Logic on Psystar?

[salientstimulus]

I was wondering if anybody has experience using a Psystar machine running OS X? Does Logic Express/Studio run well? Any issues with Firewire/USB audio or MIDI interfaces, or with the Audio/MIDI Utility?

I'd love to get MacPro, but that's simply not in my price range, so I was thinking about an iMac. For a similar price, I could get a pretty sweet Psystar machine (and separate HDs for system/apps and audio). Any thoughts?

 

[Pigumon]

Everyone here seems insanely anti-Psystar, I wonder if you'll get an answer.

It seems that the Psystar machines are pretty much the same as Macs, I had a Mac Clone back in the day, which at the time was HIGHER quality and much cheaper than a Mac. I continued to upgrade it for 10 years.

These may not be higher quality, but they are certainly much cheaper and seem to run fine. Just email them with your tech questions.

Here's someone who ran Logic on it and loved it.
http://store.psystar.com/review/product/view/id/1100/

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Logic should run, whether or not MIDI products will run is the larger question, but I would imagine yes.

I'm not anti Psystar in terms of being hostile, but, it is a company that has blatantly stated that they plan on taking down Apple.

 

[nullx86]

Pystar is kinda dumb for saying "taking down Apple" and Im suprised Psytars owners arent owned by Apple for selling the essential of warez. Personally I have a Hack, and I got iLife 09 working on it, so as long as the kexts/drivers are working, you should be in the clear.

 

[Pigumon]

Logic should run, whether or not MIDI products will run is the larger question, but I would imagine yes.

I'm not anti Psystar in terms of being hostile, but, it is a company that has blatantly stated that they plan on taking down Apple.

I assume that was just to generate publicity ("there's no such thing as bad publicity"), since without Apple, Psystar would be just another run of the mill PC maker. Maybe they meant taking down Apple's legal boys.

They don't make any 8-core computers though, which is what I'm wanting for 3D rendering.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

According to the front page, it was Goliath, not "Apple," But iThink we know what they were getting at.

As you all may already be aware in late May, Psystar filed for Chapter 11 protection. Although this was critical to our continued daily operations, we now are ready to emerge and again battle Goliath.

 

[myca]

I'm no big fan of Psystar, due to them, AFAIK, using OSX86 code without permission for profit, and the legalities of them selling clones will get sorted out in the long run.

Not that I've anything against a nice Hackintosh, and Logic Pro runs great on my EFI-X quad core Hackintosh, specs below.

Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
Intel Q6700 Quad core running at 3.3Ghz
8 Gig OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel Ram (4X2GB)
Gainward GeForce GTX 260 Golden Sample 896MB
Netgear GA311 NIC
4X Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Sony Optiarc AD-7240S 24x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case
EFI-X V1.1
MOTU 828 MKIII
Line6 PodXT
Behringer BCF2000
M-Audio Oxygen 49
M-Audio Oxygen V2
TC Powercore X8
Mac OS 10.5.7
Logic Studio Pro
Reason 4
Pro Tools LE 8
And various plugins

Runs really well, doubles up as a nifty XP gaming rig and runs Soundforge on XP smoothly. Think I'll move to the Core i7 platform in a couple of years, as this rig should have some legs, but I'm gonna have to get a nicer and larger/quieter case, probably the Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos Silent, as it's big, cool with good airflow and is really quiet with built in soundproofing.

To the OP, if you choose to go the Hackintosh route just make sure you know the caveats, and expect to run into more problems than if you had an Apple Mac, but if you find out about the problems before hand you should be able to solve them once you get the machine.

 

[salientstimulus]

I'm no big fan of Psystar, due to them, AFAIK, using OSX86 code without permission for profit, and the legalities of them selling clones will get sorted out in the long run.

Not that I've anything against a nice Hackintosh, and Logic Pro runs great on my EFI-X quad core Hackintosh, specs below.

Ah, good to know. I'm no fan of Psystar either (nor of buying a computer from a company that will presumably be defunct within the next year). I also don't trust my technical abilities (and motivation) enough to trying building a hackintosh from scratch, but EFI-X might just do the trick.

 

[dejo]

Any thoughts?

What about asking Psystar?

 

[nullx86]

i really doubt that Pystar will say anything, but hell, what do i know, right?

