Macbook for audio
Stephen Dee
So i am a sound design student at Boston University and a longtime PC
user
i am starting to feel like i need to have a mac available to me
(hackintosh hasn't been working out)
but i am flat out poor, and can not afford the 15 inch macbook pro
with dual graphics cards as id like
so i have been looking for used black macbooks, 2.4 ghz core 2 duo,
between 2 and 3 gigs of RAM, and integrated graphics (unfortunately)
Is this going to be enough firepower for running Qlab, logic, and pro
tools without too many hookups?
what i am really concerned about is the intergrated graphics
i will need to be running a playback program and an editing program at
the same time, switching back and forth
thoughts?
thanks
Ted Pallas
I used one of the black Macbooks with pretty much the specs you're describing, if I recall correctly, for a couple years before upgrading to a Macbook Pro when I started doing video work as well. If you ever ever want qLab to spit out video the Black Macbook is not up to the task, and the old Pro (pre 2008) barely made it while also playing back audio. So keep this in mind.
As far as running everything you need for audio, I've had Ableton Live running 4 tracks with zero plug-ins - rendered audio only - and qLab operating with two channels with no problems. That said, your luck may be different. At the least I'd consider the new Unibody MacBook - it really is a whole lot more system for about what the old black one cost new. Good luck!
.tj
Ted Pallas
Live Media Designer
://grove.nyc, founder
http://grovenyc.net
ted dot pallas -at- gmail dot com
516.286.9661
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David Wilson
what I was able to get out of it.
Designed several shows with up to 25 or 30 tracks, a lot of software
instruments including Kontakt, EXS24, Garritan Jazz and Big band, etc.
Judicious use of Space Designer. Even used PLAY instruments like Storm
Drum and Voices of Passion, but had to do the freeze bit off and on to
take the hit off the CPU.
That's a stock Macbook with basic RAM. My G4 powerbook was dying, and
I bought it as the cheapest firewire laptop I could get at the time to
get me through.
I don't remember if I had Qlab and Logic running at the same time, but
Qlab is is not that taxing. No experience with Pro Tools, I left that
behind a while ago.
Jason Waggoner
I too was a PC guy before grad school literally required me to buy a
Mac for the program. The cost can be... unsettling, especially as a
student, but the value as I see it outweighs the cost both in
capability and ease of use. This is not meant to be a "mac-lover"
response, but to say that if I were to buy a new mac, I would do what
I could to get the pro. The Black Macbook might get you what you need
for now, but if you are able to get the pro you can rest assured that
it will serve your needs further into the future and thus be a better
return on your investment. I bought my MBP almost 4 years ago and
it's going strong. It runs Qlab, Logic, Fusion, AutoCAD, and just
about anything else simultaneously and I have never had a worry about
the processing power. I had to get Apple credit to buy the machine
because like you I was pretty much flat broke at the time. However,
they gave me 12 months interest free and I was able to pay it off
within the year. I currently looking at buying the next generation of
MBP and turning my machine into a show computer. There are enough
other things on the horizon that I can't really afford it right now,
but rather than settle on something else, even another Mac, I am going
to wait until I have the finances to get what I need (that is all just
to say I practice what I preach). Hope this insight was helpful. If
you have any other questions feel free to contact me off list.
Cheers,
Jason Waggoner
Sound Designer
www.auralfixationdesign.com
Daniel Lundberg
Cheers,
Daniel
Justice Bigler
Hello all
So i am a sound design student at Boston University and a longtime PC
user
i am starting to feel like i need to have a mac available to me
(hackintosh hasn't been working out)
Most of the major recording and editing software have both Windows and Mac flavors. And the playback software, a few are Mac only, like Q-Lab, but SFX is a viable alternative. Most of the console editors will run on both Windows and Macintosh operating system (except for the newer Yamaha consoles). SMAART, Vectorworks, Wireless Work Bench and the Sennheiser WSM and MAPP all run on both Macintosh and PC. But RF Guru and IAS and some of the other wireless software is Windows only. And .wav files are OS agnostic.
Don't get caught up in trying to keep up with the Jones just because they all have shiny new Mac laptops.
