new Mac user question Going Mac Crazy :)

[deepstasis]

Well always being a pc user I been wondering about the mac side mostly for music. I recently bought a 2006 macpro running Lion 10.7 so far I'm liking the mac os definately a switch from windows.
I was able to put my Ableton live suite on it as well my retail version of reason. The I have a Maudio 2626 interface by eventually may switch to focusrite or Motu.
I put a ati 5770 1gb graphic card in it and upgraded the ram to 16gb. Plan to get Logic pro or Digital preformer

Anyway I was thinking if I were to buy another mac such as an Imac to use as my main with a updated os can I network that with the 2006 macpro and use it as like a sound server computer would lkie to store some of Au units on it well .

Also I was looking at a apple Xserve can I use one of those for sound and vst storage and network with the macpro Sorry new mac user so may sound like a noob question I wish I made the switch a long time ago

I still use my pc but for gaming all my creative projects will now be on mac also into visual such as photography there was some mac only programs I been wanting to use. Plan to get a Ipad later for help with daw control

Any advice from mac users will be helpful

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

First of all, congrats on making the switch! Macs are certainly capable music making machines with more than a few perks. While the PC guys have some really good software not available for OS X, the Macs have their own set of exclusives as well. :D

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Apple killed the Xserve a long time ago right? If I were you, I'd invest in new and supported hardware...like the Mac Pro, iMac, or the Macbook Pro. All three are extremely fast and will give you enough power for years to come.

We have some threads for Mac user tips...

http://www.ambientonline.org/forum/s...-for-mac-users!

http://www.ambientonline.org/forum/showthread.php?908-Some-interesting-things-for-Mac&highlight=software

And there might be another one. Check the software section of the forums.

As far as storage goes, I use external storage. If you can afford it, make sure you get a Mac with an SSD (flash storage) and use external storage for files/samples/etc. SSD's really make the operating system scream (as it's supposed to) and put as much RAM into your machine as you're comfortable with.

One note, before I buy a new Mac, I always be sure and check the "macrumors buyer's guide" to make sure there isn't a new "refresh" imminent for the machine.

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com

I hope that helps. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Cheers,
-S1gns

[MetaDronos]

While the PC guys have some really good software not available for OS X, the Macs have their own set of exclusives as well. :D

Never ever mention MetaSynth, pMix and SoundMagic Spectral to me! :steam::mad::frustrated:


;)

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

While the PC guys have some really good software not available for OS X, the Macs have their own set of exclusives as well. :D

Never ever mention MetaSynth, pMix and SoundMagic Spectral to me! :steam::mad::frustrated:


;)

METAsynth + METAdronos...seems like it was meant to be, no? :listening:

[aoVI]

After my first mac, I was seriously considering a second used mac as well. I found searching eBay just after a new line was announced was a pretty good buying time--all the bleeding edge freaks had to have the latest, and were selling year-or-two-old units.

[deepstasis]

Thanks for the reply I bought the older mac to try it out first to see if I was going to like the environment. The newer macpros are definately out my price range if I get a newer supported mac it will be a Imac, eventually plan to get a machbook but right now trying to get my main desktop studio stable yeah i know the xserves are not supported I was looking at them on ebay thinking I could use one somehow, I'm trying to focus more on software , I do have some outboard gear but seem to be using more software nowadays for my main mixing console right now i have 2 cascaded roland vm 3100 pros

I were to get newer supported imac can I still link it with the older macpro and use it more file storage and audio units ?

[deepstasis]

Lol Sorry Meta ? I do have protools 11 right now and live but I still might just end up using live, logic and protools since I already have invested into it.
Just wondering did you have a bad experience with it ? The reason I thought about DP was becasue of the spectral Just curious ?

Thanks

[MetaDronos]

I don't have Mac, so all those treasures mentioned are beyond my reach - this is why I hate to have them reminded to me... ;)
Yes, METAdronos should use METAsynth, but no Mac - no fun. At least I have Iris and Iris 2 on PC

[gabegarza1021]

Another route to go is installing MacOSX on a normal computer.


I bought a gaming laptop from Toshiba and really max it out on customizing it from Toshiba. I'm not a gaming person, I'm a developer so I put SQL Server, Visual Studio and Hyper-V on it to do development.


After I bought my second Toshiba laptop with 16GB of RAM and it's a touch screen, I decide to look into putting MacOSX on that first laptop. Turns out it was easier than I thought.


