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I5 (i5-66 00 3.3ghz) good enough to produce music?

V

vng01

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 1, 2015
47
6
Hello all how are you doing :) ?

Im about to buy this (my First) imac 5k and just wanted to know if this configuration will be good enough to produce music (beats) With Cubase or Logic.

3.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processorTurbo Boost up to 3.9GHz

8GB (two 4GB) memory, configurable up to 32GB

2TB Fusion Drive

AMD Radeon R9 M395 with 2GB video memoryRetina 5K 5120-by-2880 P3 display
 
More than enough. For many years I was using 2011 2.5ghz i5 Mac Mini w/ 8gb RAM and a 2009 MBP 2,5ghz with 4gb RAM with no problems in Logic Pro.

I've just recently upgraded to a 5k Mac. While it's overall snappier - it really is overkill. Even with 25 tracks minimum including MIDI instruments, loops, tonnes of plug ins and live vocals etc for House music you wouldn't break a sweat.

With a track as mentioned above - my iMac is currently only using 2.2gb RAM for the entire project.

So 8gb will be sufficient too. Fusion drive is irrelevant as your project will sit entirely in RAM so it's all good! And while some will say you are doomed by the 'slowness' of a FD (instead of SSD), we are talking maybe an extra 5-10 seconds loading your project (Compared again my Mac Mini with 5400rpm HDD). Enjoy!


I'm playing back the project in Logic right now - and my CPU is at 6%. That is with Logic playing, 3 x 27" monitors, email, web browsing, Audacity etc etc.

The only time you would get any benefit of an i7 (I have an i7) for music production is Bouncing your project to a compressed format like MP3. Otherwise it's of no advantage in my experience and I use the system every day for production.
 
Last edited:
vng01 said:
Hello all how are you doing :) ?

Im about to buy this (my First) imac 5k and just wanted to know if this configuration will be good enough to produce music (beats) With Cubase or Logic.

3.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processorTurbo Boost up to 3.9GHz

8GB (two 4GB) memory, configurable up to 32GB

2TB Fusion Drive

AMD Radeon R9 M395 with 2GB video memoryRetina 5K 5120-by-2880 P3 display
Click to expand...

If you have money, take maximum on core i7.
 
G.McGilli said:
More than enough. For many years I was using 2011 2.5ghz i5 Mac Mini w/ 8gb RAM and a 2009 MBP 2,5ghz with 4gb RAM with no problems in Logic Pro.

I've just recently upgraded to a 5k Mac. While it's overall snappier - it really is overkill. Even with 25 tracks minimum including MIDI instruments, loops, tonnes of plug ins and live vocals etc for House music you wouldn't break a sweat.

With a track as mentioned above - my iMac is currently only using 2.2gb RAM for the entire project.

So 8gb will be sufficient too. Fusion drive is irrelevant as your project will sit entirely in RAM so it's all good! And while some will say you are doomed by the 'slowness' of a FD (instead of SSD), we are talking maybe an extra 5-10 seconds loading your project (Compared again my Mac Mini with 5400rpm HDD). Enjoy!
Click to expand...
So my imac configuration will be good enough? I want to use this Mashine for at least 5 years...
 
vng01 said:
So my imac configuration will be good enough? I want to use this Mashine for at least 5 years...
Click to expand...

Considering the NI requirements for that are:

Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)

I think you'll be good to go for a long, long time.... Audio production/creation actually requires much less power than people think...
 
G.McGilli said:
Considering the NI requirements for that are:

Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)

I think you'll be good to go for a long, long time.... Audio production/creation actually requires much less power than people think...
Click to expand...
Well the requirements are the Minimum... I work With between 10 and 40 tracks per Projects including instruments like vst's / vstis and a Lot of effects/Filters and so on
 
u can buy Apple Cinema Display 30, with Mac Pro 5.1, u can use on music, and u can play in any GAMES u want! VideoCard u can replace with u 2 hand, sure if this needed to replace.
 
Schprecher said:
u can buy Apple Cinema Display 30, with Mac Pro 5.1, u can use on music, and u can play in any GAMES u want! VideoCard u can replace with u 2 hand, sure if this needed to replace.
Click to expand...
If the configuration of an imac is good enough i would like to Rock this all in one Mashine With an amazing display:)
 
techguy69 said:
Absolutely no reason that 2013 iMacs are better. Although the 2013 ones would be appropriate for you, if you want a decent speed bump and a 5K display, go for the 2015 ones.
Click to expand...
So you think the Model With i5-66 00 3.3 ghz With the 2 TB Fusion Drive will be a good choice for Cubase or music production in general?
 
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