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Hi there, i am currently running a Pc with Samplitude and my sound cards are m-audio delta 1010 and delta 44 pci cards. i am considdering buying a mac pro and using logic 8 but this move will mean that i have to sell my pci cards and move to firewire or pci express sound cards as the mac pro does not have pci slots. my reason for wanting to move to mac is because windows to me is just to unreliable for pro audio. what are your suggestions on a decent replacement for my m-audio delta cards? thanks in advance.

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Thomas W. Bethel Tue, 01/20/2009 - 05:17

Re: Moving from Pc to Mac Pro now i need to go from pci to ?

Skinflint wrote: Hi there, i am currently running a Pc with samplitude and my sound cards are m-audio delta 1010 and delta 44 pci cards. i am considdering buying a mac pro and using logic 8 but this move will mean that i have to sell my pci cards and move to firewire or pci express sound cards as the mac pro does not have pci slots. my reason for wanting to move to mac is because windows to me is just to unreliable for pro audio. what are your suggestions on a decent replacement for my m-audio delta cards? thanks in advance.

We use Macs and PCs and don't really find the problems you are describing for the PC. Most PC problems are the results of not having a properly designed PC with enough cooling built in and having that PC on the WWW where it can pick up all kinds of nasty viruses and worms. If you are using a PC for Pro Audio the best thing you can do IS NOT HAVE IT CONNECTED TO THE WWW and make sure the inside of the PC is setup for max cooling and max airflow and that the MB and other components are from well known suppliers. It you do that your PC should be every bit as reliable as your MAC.

I have, on occasion, gone to friend's homes who are having trouble with their computers. Typically they don't have any virus protection installed and treat their computer like it was an appliance meaning the computer is sitting on the floor filled with dust and whatever and is in thermal distress all the time. They also let their children put what ever they want to on the computer and when they remove a program they do it by simply tossing the program's folder in the trash and never properly uninstall the programs. Then they say to me that "my computer is not reliable and I am having all kinds of slowdowns while surfing the WWW. In one case the daughter's computer was so infected with spyware, viruses and malware that we had to completely format her disk, do a clean install and start over there was no other way to get all of the mess off her computer. The first time I installed AVG it found 809 problems and promptly quit from being overwhelmed.

Best of luck but I think you should seriously consider what are the real problems you are having with the computer and find a way to fix them before deciding to purchase another computer. YMMV

Big_D Tue, 01/20/2009 - 12:59

Re: Moving from Pc to Mac Pro now i need to go from pci to ?

Skinflint wrote: my reason for wanting to move to mac is because windows to me is just to unreliable for pro audio. what are your suggestions on a decent replacement for my m-audio delta cards? thanks in advance.

Sounds to me like someones been watching too many Apple ads on TV.

:roll:

Honestly, both OSX and XP are great for audio. If you have a preference for a certain audio app say Logic or Cubase then that would dictate the OS. If not why change?

I can tell you this, if you go from PCI to 1394 (Firewire) your latency will go up (not a good thing). Don't get me wrong 1394 isn't bad but PCI offers better performance.

As far as PCI-E being scrapped, FAT CHANCE!!! Every computer on this planet built in the last 3 years has it. 1394 might be more like 1 in 10 that has it onboard. There has been on going talk of 1394 going away for a while now since it never really caught on with the masses. Stay tuned

If I was you unless you are already familar with and really want to make the jump to Logic I would stick with what you have. The 10/10 is a nice box, is compatible with PT should you ever need to make that jump and it's already paid for. So you could take the money you would spend on a Mac, Logic and a new interface and put it towards Mics, Pres and accoustic treatments. 8-)

Skinflint Mon, 01/26/2009 - 06:12

thanks for all the replies and suggestions guys. I am pretty sold on Mac Pro and i just bought Logic studio Pro 8 this week end and i must say it looks like an awesome programme from what i have seen experimenting with it on my macbook. i think its going to imporve my recording by leaps and bounds due to the inspiring tools.

In my current setup i have pci m-audio delta cards as i mentioned, what card or interface can you guys recommend for my new setup? what pcie cards do you get that are in the same ball park as my deltas or what firewire? what can you guys suggest? is there anyone here using the setup im now going over to?

I had a look at the m-audio 2626, what do you guys think about that interface? i have mackie onyx 800r preamps i can integrate into this unit and would like to integrate with my new sound cards.

Thanks again.

Skinflint Sun, 02/01/2009 - 23:42

Thanks for the advice guys, im going to sell my deltas and buy a m-audio lightbridge and another mackie onyx 800r. so i will now have 16 channels of mackie onyx pre's running through the lightbridge into a new Mac Pro running Logic pro 8 and using uad 2 dsp plugins. q:-)

What do you guys think of this setup?