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I have been thinking about breaking out and trying a Mac on for size. I don't have in my budget to buy a big new G5 or anything like that but have seen some G4's on ebay for pretty cheap and would be a good way for me to get into a mac on my budget.

Will a g4 run well as a daw?

thanks in advance
ed

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anonymous Sun, 03/26/2006 - 05:11

some of those g4 will only run like one space designer reverb whilst some of the G5's will run 30 or so! i think unless you are doing really simple simple songs, when you cross the line over to g5 even to say the dual 2's or 1.8's you really begin to have a powrful tool that is limited only by your imagination with g4's, cpu always seemed to limit more strongly... not that you can't make great tracks with the G4's of course..... but i'd say look into reconditioned G5's from apple, or used on ebay (dont get ripped off!) apple's student discounts (hint hint) you can buy old style monitors for almost nothing, 512 RAM is fine to start

anonymous Sun, 03/26/2006 - 07:40

I have been making albuns with my PT TDM setup on a dual g4 for a long time, with barely any problems, I use to use Digital performer, and once in awhile I would run out of CPU power, but you can always process you tracks, I use a lot of 120 roll of, I just preprocess that , as I know I want to do it to the tracks.

-gil

gdoubleyou Sun, 03/26/2006 - 21:23

You may want to consider one of the new MacIntels. Early reports show that the Macbook, iMac Core Duo, and Mini Core Duo Are about as powerful as the current dual G5 towers, using Logic Pro 7.2.

Then you start off with a clean slate, and won't have to worry about updating legacy apps and plugs.

If you use a DAW other than Logic, currently you will have to wait for a new version to be released.

If you do go for a PPC machine, 1GHz or faster CPU, if you want to get work done.

I'm currently doing sessions of 32-48 24bit stereo tracks on my 1GHz Powerbook.

8)

anonymous Sat, 04/08/2006 - 07:42

I just ordered a Core Duo Mac mini with 2GB RAM. It replaces a Dell Optiplex that I struggled with for months, using Cubase and a Tascam FW-1884.
If Garage Band works out (compatibility-wise) with the 1884 and a Seagate USB external drive, I'll be wanting to upgrade to Logic and a quieter external drive - a Glyph, perhaps.
Does anybody know whether the 1884 supports Logic Express? (or vice versa).
I had so much trouble with Cubase and the Dell, I just couldn't stand to go through that again with another setup. I'm counting on Apple to have eliminated potential problems with its hdwre/sftwre combinations, and am hoping the Tascam can integrate seamlessly. Please let it be so!