Imac or MacBook Pro for recording studio?

[Pickalittle]

I've decided to go to the Mac side of things. I would like to use Logic Express or Logic Studio for my platform. What I am not decided on is to go with the Imac or MacBook Pro. I travel weekly and am aware of the convenience of taking a laptop with me, especially to edit tracks, etc.

However, from a purely recording standpoint, which would you recommend?
I can get so much more computer with the Imac, not to mention a huge screen for track editing and mastering. However, the convenience of the laptop is attractive to me.

Any ideas and comments that might help me to make a wise decision?
(My wife will be getting an Imac for Christmas , but I will not be using her computer for any recording purposes.

Also, do you recommend Express or Studio, if I've never used computers for recording. (I come from the 2" tape era of recording).

Thanks....

[ibobunot]

The iMac has a faster hard drive and bigger screen, MacBook Pro is portable, they both come with GarageBand, you can use a bigger screen with the MacBook Pro....


I have a MacBook Pro because I hate being tied to a desk but they will both do what you want to do.

[Ormond]

If you travel do the portable...but order one with a 7200 RPM Hard drive! Or have a small peripheral 7200 you can plug into the USB or Firewire port. Do not run the program and the session on the same drive if you do not have to.
Your portable can also be hooked up to a 24 inch monitor at home.
Mac is definitely a best choice for music stuff. I'd even look in to a ProTools portable solution for your recording.

[Jason S]

I went with a MacBook Pro last year. Can't stand being tied to the desk. I mean, that's where you pay bills. I love Logic studio. Never tried express. You are in for a lot of fun.

[Groovey Records]

Do both if you can and dedicate them to music only, no other programs.

Memory will go fast so find a storage solution.

I use the 3.3 24" Imac and a Air with a external usb drive

[eddiewagner]

i do my stuff with a macbook and a big screen. so far so good. could see myself using a big imac too. eddie

[Robbied_216]

I am going to throw a thought into the equation, from having used a G5 Powermac for a long time, and now a new MacBookPro. All the pros of the MacBook have already been covered. Portability, you can plug a bigger screen in..etc etc. I upgraded mine with a really high quality 7200 RPM 500GB internal drive, and run sessions from an external Firewire drive. (BTW, IM using ProTools).

Here's the thing I miss about a desktop. The beauty of the desktop was that I could walk in, open up a session, and get working. Everything stayed plugged in and ready to rock. If I had a creative idea for a song, my interface was all patched up, I often left a mic plugged in, so I just walked in and pressed record. I find now with the MacBook, because I need to plug a whole bunch of stuff in just to get up and running (with ProTools its dongles, a bigger screen, audio interface, external harddrive, mouse...) I kinda find it a little uninspiring. Due to the "effort" of just being able to get started, I find myself putting off working on songs, as I can't just walk straight into my studio and work on something for 5 mins before I leave for work or something.

I hope I have communicated clearly my perspective. :)

[Big Smokey]

I have a newer Imac for recording music only, I like a desktop style for home recording... I use a macbook pro for other work and fun...

[Faraldi]

My 15" MacBook Pro arrived a couple of days ago and I would say it's great for recording. I currently have a Mac Mini in my studio which has been great. I use Garageband and Cubase for different tasks within the same project and it handles it fine.

I may move everything to the MacBook Pro, simply because it's much more powerful than the Mini and the kids could use a computer. The portability is also key. To be able to edit a track while I'm not at the studio is a heck of a selling point.

You're going to love having a Mac.

[octatonic]

I have a MBP 17" that I use for mobile recording.
It is fine to a point, but it will run out of horsepower when I load very large projects up.

It all depends on what your expectations are though.
If running a commercial or semi-pro studio then go with a Mac Pro Tower.
If not then I would suggest the MBP is fine.

[slowpinky]

Im often recording up to 8 tracks live - the latest being a jazz guitar trio.
My MacBook Pro 15 is great -now that Ive sorted out the transfer issues.The Mac is running Pro Tools and hooked up to a 22 inch monitor
Unlike the plain MacBook, the Pro wil have Firewire 800, which when combined with 7200 rpm firewire drive is supposed to be fast enough for large data input loads.

But Ive given up on that - experiencing constant crashing problems and noise interference because there were constant errors during transfer while recording - so Ive replaced the internal Hard Drive to 320 gig and am now running the session and programme off it - I know its not ideal but Ive had no hitches so far - making sure to transfer all data to the external Drive afterward.
The only other solution ive found that works - although its slower, is USB 2 through both USB ports - its quiet and reliable but the data takes time to transfer.

