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Which new Mac with Logic Studio?

K

kidlupin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2009
6
0
Norn Iron
This year I get my dream home studio!

Like everyone else I've been waiting for the refresh to the Mac product line, and holding off replacing my G4 Powerbook, which is nearly exhausted with my work on Garageband. Im upgrading to Logic Studio (time to move to the big city I think!) and getting a shiny new Mac to put it on.

Anything is an option here as I haven't used C2D or Xeon-based Macs, so I dont know which Logic is going to make the best use of. If I can wire up two Mac Minis and get 64 tracks running side by side I'll be happy, but if I need to go for a MP to really get my moneys worth then I'll do that.

However (option 3) is that I track down one of the last revisions MP in the Apple Refurb Store given that they're getting (a little) cheaper, particularly if 8-core is going to be better than quad.

So... suggestions?
 
To give you an example, i'm running logic studio, with reason 4 on occasions, on a white macbook, 2.1ghz C2D, 3GB ram. I've not currently run projects over 8 or 9 tracks, but i think i could cope happily with 16 tracks.

My point being that you don't need as much power as you might think. Having said that, if you're planning on 64 track projects, then a mac pro is probably a good idea. If you've been using garageband previously though, how likely is it that you will be doing 64 track projects?
 
Virtually all work I do is with live instruments, maybe a couple of MIDI tracks for strings or things like that, but a lot of it is multi-layered guitar, often heavily processed (which I've become quite good at in GB :) ). However I can only get away with maybe a dozen live tracks before GB just refuses to play (and this is from a FW800 external HD).

Whatever the new Mac turns out to be, I need to make sure it can cope with whatever I throw at it. And chances are if I can lay down 30 overdubs of a guitar track then I will :cool:
 
Ok, if you see yourself working with that much then its all money dependent.

My college uses imac 24", 3.06ghz C2D, 4GB ram for Pro Tools LE, 8 tracks simultaneous input with 002 rack. The project i'm doing at the moment is currently on about 20 or so tracks, maybe more, with plug ins, runs very nicely.

The PT HD studio uses Mac Pro, single quadcore processor (i think 2.8), 4GB ram, obviously that can deal with a ridiculous number of inputs simultaneously.

So you could make a decision based on that. I reckon thats a fairly good indication anyway.
 
I run Logic Pro 8 on a MacBook Pro, 2.4 G processor, 2 G Ram and it can run 64 audio tracks ... slows down a bit with MIDI tracks, after 15 or so with multiple plugins on each I need to freeze tracks at times, but that's no biggie, freeze function works well

logic 8 is amazing and i can't imagine ever needing anything else for decades
 
SFXsource said:
I run Logic Pro 8 on a MacBook Pro, 2.4 G processor, 2 G Ram and it can run 64 audio tracks ... slows down a bit with MIDI tracks, after 15 or so with multiple plugins on each I need to freeze tracks at times, but that's no biggie, freeze function works well

logic 8 is amazing and i can't imagine ever needing anything else for decades
Click to expand...



I'm holding out for Logic 9. I think it should be released soon.
 
If you want to be portable, I think the highend 17" MBP (or now even 15") should be enough. If you don't need the portability, the Mac Pros look very tasty :p
 
No, portability isnt an issue, I lead a very straightforward sit-in-the-bedroom-by-myself-and-make-noise life :cool: in that respect, being able to fire a dozen simultaneous inputs into the mac isnt quite as important as being able to run the same tracks with a ton of fx at the same time. I guess its looking like the MP is the way to go. Oh well :rolleyes:

As for Logic 9...maybe this year, but I've seen enough half price copies of Logic 8 on ebay to make me happy going with 8 and getting the 9 upgrade as and when it appears.

Many thanks btw. This is a little off topic, but the MP (whether last revision or new revision) is going to be run thru a 26" lcd tv (Panasonic) on DVI - anyone want to tell me what a bad idea that is before I commit myself?
 
