gb SSD or 2TB Fusion
$1,999.00 3.2 i5 with 256gb SSD or 2TB Fusion
$2,299.00 3.2 i5 with 512gb SSD

Now the real question is: With my Apollo Quad and Logic, how much of this REALLY makes a difference. Graphics card is not useful to audio. The Apollo handles lots of the processing itself. I seriously doubt any of the processor options will make much difference (if anything having 32gb of ram will be super helpful). I run Superior drummer with my Vdrums, Addictive drums, and Komplete. Hard drive hogs. Most of which I can trick out to load on external SSD (CHEAP). And then there is the fusion drive option, but I assume Apple is just being cheap about SSD's and skimping. As tempted as I am to get a base 27", crack it open and add my own SSD and 32gb ram... I ask everyone for their experience (more than opinion of a fanperson that has not ever tried any of these options).

 

[Sirmausalot]

I have a beastly hackintosh i7 6 core. But I recently bought a gtx970 for Oculus Rift development in PC mode. It pretty much bricked my osx install. So now I'm considering the option of getting legit system for Audio. (I have plenty of legit Macs, just none for audio). I am also stuck at the question: 27" iMac with 2tb fusion, or 256gb ssd. Silly being how easy it is to crack open and add your own, but I don't want to kill my warranty if am springing for a legit iMac. Yet... I AM in fact trying to save as much money as possible... (if my 6core hackintosh didnt reveal that).

Choices: $2,299.00 3.3 i5 with 256gb SSD or 2TB Fusion
$2,549.00 4.0 i7 with 256gb SSD or 2TB Fusion
$1,999.00 3.2 i5 with 256gb SSD or 2TB Fusion
$2,299.00 3.2 i5 with 512gb SSD

Now the real question is: With my Apollo Quad and Logic, how much of this REALLY makes a difference. Graphics card is not useful to audio. The Apollo handles lots of the processing itself. I seriously doubt any of the processor options will make much difference (if anything having 32gb of ram will be super helpful). I run Superior drummer with my Vdrums, Addictive drums, and Komplete. Hard drive hogs. Most of which I can trick out to load on external SSD (CHEAP). And then there is the fusion drive option, but I assume Apple is just being cheap about SSD's and skimping. As tempted as I am to get a base 27", crack it open and add my own SSD and 32gb ram... I ask everyone for their experience (more than opinion of a fanperson that has not ever tried any of these options).

I think the 256 is NOT the way to go. Either bump up to the 512GB or to a 2TB fusion. Also, you should be fine with 16GB or 24GB of RAM, saving money there. I'd lean towards the i7 because I understand audio software can take advantage of the multi-threading. However, the dedicated audio forums are the police to track that down. That said, if you're on a budget, you're on a budget and you need to go for the i5.... Just stay away from the 256GB as it will frustrate you as it will fill up too quickly and the 2TB fusion is the budget choice

 

[mildocjr]

Fusion drive with large storage

SSD drive boots the computer faster, launches Logic Pro faster, and loads plug-ins faster.

HDD stores projects and samples.

Even with projects on the HDD they still load in a few seconds because the HDD isn't working for the OS, just your project.

As for music, you'll probably be looking at 120 GB for Logic and Plug-ins (depending on what you get, I was thinking of the massive 35 GB Omnisphere and Trillian) but you can expect 500+ GB of samples that you'll use and create over time, leaving with you with space for projects.

Word of advice, if you are using Logic on one computer DO NOT COPY anything (samples, ultrabeat samples,etc.) into your project. This doubles up on space and just wastes your storage capacity.

If you are using Logic on more than one computer or your projects are either saved or using resources on an external drive, COPY EVERYTHING. This will save you from having to dig up that hard drive and migrating your projects to another Mac will be a breeze.

I have a late 2013 iMac with 3 TB Fusion drive (128 GB SSD + 3 TB 7200 HDD)