I also bought a Toshiba Dynadock and what was great about that which I didn't know at the time, a company called DisplayLink makes drivers for Mac for the Dynadock. So it has a sound card on the Dynadock, I can use up to 3 monitors (i only use two right now) and it has USB3 ports as well as the laptop. The laptop has 4 USB3 so I connect my 3TB external hard drive for my sample libraries.


Here's my specs on the converted laptop
Qosimo X70-A 10.9.5 Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor 32GB DDR3L 1600MHz memory, two 500GB 7200rpm hard drives


There's no Mac laptop that supports 32GB of ram let alone two internal hard drives at 7200RPM.


Running Logic Pro X on that is awesome as well as other software that I was having issues running on my iMac which only had 4GB of ram.

I'm just saying...

[deepstasis]

Another route to go is installing MacOSX on a normal computer.


I bought a gaming laptop from Toshiba and really max it out on customizing it from Toshiba. I'm not a gaming person, I'm a developer so I put SQL Server, Visual Studio and Hyper-V on it to do development.


After I bought my second Toshiba laptop with 16GB of RAM and it's a touch screen, I decide to look into putting MacOSX on that first laptop. Turns out it was easier than I thought.


I also bought a Toshiba Dynadock and what was great about that which I didn't know at the time, a company called DisplayLink makes drivers for Mac for the Dynadock. So it has a sound card on the Dynadock, I can use up to 3 monitors (i only use two right now) and it has USB3 ports as well as the laptop. The laptop has 4 USB3 so I connect my 3TB external hard drive for my sample libraries.


Here's my specs on the converted laptop
Qosimo X70-A 10.9.5 Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor 32GB DDR3L 1600MHz memory, two 500GB 7200rpm hard drives


There's no Mac laptop that supports 32GB of ram let alone two internal hard drives at 7200RPM.


Running Logic Pro X on that is awesome as well as other software that I was having issues running on my iMac which only had 4GB of ram.

I'm just saying...

Thanks for the Info, Right now on the mac I bought I knew it was older a 2006 running lion 10.7. I have built pc before thought about doing a hackintosh type Right now running Ableton live 9 suite, reason and Logic pro 8

[gabegarza1021]

Thanks for the Info, Right now on the mac I bought I knew it was older a 2006 running lion 10.7. I have built pc before thought about doing a hackintosh type Right now running Ableton live 9 suite, reason and Logic pro 8

The only issue I had was not OSX running but with the creation of the USB boot device.
When it asked what type your building, MacBookPro, MacPro, etc..., it wasn't asking to match your computer to that, it was asking what did you want the OSX to think it's installing on.
The resaon that was important for me was, I also have a Nvidia GEForce chip as well and Nvidia finally released MacDrivers for that chip but their installer would only install on a MacPro. If I had specified my system was a MacPro instead of a MacBookPro it would have installed the Nvidia drivers.

I'm planning on creating another USB boot install and then I'll specify a MacPro so I can install those Nvidia drivers.
Other than that, it runs great.

[ID_23]

For extra storage I use one external hdd and another larger one that backs up both my iMac and my extra storage hdd with time machine..... Another reason to get Logic Pro X is that Alchemy 2 now comes with it !

[gabegarza1021]

Another reason to get Logic Pro X is that Alchemy 2 now comes with it !

+1

[Maharg]

I have updated and only had time for a quick look. Certainly a significant upgrade with a lot of new stuff. Most of which I have no interest in, however with Alchemy now integrated into the system instead of just being a plug-in as previously is a big bonus. Alchemy always worked well with Logic. I must check it out further and I hope Apple haven't buggered around too much with Alchemy.

[gabegarza1021]

From time to time I just reformat my Mac to get a clean install.
I did this in time when Apple decided to release Logic 10.2.

So with that I also spent some time learning about Time Machine and wow, I was impressed.

Even though I captured all the PKG files from the Logic download (which means I now have where I can run the actually installers), I used Time Machine to create an instance of my MacPro (Toshiba Qosimo Hackintosh) so now I can just restored a Time Machine backup without having to do a Logic Install.

What I'm going to do now is, even though I'm a big Zebra HZ and Omnisphere and Kontakt fan, there's so much included with Logic Pro X 10.2 that I'm going to write just using only Logic Pro X instruments, which includes Alchemy.