-Justice C. Bigler
Sound Technician
Tulsa Performing Arts Center
Charlie Richmond
> Most of the major recording and editing software have both Windows and Mac flavors.
I have been told that Pro Tools has been favouring Windows lately.
C-)
steve payne
tracks all the time and I have had several tracks playing back while
running Qlab at the same time. No problem. The only thing I would
worry about is plug ins. They really eat up CPU fast.
On Dec 15, 6:22 pm, Stephen Dee <steved...@gmail.com> wrote:
Mike D
I have a Macbook 1,1 (Core 2 single) and it runs Qlab, Peak and Digital Performer really well. When you start getting into more then 12 tracks with effects, it gets really sluggish. At work, we run Protools on both a mirror door G4 and a dual G5. Protools LE runs great and can do multiple channels, effects, UAD, etc without too much of a hitch. Really it comes down to how many tracks, effects and stuff that you're going to use. In my opinion, I would get the most Mac that you can afford. It's going to last longer and you'll be much happier in the end. I also use an external firewire drive as well as a firewire audio interface. The firewire drive is faster then the internal in a laptop and the external card has a much better sound. If you are going to go Pro Tools, you'll have to get an external interface anyway. M-Audio devices are pretty low cost and they work with ProTools.
If you really want to do more with it, I would go to an iMac. For around the same price, you get a bigger and faster hard drive, bigger screen and a faster processor. You do give up the portability, though.
If you're going to buy new, definitely take advantage of the educational discount through Apple. If you are going to buy used, I'd kick the tires as much as you can. You don't know what it's been though before it gets to you. Good luck and happy Macing!
- Mike de Almeida
Audio Technician
University of Hartford
P.S. Tell Ben I said hi. :-)
Stephen Dee
i love the program if the damn thing would run right
On Dec 17, 3:42 am, Charlie Richmond
Mitchell Greenhill
In Windows, advisable disconnect from internet and disable antivirus, which is a resource hog.
Richard B. Ingraham
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theatre-s...@googlegroups.com [mailto:theatre-sound-
> li...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Dee
> Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 2:35 PM
> To: theatre-sound
> Subject: [theatre-sound-list] Re: Macbook for audio
>
> I have only had problems with pro tools on windows
> i love the program if the damn thing would run right
>
Interesting. Not that I really care all that much because I don't care for
the application no matter which platform it's running on... but all the PT
demos I've sat through in the past few years now (you know the little demo
at your local Guitar Center or that kind of thing) have all be running on
Windows based computers. Although I guess is has been well over a year now,
probably closer to two years since I even bothered to attend one.
Richard B. Ingraham
RBI Computers and Audio
http://www.rbicompaudio.20m.com
Stephen Dee
i prefer thinkpads because they are not shiny
people think my laptop is ancient when its a year and half old
its more about that i don't know how to use a mac, and i do not want
to be limited to only PC
qlab, logic, and pro tools that actually works are the main programs
not available to me on windows
also i did a design job for acting students, and nobody had a PC in
which to run the show on, so i have to bring my laptop to and from the
show every night (i only have one machine)
this whole thing could have need been avoided if i had designed in
Qlab
see my problem?
On Dec 17, 3:34 am, Justice Bigler <justice.big...@gmail.com> wrote:
Charlie Richmond
> Interesting. Not that I really care all that much because I don't care for
> the application no matter which platform it's running on... but all the PT
> demos I've sat through in the past few years now (you know the little demo
> at your local Guitar Center or that kind of thing) have all be running on
> Windows based computers. Although I guess is has been well over a year now,
> probably closer to two years since I even bothered to attend one.
And now I remembered where I heard that they were focusing on Windoze ;-)
C-)
Ted Pallas
Ted Pallas
Live Media Designer
://grove.nyc, founder
http://grovenyc.net
ted dot pallas -at- gmail dot com
516.286.9661
Phillip Peglow
On Dec 17, 9:55 pm, Mike D <ymnhe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The firewire drive is faster then the internal in a laptop and the external card has a much better sound.
