# Pro audio?



## skoggis (Apr 8, 2003)

Hi!

This is a really great forum 

I was just wondering whether there are any users here that use their macs to make music?

There is a forum for programming, DTP and games. Should there be a Mac & Music forum in here too?

Logic, Pro tools, Cubase, Sibelius, Finale, etc?

Just wondering...


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## hulkaros (Apr 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by skoggis _
> *Hi!
> 
> This is a really great forum
> ...



Nice idea... But even if there aren't many people here maybe, just maybe, they will come in such Music related forum if *YOU* will start posting there!  

Ask the admins to add such a Music forum and start posting ASAP  

Oh! Welcome, to www.macosx.com! Enjoy!


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## ~~NeYo~~ (Apr 8, 2003)

Yea, i am kinda interested in this too ... Can anyone recommend some Apps ... Free of course ... i downloaded Spark ME, which was pretty good! ... What kinda apps are good for editing tracks and stuff? ... anyone recommend commercial apps i could look 2 get? ... i am really just interested, and looking @ the whole thing, i am far from a pro!  

I've seen the names, Logic, ProTools, Reason, i am not sure what they really do and all! ... 

NeYo


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## monktus (Apr 8, 2003)

NeYo,

OSX is excellent for making music. I'm just getting back in to it again since I switched from OS9 last year, there are some great apps around.

ProTools, Cubase and Logic are basically digital studios. They'll let you record multitracked audio and sequence midi as well as lots of other stuff. ProTools is more geared towards audio and is the industry standard for recording, the free version only runs in system 9, the osx version ProTools 6 is just out (and very expensive), its also indended for Digidesign hardware. Cubase SX is great, its a bit more versatile than ProTools but just as capable. Logic is also very good and takes advantage of Apples new Audio Units (Apple now own emagic).

Reason is basically a virtual rack of electronic stuff. It has a mixer, sampler, synth, drum machine, effects which you can link together and do funky stuff with. It also integrates with Cubase, though I haven't tried this yet.

Have a look at macmusic.org and futureproducers.com (I think that's right) for more info. A music forum on here too sounds like a great idea. OSX is pretty much the best system around for making music on, though its taken a while for the software to get ported, its mostly all available now.

Craig


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## toast (Apr 8, 2003)

Pro Tools has a free version. It's a high end application. I'd start with a simple audio editor first - I LOVE Macromedia SoundEdit 16 v2.0

Then , you need some tool to sequence the whole. Tools like Logic Audio, Cubase.

Then you need to master the whole. Pro Tools is good, Cubase and Logic do some pretty good job, Deck is crap, I hate it. Cakewalk in PC only AFAIK.

Other software propose to work only with loops and samples (Ableton Live, Acid or E-Jay series on PC), with virtual instruments (Reason, Storm), etc.


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## ksv (Apr 8, 2003)

"Mac OS X DTP, Graphics and *Multimedia*"


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## hulkaros (Apr 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by ksv _
> *"Mac OS X DTP, Graphics and Multimedia"  *



Duh!


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## ksv (Apr 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by toast _
> *Deck is crap, I hate it.*



Sent feedback to BIAS because it only showed input level on the first two channels on my 6 channel box, and got the response "It's a known issue, but it _does _ record"  
The opposite of Apple - they do respond, but they don't care about fixing the problem


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## infinityBBC (Apr 8, 2003)

i've been a ProTools user since sometime around '95 - all TDM versions.  i've used it on the Mac OS platform at a voiceover studio.  although i've had some opportunity to run PT on a "newer" Mix systems, which our studio has recently purchased, i used an old PPC 8100 (100MHz) from ~'95 until this year!  it has run nearly flawlessly and in doing several hundred sessions for years, i think it only crashed perhaps once during a session, but i was able to recover all audio and get the sesion back up in minutes - all with the client & talent LIVE on the line!  in other words, ProTools & DigiDesign's hardware has been EXTREMELY reliable for YEARS.

i haven't used PT 6 yet, but everyone i've spoken wiht that has says it's awesome!  apparently, the LE version (which uses your computer's CPU for audio processing) of PT 6 is FAR less taxing on the CPU than previous versions - i gues it's expected, as OS X is supposed to handle audio data more effeciently than OS 9 ever thought about doing.

i have tried out other audio tracking/editing software, but none have come close in my opinion to the professional and intuitive control that PT offers.  i checked out Nuendo (v1.x), but i still didn't feel comfortable using it like i do using PT.  one could just say it's because i'm used to it, but i don't think so.  i do hear that the new Nuendo 2.0 for OS X is going to be mch better than the older version.  i suppose i need to try out other app's like CuBase, but i don't think i'll take the time!

one post above suggested that PT is expensive...  i don't think so!  of course, the PT 6 FREE version is not out yet, but i'm sure it will be at some point.  but at less than $500 for an M-Box and PT LE, that's not such a bad deal.  and of course, once you learn the LE version, you pretty much could use PT on the highest end HD hardware without too much more of a learning curve.  Nuendo costs about $1000 without hardware!  also, another bonus is that PT 6 apparently now supports VST plug in's, which is something that Digi has been slack on for years!

i'm currently waiting for the PT 6 version for the 002... then, i will purchase one.  i do wish that DIGI had included 8 mic pre's on the 002 rather than 4, but i still want one!  

anyway, if you have any other specific Q's, feel free to email me at:  bbc@infinitygames.com

cheers!