I don't see why the TV thing would go wrong, you can use macs as media centres after all.

If you can afford a MP then go for it, I reckon you'd be just as happy with an imac 24" 3.06 if thats what you can afford.
 
I think any of the new macs will do your job fine (including the old mac pro). I used to have an old intel imac: 2.16 GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD 5400 and on that machine I would run around 20 virtual instruments with about forty plugins and about fifty tracks (logic studio). Sure at times it was a bit slow, but any new mac compared the one I had will be fine for what your doing :)
 
I would get last year's Mac Pro if you can get a deal on it, or wait for some Logic specific benchmarks on the new ones. The single proc one has an 8 gig ram limit, which could become a problem depending on how many tracks/sample libraries you're using. The dual proc one is really expensive compared to what you could get for the money last year.
 
Ah well this is the thing - now that the new MPs are out, the 1xquad-core entry Pro is more expensive than many of the 2xquad core options from the last revision (I've seen a 2x2.8ghz MP for about £1600, which I think is a stunning bargain). But this may be the crux of the matter - I know the architecture / processor of the new MP is significantly different from the previous revision, but I still wonder how much of a difference these will make to my use of Logic. Hurrah if the new MP processors are great, but if its RAM than will make Logic do what I need, surely it will be better to hang back a generation even if it means using DDR2 but being able to afford a load of it, rather than being limited by the high cost of DDR3.

All in all, I am very tempted to go with a high end model from the last generation, because not only are they cheaper than the current entry level MP, but also more powerful than it, and because the current high end models are simply out of my price range (when it comes to equivalence in RAM, HD, airport etc).
 
kidlupin said:
the MP (whether last revision or new revision) is going to be run thru a 26" lcd tv (Panasonic) on DVI - anyone want to tell me what a bad idea that is before I commit myself?
Click to expand...

It's not a bad idea, but you get a better resolution from a 26" LCD made for computers. The theory behind this is computer screens are made to be viewed from a foot away, whereas tvs are made to be viewed from several feet away. But if its in addition to your laptop's screen then its all good.

Logic 8 has a completely new GUI which works well on smaller screen sizes.
 
pulsewidth947 said:
It's not a bad idea, but you get a better resolution from a 26" LCD made for computers. The theory behind this is computer screens are made to be viewed from a foot away, whereas tvs are made to be viewed from several feet away. But if its in addition to your laptop's screen then its all good.

Logic 8 has a completely new GUI which works well on smaller screen sizes.
Click to expand...

I agree. a 720p TV set will look horrible, a1080p will do OK if you sit back about 3 feet from the screen. If your eye are 18 ibches from the screen you are going to need a computer monitor with it's higher than TV pixel pitch
 
Thanks, that probably should have occurred to me about the difference in pixels. I would be running it at 1080p, or at least that would be the plan. I really is only a matter of saving space anyway, as this is a setup in a bedroom without the room to swing a cat. Plus I cant afford a 30" Cinema Display :(
 
kidlupin said:
Thanks, that probably should have occurred to me about the difference in pixels. I would be running it at 1080p, or at least that would be the plan. I really is only a matter of saving space anyway, as this is a setup in a bedroom without the room to swing a cat. Plus I cant afford a 30" Cinema Display :(
Click to expand...

A 1080P TV set has the same resolution as a 20" LCD monitor. If you are buying a TV set make sure it is 1080p and don't go bigger than 22 inches

Also, I don't expect a Logic 9 to be released until some time after Snow Leopard is released. I figure the next Logic is usig all those new SN features the are aimed at developers. SN will be mid to late 2009 and Logic 9 maybe 6 months after that in mid 2010. But anyone who really knows is not talking.
 
Im not particularly in a rush to get LS9, this is my first time out with Logic and Im sure LS8 is as good a place as any to learn :)

I've got a Panasonic 26" LCD, only a couple of months old to true HD, I think I'll go with it anyway... whats the worst that could happen? If its no good then I'll go with a new Cinema Display when they appear :D
 
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