I think the ideal would be to have a Pro Tower in the studio and use the Laptop for mobile occassions, but thats beyond my resources right now.

[elmatt]

Originally Posted by Robbied_216

I am going to throw a thought into the equation, from having used a G5 Powermac for a long time, and now a new MacBookPro. All the pros of the MacBook have already been covered. Portability, you can plug a bigger screen in..etc etc. I upgraded mine with a really high quality 7200 RPM 500GB internal drive, and run sessions from an external Firewire drive. (BTW, IM using ProTools).

Here's the thing I miss about a desktop. The beauty of the desktop was that I could walk in, open up a session, and get working. Everything stayed plugged in and ready to rock. If I had a creative idea for a song, my interface was all patched up, I often left a mic plugged in, so I just walked in and pressed record. I find now with the MacBook, because I need to plug a whole bunch of stuff in just to get up and running (with ProTools its dongles, a bigger screen, audio interface, external harddrive, mouse...) I kinda find it a little uninspiring. Due to the "effort" of just being able to get started, I find myself putting off working on songs, as I can't just walk straight into my studio and work on something for 5 mins before I leave for work or something.

I hope I have communicated clearly my perspective. :)

+1

I love the portability of the macbook but I also find myself procrastinating because I don't want to take the time to plug everything in:)

[stevesz]

either way is good as long as you have a lot of processor and a ton of RAM.

+1 on the 7200 rpm drive but don't record your sessions on the internal hard drive. Get an external fire wire drive to keep you work on. Fewer things will go wrong with your session files, trust me.

[Warren Pederson]

OK, so my daughter, who is on other side of the damn country taking her jazz degree decided the Toshiba laptop (with Vista) we bought her 2 years ago wouldn't cut it for recording so she's bought a MacBook Pro. What's the CHEAPEST interface she needs using firewire. She doesn't need inputs (other than stereo) or preamps as I gave her a behringer mixer w/effects, a Behringer C1, an SM58, and some other goodies to get her started. Oh, she wants to use Logic.

[stratology]

Originally Posted by Groovey Records

Do both if you can and dedicate them to music only, no other programs.

There is absolutely no need for that. I always have 300-500 apps on the Mac, it does not affect the audio performance in any way.

[mudbean]

I would go with the desktop and get a honkin big screen.

Logic 9 looks awesome, has really sweet new editing tricks.

mud

[slowpinky]

Originally Posted by Warren Pederson

OK, so my daughter, who is on other side of the damn country taking her jazz degree decided the Toshiba laptop (with Vista) we bought her 2 years ago wouldn't cut it for recording so she's bought a MacBook Pro. What's the CHEAPEST interface she needs using firewire. She doesn't need inputs (other than stereo) or preamps as I gave her a behringer mixer w/effects, a Behringer C1, an SM58, and some other goodies to get her started. Oh, she wants to use Logic.

Presonus Inspire - maybe not the absolute cheapest but its a quality little unit - comes with Cubase lite.

[DastardlyDan]

I have a MacBook and just ordered the M Audio Fast Track for 120 bucks online, it comes with Pro Tools and plugs in USB and lets you plug your guitar in and a mic using standard mic cable. I've used iMovie to make cheesy webcam music videos for youtube and I haven't messed with GarageBand but plan on it soon.

[Grin'n'pick]

Originally Posted by stratology

There is absolutely no need for that. I always have 300-500 apps on the Mac, it does not affect the audio performance in any way.

Agreed!

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by stratology

There is absolutely no need for that. I always have 300-500 apps on the Mac, it does not affect the audio performance in any way.

Yes- that is a Windows issue as there are shared dynamic link libraries & each application alters the registry which is loaded every time you boot.

Mac are different and each application is more or less self-contained.

I always leave 20% of the drive free, which ensures reliability.

[eddiewagner]

i visited a really good apple dealer recently and they had that huge imac: beautiful!

[Dana]

Back in May 2009 I bought a 15" Macbook Pro and Logic 8. I think they updated to Logic 9 a month or two later, so I bought the upgrade.

I really love the setup. For me though, having no background in music recording, I've found Logic has quite a learning curve.

If you're new to it, I highly suggest buying the Apple Pro Training Series: Logic Pro 9 and Logic Express 9, by David Nahmani. It comes with a DVD and lesson files you can practice on, which is nice. I only wish I had more time to work with it. After 8 months of owning it I still feel like I've only scratched the surface.

I have to admit though, I've been doing other things such as working on my melody writing and composition skills. I find once you have something nice to record with, it's daunting trying to write something worthwhile to record.

