MP3Unsigned Message Board: Advice On Building Mac Based Home Studio

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HI

My experiences with PC based sequencers and hardware has been abysmal. I have had two dedicated music PC's die on me. The first time the repair didn't make any economic sense. The first was a Red Submarine
based system and the second a Digital Village machine. I should have gone for the Carillon probably.

In any case I am seriously considering going for a Mac based home studio to go with my active monitors...analogue mixer and several synths..the most up to date being the Roland Juno G.  (I have an Audiophile external soundcard which now refuses to work with my bog standard PC - despite attempting a re-install. Neither did my Juno G want to work with Sonar.

Does anyone know how good Garage band is and if my Audiophile doesn't work with the Mac either...what would be the best external soundacard to buy?  A midi-controller to play soft synths seems like a good idea. My musical goals are to produce instrumental music for games and films and also backing tracks for vocals in Dance styles or Pop.

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MoonTurnedBlue Subscribers Joined: 11 March 2007 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 20	Topic: Advice On Building Mac Based Home Studio Posted: 06 September 2007 at 2:49am
	HI My experiences with PC based sequencers and hardware has been abysmal. I have had two dedicated music PC's die on me. The first time the repair didn't make any economic sense. The first was a Red Submarine based system and the second a Digital Village machine. I should have gone for the Carillon probably. In any case I am seriously considering going for a Mac based home studio to go with my active monitors...analogue mixer and several synths..the most up to date being the Roland Juno G. (I have an Audiophile external soundcard which now refuses to work with my bog standard PC - despite attempting a re-install. Neither did my Juno G want to work with Sonar. Does anyone know how good Garage band is and if my Audiophile doesn't work with the Mac either...what would be the best external soundacard to buy? A midi-controller to play soft synths seems like a good idea. My musical goals are to produce instrumental music for games and films and also backing tracks for vocals in Dance styles or Pop.
	Lyricist.
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kiopo3 * VIP * * VIP *"/> Joined: 23 September 2005 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 2016	Posted: 06 September 2007 at 2:56am
	Macs are very good for that purpose, and if you're after a dedicated music machine, there's no reason not to. I'm operating a new PC based studio and its fantastic. The latest dual core processors really make a huge difference and so far its been pretty reliable. It's not dedicated either, I use it for pretty much everything. The main reason I wouldn't switch to mac yet is because I'm just so used to Windows. It's not an easy answer, but if you're up for learning something new then maybe try out the mac.
	Kiopo Faithless Craze CarJam
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Mark Holley * VIP * * VIP *"/> whispering symphony Joined: 15 March 2006 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 2098	Posted: 06 September 2007 at 3:19am
	Im mac based... and, I'm using somewhat outdated machine but still works great... Im using a 867 G4 tower with 2 gig RAM.... I'm running MOTU Digital Performer.... i would suggest checking out Digital Performer... it is exclusive to mac nd extremely powerful digital studio... handles midi and audio... tons of features, comes with a multitude of FX plugins and you can download 3rd party plugins for it as well... all the tracks on my page were done on DP... nd there are mastering tools as well.... kind of expensive... i use DP 4.5 on MAC OS 10.39... welcome to the site BTW! Mark

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MoonTurnedBlue Subscribers Joined: 11 March 2007 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 20	Posted: 06 September 2007 at 10:27pm
	Thanks for your feedback. It has occurred to me since - that if I get a mac compatible audio interface such as the O1X Or Edirol DM16X, I could try to see if it works with my PC first! This would save a few quid if everything goes well - especially as I have much PC dedicated software. I know that lots of musicians such as yourself find PCs reliable and can achieve professional results. I guess I have been unlucky. I also live quite close to a substation and I blame it for everything that goes wrong with me or my equipment!
	Lyricist.
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MoonTurnedBlue Subscribers Joined: 11 March 2007 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 20	Posted: 06 September 2007 at 10:34pm
	Thanks Mark. I wish I had invested in a mac years ago. Perhaps I have been spectacularly unlucky with my PCs - but once I had gone down the PC road it is so expensive to switch. I have been reading some articles etc on Digital Performer. I will definitely buy this sequencer if I can't get a new interface to work with my PC. Edited by MoonTurnedBlue - 06 September 2007 at 10:34pm
	Lyricist.
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