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## skoggis (Apr 9, 2003)

> _Originally posted by ksv _
> *"Mac OS X DTP, Graphics and Multimedia"  *



Yes, I saw that forum. I just thought that music is such a big industry, that it should have it's own forum. Besides, serious music production is totally different thing than doing some sound designing for multimedia applications

The forum could include pro audio and midi, home audio and midi, notationsoftware, sound analyzing, etc. And also multimediarelated sound issues.

I did a quick search and found just a few music related posts in the multimedia forum. I wouldn't post my questions or answers in the middle of Photoshop, GoLive, Dreamweaver That is really not the place for music. Graphics and DTP and Multimedia are too huge subjects.


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## lonny (Apr 9, 2003)

Yeah, discussing music would be nice!
Being a Cubase user I often take a look at Steinberg's forum though...


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## ksv (Apr 9, 2003)

> _Originally posted by skoggis _
> *Yes, I saw that forum. I just thought that music is such a big industry, that it should have it's own forum. Besides, serious music production is totally different thing than doing some sound designing for multimedia applications
> 
> The forum could include pro audio and midi, home audio and midi, notationsoftware, sound analyzing, etc. And also multimediarelated sound issues.
> ...



I agree


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## Macupuncture (Apr 9, 2003)

I use  my Mac for pro audio every day. 
What would you like to know?

Macupuncture

G4 733
1.5 Gig RAM
2 X 40 Gig Fast HD
M-Audio Omni Studio

Logic Gold /EXS 5.x
Emagic MT4
Etc.


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## ColdPack (Apr 17, 2003)

I'm going to buy a Powermac G4 dual 1.25 in the coming days and wanted to know a reasonably priced option for an audio interface.
Right now, I'm using an Edirol DA2496 on my PC.  It works surprisingly well.  But Edirol doesn't have an OSX driver for it.
I like that the DA2496 can be mounted in my rack AND is reasonably priced ($500 US).  So a MOTU is out of the question.
Perhaps a USB or Firewire option?
Just looking for some ideas.

Oh, I use Cubase SX and plan on keeping it that way since that's where I'm comfortable.  And I use Reason.

Thanks gang.

CP


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## ksv (Apr 17, 2003)

> _Originally posted by ColdPack _
> *I'm going to buy a Powermac G4 dual 1.25 in the coming days and wanted to know a reasonably priced option for an audio interface.
> Right now, I'm using an Edirol DA2496 on my PC.  It works surprisingly well.  But Edirol doesn't have an OSX driver for it.
> I like that the DA2496 can be mounted in my rack AND is reasonably priced ($500 US).  So a MOTU is out of the question.
> ...



How many channels do you need? 
I really like the Emagic emi 6|2m (6 in, 2 out), but Cubase doesn't support it. I'm currently using Deck for multitrack recording, but it only shows input level on the two first channels, so I'm heading for Logic Audio ir Logic Gold...


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## monktus (Apr 17, 2003)

> _Originally posted by ksv _
> *How many channels do you need?
> I really like the Emagic emi 6|2m (6 in, 2 out), but Cubase doesn't support it. I'm currently using Deck for multitrack recording, but it only shows input level on the two first channels, so I'm heading for Logic Audio ir Logic Gold... *



Are you sure the emagic doesn't work? My friend runs it with sx on a pc, I don't see why it shouldn't work on mac cubase sx (or vst) as it runs off asio (and is now an Apple product technically!).

I've got an M-Audio delta/44, which is a PCI card.

It depends what you need it for. The deltas are quite nice but if you want a USB or Firewire card then something like the emagic, the Motu 828 or one of the Digidesign interfaces would be great. I'd be inclined to go for a firewire interface over usb with the bandwith being so much better. The MBox is nice, it has a Focusrite preamp although it only had 2 ins and is usb, or there's the digi 001 which is lovely. Or the 002, but if you bought that I'd be insanely jealous!

Ew, Deck! Cubase SX is fantastic, much better than vst. The new logics are supposed to be great although I haven't tried any yet, and of course there's ProTools. The digi 001 and the MBox come with ProTools LE, not sure is version 6 is shipping with them quite yet, hopefully.


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## ksv (Apr 17, 2003)

> _Originally posted by monktus _
> *Are you sure the emagic doesn't work? My friend runs it with sx on a pc, I don't see why it shouldn't work on mac cubase sx (or vst) as it runs off asio (and is now an Apple product technically!).
> *



There aren't ASIO drivers for the emi for mac, only Core Audio...


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## monktus (Apr 17, 2003)

Ah I see. That sucks.


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## ColdPack (Apr 17, 2003)

Well, I like having the 8 ins and 8 outs on the Edirol DA2496... but I can see my way to paring down a bit.  
USB 2.0 and Firewire are pretty comparable aren't they?  Not the drastic diff. in performance as between USB 1.1 and Firewire, I thought.
Anyway, M-audio is releasing a firewire audio interface soon (is it the Firewire 440?) that interests me.  I like the Presonus Firestation but I don't they have OSX drivers for it, either.  
CP


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## ksv (Apr 19, 2003)

> _Originally posted by ColdPack _
> *
> USB 2.0 and Firewire are pretty comparable aren't they?  Not the drastic diff. in performance as between USB 1.1 and Firewire, I thought.*



While FireWire is only a bit faster than USB 2.0, it's 36 times faster than USB 1.1 
So if you need 96 kHz 48 bit sound on more than two channels, you need a PCI, FireWire or USB 2 interface.


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