Upgrading... and going Mac

[clayville]

Oh sage ones... maybe some of you guys could help. After spending months reading "how do I get started?" threads all over the world last year, I now think I have a shot at upgrading to the next level.

For about eight months I've been diddling across the hall and here in the Jam Zone using ProTracks (kind of a Cakewalk Lite program that came with my awful Digitech pedal). Almost exclusively recording direct (while kids sleep) over the top of mp3's via the direct out of a Trademark 10 into a Behringer UB802 mixer (so I can keep the wires straight) and then into an iMic usb converter to my work-borrowed Thinkpad PC laptop. Phew, got that?

For various reasons (kids, wife, elegance), I've been thinking hard about getting a Mac laptop for home, and switching platforms for my music stuff to get it off my work pc. I know its a recipe for disaster to have it sitting where my sons are banging away, but still...

Just when I'm finally getting the hang of my current software, I'd like to kill two birds with one stone and maybe grab some solid upgrades to my cheapo rig while switching platforms. Firewire, better software... whatever. Maybe something like "Here ya go honey, I bought you Powerbook. Aint it sweet? Oh... and I tucked in this other stuff just for the heck of it.":ahem

If you were building a pretty darn good home duffer's Mac rig from scratch, what exactly would you get? If you had, say not much more than $3000 to apply to the effort? Faster processor or more ram.. or both? Go the mBox/PT LE route? Or kick it up a notch somehow?

[pc]

Despite my numerous problems (which have all turned out to be the fault of my Gateway laptop), I love ProTools. In a couple more months I'll have myself a brand new Mac Mini to run my Digidesign 002-R on--it's getting great reviews at Digi's forums.

The MBox is not, though. It's having a lot of problems on both platforms. When it works (as it does for the bass player in my band), it's a wicked setup for not too much money. But when I read the woes of people on the DUC forum... I don't know.

Bottom line--although much worse in the PC world than the Mac world--ProTools prefers to be alone in a computer rig. You can get away with having most normal types of software on either Platform, but I'd be really leery of having PT on a Mac that kids play with too. The more apps that get added to the system from wife and kids, the more likely conflicts will arise with ProTools.

Just tossing that out there.

[fezz parka]

PC is right on. A DAW, whether PC or Mac, Pro Tools or any other recording platform, should be a dedicated audio machine.:yay

[grito]

I'm having fun on my clamshell Ibook and my Mbox. My issues have all been old-ass-computer related. The Mbox does well with my Dell work laptop. No issues at all...

[Annie D.]

hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[detuned]

Funny as it sounds, Garageband does a great job of being a "recording-lite" app that plays well with others, plus it comes bundled with the Mac. It's not Pro Tools, but as a sketchpad, it ain't bad.

Audacity is a fun open source app that runs on any platform, plus you can't beat the price...

The Mackie Traktion/Spike solution is supposed to be pretty cool too, but I found the interface a little confounding.

I collect these things... :-)

The others are right though, if you're serious, get a dedicated unit to run the software.

[chuckocaster]

a mac laptop and an mbox is a killer set up for a home project studio. my buddy uses one exclusively at his house for editing and doing rough mixes at his house so he doesn't have to spend all his time at the studio. we also do a little recording at his house on his system. you can even set it up to do 4 in at a time if you want to, and still keep your budget under 3 G's. with the price of used mboxes being what they are and all.

also, be sure to have plenty of ram in your computer. pro tools eats it up on larger sessions.

[clayville]

Thanks for the advice. I can't really swing the 'separate dedicated machine' option. But I think I'll be taking the plunge in the next few weeks anyway. Kids are only 4 and (heh, heh) 1 so I might have a little while before they're downloading hooey or really 'need' to use it.

[clayville]

UPDATE:
Well, it took me more than a couple weeks... but I did take the plunge and got a turn key system set up from Sweetwater: 15" Mac Powerbook 1.5GHz with 1.5g ram, an 80g external firewire drive, an Mbox, and ProTools LE.

As close as I'll ever get to buying a new BMW, I reckon -- its a very nicely engineered hunk of hardware. I haven't had a lot of time to record much with it yet, and ProTools is going to require some study to get me back to where I was on my low-budget software/rig in terms of mixing and editing capability (such as it was). But even with just a Podxt plugged in so far, I'm really digging the improvement in the sound quality of everything from the Mbox preamps to the modest reverb plug-ins that came with it.