Decent spec.s for a computer for recording?

[SOA_bassist]

my bro and I pretty much decided on a mac for our next computer, but I want to make sure it will be fast enough and have a decent enough processor/sound card/etc.

1 gig RAM
60 gig Hard Drive
1.66 GHZ Intel duo-core processor
the stock sound card it comes with

 

[luknfur]

FWIW:

nobodys responding so I will even though what little I know is from research not experience and even that hasn't stuck well.

Obviously depends on what your needs are or may become in the next couple of years. Helps to know the software you plan to run which dictates minimal speed and all that.

Don't remember the speed numbers but seems Pentium chip or equal.

Gig of ram sounds more than enough.

60 gigs of memory seems minimal from some of the hard core guys but probably more than most guys have.

The Intel CEO was on Rose the other night and said he feels the Macs are running much better with their chips and he's probably right though biased.

There's plenty of info to answer this question on this site from a search. Among them is a Show your studio thread that has the usual babble in it but also has quite a few setups listed and some include the specs.

 

[rob2966]

my bro and I pretty much decided on a mac for our next computer, but I want to make sure it will be fast enough and have a decent enough processor/sound card/etc.

1 gig RAM
60 gig Hard Drive
1.66 GHZ Intel duo-core processor
the stock sound card it comes with

To some extent it depends on the system you are going with; however, it is a good idea to have 2 hard drives. The 60G main drive for general computer stuff and where your applications are installed and then a dedicated audio drive where the recordings go, for this I would go bigger (120+ Gig), especially since drives are pretty cheap these days. One option for the audio drive is to go for an external firewire drive (or USB2, although MACs do like their Firewire).

1G or RAM should be sufficient; however, more is always better.

If you go with something like the ProTools (MBox2, 002) it can be used as your soundcard so there is no real requirement for a high-end soundcard in the computer.

I use a P4 2.4GHz for recording but the 1.6G should be fine. The faster the processor, the more plugin type effects you can run simulataneously. Depends how fancy you want to get.

Another item to consider is the monitor. I use 2 17" displays and find it very convenient (1 for mix window, 1 for wave editing). The large (20"+) widescreens are getting pretty cheap now and 1 of those would definately enhance your productivity when recording.

Later
Rob

 

[thehurlatron]

FWIW, I'm using a 2ghz intel Mac. 2gb ram. 200gb firewire HD. I'm running Logic express and using a MOTU ultralite interface.
It runs sweet and smooth for me, even with a project with 20ish tracks and a couple of processor heavy plugins.

As another poster mentioned, I recommend adding a ext. firewire drive for project files. (just make sure it's at least a 7200rpm drive)

Other than that, The 1 gb ram is okay, but noticable difference when jumping to 2gb.

 

[TheApostlePaul]

I work for a very large electronics company. Here is my .02.

I totally agree with the idea of going with a large external hard drive for your music files. I recommend a fire wire one as Macs do like this much better than USB (as an earlier poster commented).

I also recommend the 2GB upgrade. Good recording software is usually very RAM intensive. Plus 1GB is pretty much the industry standard right now so even for regular computing it is worthwhile expanding to 2GB for longevity purposes.

Macs do come with garage band which is decent enough as bundled software goes. However, if you want to go hardcore you will probably want ProTools or it's MAC equivalent (I am not sure if it is available for Mac or not).

If you have any other questions feel free to PM me. I help people find the right computer solution on an almost daily basis.

 

[these_go211]

pro tools is available for the mac if that's what you want. though logic may be a better choice as that is an apple product. probably better interoperability but maybe someone else can chime in on this as i don't use logic. 1 gb RAM is probably good enough but like paul just said you might as well go bigger as RAM is so cheap now and it will futureproof your system.

recording to an external firewire drive is important for sure. don't record to your system drive.

as for programs, i have become a huge tracktion proponent after using it for the last 6 months. i used an older version of logic around 6 years ago, then moved to pro tools le with an mbox. i feel tracktion is much more intutive and easy to use by a long shot.

 

[thehurlatron]

Your new Mac will come with Garageband software. It's a great tool for getting started. Then Logic express is a great jump from there, and if you have the scratch, Logic pro is the way to go. If you want to steer away from the Logic programs, I'd recommend Digital Performer 5. (I think that's the newest)