Personally, I would just get the hardware yourself and get the EFI-X and build it, rather than buy from a company thats going defunct, but your call...

 

[myca]

Ah, good to know. I'm no fan of Psystar either (nor of buying a computer from a company that will presumably be defunct within the next year). I also don't trust my technical abilities (and motivation) enough to trying building a hackintosh from scratch, but EFI-X might just do the trick.

Well the EFI-X route was easier for me than I thought, and I hadn't built a PC since 1996. The most difficult part was getting the bloody components in a case that's a little too small. But I'd say I'm pretty tech savvy, and just using Google gave me all the info I needed on PC components and how to tweak BIOS settings and such.

I'd definitely check out their forums to learn about the Bonjour, networking and time machine issues, which can be fixed by using a PCI NIC and some other easy tweaks. Unfortunately they lost a lot of posts in a forum migration recently, and their site really needs a wiki, and some decent manuals, but word is that the manuals are on the way (links are there, but were dead the last time I looked).

And there are some folk using Pro Tools HD rigs with the EFI-X, and HD rigs are known for being finicky with hardware, so IMHO if you've got the know how, time and patience it can be well worth it. Plus it now supports the core i7 platform, so you could build a near base MacPro equivalent, with arguably better expandability (6 ram slots instead of 4, and more PCIe/PCI slots) for nearly half the price give or take a few hundred dollars.

Plus many folk with a decent cooler and a good case have been able to overclock the Core i7 920 to near 4Ghz on air, so something like that would be a beast with Logic, but maybe a little loud at that frequency

On a side note doing my own build made me appreciate 2 things, 1 was the level of satisfaction at building the system and understanding all those PC geeks who say it's better to build, and 2 the class of the engineering and design that went into the MacPro/PowerMac.

 

[synth3tik]

I have been thinking for some time now about what I will do when I need to replace my Mac Pro. The way I figure it I have two options.

A. Hackintosh, whether it be purchased or built by me.

or

B. Switch to Cubase so I can run it on a Windows machine.

I cringe at the thought of a Windows machine, however I have lost my confidence in Apple's hardware. I just have not been impressed with the build of any machine since the G4 Quicksilver. After that it's been poor design after poor design.

I have spent 9 years running Logic. It took a long long long time to learn what I have. I don't feel it would be beneficial for me to scrap Logic for another DAW. Therefor I will be looking into a hackintosh. The one real concern I have is how well all the "Under the Hood" stuff in 10.6 will work with a hacked machine, as 10.6 will be vital for Logic users (On the sweet multi-threading)

 

[salientstimulus]

Well, I made the switch to mac recently, and going back to windows just sounds awful to me. Logic really is a great DAW in terms of features and ease-of-use.

Anyway, I decided to go with the imac in the end. Realistically, the music i'm making isn't that processor-intensive (mostly audio), and freezing tracks isn't much of a hassle if things do get complex. Mainly, I want something that will 'just work' without the headaches.

WRT psystar, I can guess exactly what they'd say: 'Apple applications and compatible devices should be fully compatible with our hardware, but no guarantees'.

 

[ChrisA]

....however I have lost my confidence in Apple's hardware. I just have not been impressed with the build of any machine since the G4 Quicksilver. After that it's been poor design after poor design.

You don't like the build quality of the current Mac Pro? I actually think it beats the Old G4 hands down.

Yes the MP is expensive but I look at things in terms of dollars per hour. If you use something every day for hours over five years. we could be talking about 10,000 hours. Paying $5K for something that will see that much use is only 50 cents per hour. That is "nothing" compared to the other costs of producing music. On the other hand if music is a one day per month hobby then the cost might work out to $100 every time you turn it on.

I did this same math with the Apple TV. Turns out I watch so few movies that my cost would be about $30 per movie. But for someone who spends hours a day with a TV the cost is much lower and justifiable.

So the Mac Pro is a great deal if you intend to use it and can amortize the cost over a hundred or so projects

 

[synth3tik]

ChrisA

The components are cheaper then they were before. The computer is to heavy to be supported by the aluminum feet. Mainly I am not a fan the horizontal drive placement. It eliminates heat, but adds the dangers of magnetism. I have had a few drives fail from magnetic contamination.

Better then the G5, I'll give you that.