There's also a forum available online. http://www.logicprohelp.com/

[bobthecanadian]

Either way you go I think you should use an external drive to record your audio to. By keeping it off of your main drive you will get better performance from your main drive and CPU. It will also save you the hassle of backing up to an external drive or other media.

Good luck.

[slowpinky]

Thats fair enough - Ive always done it that way with my Ibook and G5, but personally, I get no performance when recording to an external firewire drive from my Macbook Pro - using FW 400 or 800... doesnt seem to matter which external drive I use , or whether its Pro Tools, or Logic - I just get just constant crashing and digital distortion while recording.

Recording to the internal drive seems to solve all of these issues and I've had no problems with the Mac's performance doing it this way, recording up to 8 tracks simultaneously. It's a hassle having to transfer the files later to free up drive space but at least there is integrity during the recording process - I'd like to know if anyone else has had that issue.

[Dana]

I had asked about this on the Logic forum, and one of the moderators had this reply.

Question: Since all I am using is a MacBook Pro 15" with 4GB Ram, do I need to purchase another external hard drive?

Answer: Not necessarily. It depends on how intensive HD use you need, and how important portability is for you. I would work on the internal untill you start feeling limited by the HD performance: no need buying extra gear when you don't even know if you need it yet.

http://www.logicprohelp.com/viewtopi...958&highlight=

The guy responding to my question is the Author of the Logic 9 Training series book, David Nahmani.

http://www.peachpit.com/store/produc...=9780321636805

[Slim Shady]

The main difference is that if you buy an iMac you don't pay for portability. Specs and performance wise they are quite similar, but for the same price you'll get bigger screen and bigger & faster harddrive. If you rarely but sometimes need to go mobile you could get a cheap used macbook in addition to an iMac.

I've been using MacBook Pros the last couple of years because my day job always lets me have the latest and greatest 15". Performance is great in Logic 8 and I can't think of more than just a few times that I wish i had more power, but that was probably when I had a previous generation.

I won't hesitate to recommend either but the iMac is more bang for the $$.

[Skully]

Question: Since all I am using is a MacBook Pro 15" with 4GB Ram, do I need to purchase another external hard drive?

First of all, how fast is the internal drive? Laptops tend to come with slower (5200 rpm) drives. I always make sure I get them with 7200 rpm drives.

I've found that the fast processors they have nowadays can handle recording projects with multiple tracks and effects without a glitch. If there is a glitch, it's because the hard drive can't keep up.

In my experience, laptops never handle the really tough computing challenges as well as desktops, even when they appear to have roughly comparable specs.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by Skully

First of all, how fast is the internal drive? Laptops tend to come with slower (5200 rpm) drives.

Not necessarily.
My MBP came with a 7200rpm drive.

I've tracked 16 tracks of audio at once on a Macbook with a 5400rpm internal drive.

[Skully]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skully
First of all, how fast is the internal drive? Laptops tend to come with slower (5200 rpm) drives.

Not necessarily.
My MBP came with a 7200rpm drive.

Notice the word tend in my original statement. But it should've been 5400 rpm.

I've tracked 16 tracks of audio at once on a Macbook with a 5400rpm internal drive.

But how would it handle the 10 or 15 additional tracks or the accessing of the bits and pieces of those edited tracks?

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by Skully

But how would it handle the 10 or 15 additional tracks or the accessing of the bits and pieces of those edited tracks?

Depends on how much RAM is in the machine, processor speed & the latency setting for the audiocard.

For playback I've had 50-odd tracks with lots of non-contiguous regions, high DSP plugins (Waves, Soundtoys, Lexicon DSP) running and the machine has coped with a 5400rpm drive.

I'm not saying your advice isn't good- I'd always prefer a 7800rpm drive, but gotten away with 5400 fairly often.

[octatonic]

I took a screen grab of a 60-odd track session running on a Macbook Pro with a 5400 rpm drive today.
The session is a big rock track with lots of edits and multiple takes comped together.
I have quite a bit of processing on and as you can see in the transport the HD is barely kicking over.

It peaks at 40% during a particularly busy period but the rest of the time it is idling around 10%.

Hope this helps.

[Dana]

Thanks for posting that. After reading this thread I was a little concerned that my Macbook Pro wouldn't be able to handle it. For my purposes I'll never have projects with that many tracks. Thanks again.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by Dana

Thanks for posting that. After reading this thread I was a little concerned that my Macbook Pro wouldn't be able to handle it. For my purposes I'll never have projects with that many tracks. Thanks again.

No problem, happy to help.

One thing to be aware of with managing DSP on a MBP.
I pretty much always bus & group tracks.

The fastest way to run out of DSP is to use insert effects on the channels.