>
> - Mike de Almeida
> Audio Technician
> University of Hartford
Just to clarify one of Mike's points:
A firewire external hard drive is *not* faster than the internal
drive. The external drive reduces the bus and controller load that
running the OS (especially OSX which relies heavily upon virtual [hard
drive] memory) and playing back tons of tracks will take. While you
can accomplish a lot without a external drive, I wouldn't recommend it
for larger sessions, especially when running playback software or
samplers that stream from disk.
Right now, just about the fastest external drive interface that you
can get is eSATA. A lot of drive enclosures feature this connection,
but you would have to have a MacBookPro (or Powerbook as I like to
remember them as) with an ExpressCard interface. More $$$, but truly
the Cadillac of portable drive interfaces.
Firewire 800 / 400 comes standard on all macs and is plenty fine for
most everything you will want to do.
USB 2.0 approaches Firewire 400 at burst periods and can also handle
some pretty decent throughput. I wouldn't use it for intensive video
work, but I have had a lot of success with using USB 2.0 drives to
store streaming samples for various softsamplers.
USB 1.0 drives (if you can find them): don't touch with a 25' XLR.
Phillip Peglow
Consulting / Sound Design / Engineering
www.ArtecConsultants.com
Charlie Richmond
> can get is eSATA. A lot of drive enclosures feature this connection,
The new fanless AudioBox II has this type of connection and uses optional solid
state hard drives for the fastest and most reliable audio device on the market
today.
Charlie
| - Charlie Richmond - Richmond Sound Design - Skype: charlierichmond - |
| - http://www.RichmondSoundDesign.com "Performance for the Long Run" - |
| -------- SoundMan-Server -- the ultimate Virtual Sound System ------- |
| -------- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlierichmond ------- |
| -------- Facebook: charlie.richmond Twitter: charlierichmond -------- |
Chip
>
> Firewire 800 / 400 comes standard on all macs
>
No Firewire at all on MacBook Pro or other MacBooks.
http://bindapple.com/no-more-firewire-for-mac/
Chip
Andy Leviss
> No Firewire at all on MacBook Pro or other MacBooks.
> http://bindapple.com/no-more-firewire-for-mac/
That's a year out of date, they've since reversed course, there is no
Firewire on MacBook_s_, but there is on Pros, Minis, etc. It's all
FW800, but it's there.
--A
Thomas Vecchione
>
> On Dec 17, 9:55 pm, Mike D <ymnhe...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The firewire drive is faster then the internal in a laptop and the external card has a much better sound.
>
>>
>> - Mike de Almeida
>> Audio Technician
>> University of Hartford
>
>
> Just to clarify one of Mike's points:
>
> A firewire external hard drive is *not* faster than the internal
> drive. The external drive reduces the bus and controller load that
> running the OS (especially OSX which relies heavily upon virtual [hard
> drive] memory) and playing back tons of tracks will take. While you
> can accomplish a lot without a external drive, I wouldn't recommend it
> for larger sessions, especially when running playback software or
> samplers that stream from disk.
While the basic premise is correct, a FW drive CAN certainly be faster
than the internal on a laptop actually. Of course replace the
internal with a SSD and that won't ever happen:) That being said, you
are absolutely correct in the largest difference comes from being able
to dedicate the drive to reading and writing the audio tracks, rather
then for the OS to page memory off of or onto, applications to load or
access new files, etc. At least on a spindle based drive.
>
> Right now, just about the fastest external drive interface that you
> can get is eSATA. A lot of drive enclosures feature this connection,
> but you would have to have a MacBookPro (or Powerbook as I like to
> remember them as) with an ExpressCard interface. More $$$, but truly
> the Cadillac of portable drive interfaces.
>
My only problem with eSATA is that I can't power a 2.5" drive over it
like I can with FW.
Thomas Vecchione
Stephen Dee
going to have enough power?
keeping in mind it had 4 gigs of ram
Stephen Dee
this one?
winning bid on similar models have been around $600
which is around my price range
On Dec 22, 3:45 pm, Stephen Dee <steved...@gmail.com> wrote:
> so is something like this
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140368429023&ssPag...