Logic - Rewire - Notion (issue)

[Surfwhammy]

I'm actually waiting for Apple to announce new Macs, which could happen Tuesday. I've been thinking about MacBook pros, and they currently have 8GB of ram. Perhaps the new ones will go up to 16. I know the only Macs that wouldn't work out are the MacBook airs. But all the other models will work. Too bad the new Mac Pros are likely to be cost prohibitive. I can't imagine them costing any less than $2500 to $3000. Too rich for my blood. I could get a MacBook Pro and really upgrade it. But with new models, I might not need to.

If you do not need the computer to be portable, then a new iMac is an excellent computer for digital music production . . .

A new MacBook Pro will work, but it needs to be the 15" model, since the 13" model has a screen that is too small, and the 15" screen is not so much larger. The 15" model is in the same price range as a 27" iMac, and the 27" iMac is so much faster in every respect that it is the best choice from my perspective . . .

The 15" MacBook Pro will be in the range of $2,000 (US), plus or minus a little bit, and this is the same price range for a new 27" iMac . . .

PowerMax in Oregon has a 27" iMac for $2,149 that has attractive features for both digital music production and video production, where these are the key enhancements:

(a) 3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5
(b) 8GB memory
(c) 3TB 7200 RPM hard drive
(d) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5 video processor . . .

Apple 27-inch iMac CTO 3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5 (PowerMax)

The new iMac does not have a SuperDrive, so you need one for working with CD/DVD media, and they cost approximately $80 (US), which puts the price at approximately $2,250 (US) . . .

At the high-end of the practical range, it can make a bit of sense to get the quad-core I7 model with 16GB of memory; a 3TB 7200 RPM hard drive drive; and the same video processor, but this increases the price to approximately $2,700 (US) with a SuperDrive . . .

I have a 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro (Early 2008) with 20GB of memory, and the primary hard drive is a 3TB Seagate 7200 RPM drive, and it currently is using approximately 1.5TB of its available storage . . .

The 27" iMac with the link to PowerMax will be faster than the Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio, and this is the reason that I think it is logical choice, since it has the larger hard drive and a video card with 2GB of memory rather than just 1GB, which is important for the larger display . . .

8GB of memory is sufficient for running 64-bit digital music production applications, and you can upgrade to 16GB by adding a pair of 4GB memory modules later, which is easy to do, where at present 8GB of memory (2x4GB) costs approximately $110 (US) at Other World Computing, and the modules plug-in to available slots, but you could get PowerMax to do the memory upgrade, which should cost about the same unless they use Apple memory, which costs more. Other World Computing memory costs less but is just as good, and it has a lifetime warranty . . .

Mac Memory (Other World Computing)

However, lately I have been getting memory modules from Amazon.com, since they cost less, and everything is working nicely, where it is useful to understand that I used Windows and built my own computers for 15 or so years, and there is nothing special about memory. If memory works for a week, it will work forever, but long-time Apple folks tend to think that Apple memory has some type of magical quality, hence should cost twice as much or more, which is nonsense, especially now that Apple computers are Intel-based the same as Windows computers. So long as memory has a 30-day moneyback guarantee or exchange, it is fine with me, because for the most part all of it is manufactured at the same facilities that make Apple-certified memory. The advantage to Other World Computing is that they have a lifetime warranty on their memory, and if it stops working then they replace it using a interesting strategy where you pay for the replacement memory but when they receive the memory that is being replaced they reverse the charge, which is a reasonable way to do it, except that none of their memory has failed, as is the case with the memory I got from Amazon.com (actually third-party vendors, but so what). As noted, if memory works for a week, then there you are, so long as you have a Tripp-Lite ISOBAR surge protector power strip, which is one of the rules here in the sound isolation studio . . .

ISOBAR8ULTRA (Tripp-Lite)

For reference, when I run NOTION 4, Studio One 2.6 Producer, and Reason 7, the Mac Pro is using approximately 12.5GB of memory, so there merit to having 16GB of memory, but so far I have not observed any time where more than 16GB of memory was used, and this is the reason that I stopped upgrading memory even though it is priced very reasonably at present and actually is similar to the price for newer memory. Several months ago it cost twice as much . . .

There is merit to getting a 27" iMac with the quad-core i7 processor, but again I am not certain that it maps to anything particularly useful in a practical way . . .

The primary leap in technology occurred when everything moved to 64-bits, although this has not happened with the IK Multimedia virtual instruments yet (which is becoming vastly annoying, since I like them), and I am not aware of anything as major being on the horizon over the next few years . . .

It also is useful to know that the Mac Pro processors tend to run at approximately 25 percent utilization when I am doing digital music production, and with a few exceptions nearly all the applications use only one or two of the eight cores, and this is a Mac Pro that is six years old, hence the new 27" iMac being faster puts everything into perspective, and I do not see any practical added value to getting the quad-core i7 processor or a 3TB Fusion drive . . .

Having 16GB of memory makes sense, as does having a 3TB 7200 RPM hard drive and a video processor with 2GB of memory, and I think the 3.4GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5 processor will be very fast, and having a 27" screen makes a lot of sense . . .

For reference, I have a 23" Apple Cinema Display, and it is nice but I am pondering the idea of getting a larger display or perhaps a second 23" Apple Cinema Display so that I can see more stuff without needing to switch from one application to another. I usually run NOTION 4, a DAW application, and Reason 7 together, and 23" screen is a bit small, but I manage it so that I have a smooth workflow . . .

I would consider the 21.5" iMac, except that the largest hard drive is 1TB, and you really need a larger drive, but for screen space the fact of the matter is that you cannot see all of a 23" screen, let alone all of a 27" screen, so if there were a way to get a larger hard drive for the 21.5" iMac I would put it on the list, since it can have a quad-core i7 processor . . .

THOUGHTS

The primary considerations for digital music production are (a) having fast processors; (b) having sufficient memory (where 16GB on the Mac is good); and having sufficient hard drive storage for sampled sound libraries and so forth . . .

Once everything is loaded into memory, the hard drive performance is not so critical, and if necessary one can get an external Thunderbolt drive . . .

Video production is a bit different in the sense that you want fast processors but also more memory and fast video processors, and you need a lot of hard drive storage, but this is more for doing longer videos as contrasted to YouTube videos that are no longer than 5 to 10 minutes . . .

The Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio is plenty fast, but I can make it faster by upgrading the video processor (which costs approximately $250 [US] based on current pricing for the upgrade), and adding a PCI Express SSD drive can map to a performance boost, but they are a bit expensive at present . . .

Since the 27" iMac from PowerMax (see above) is faster than the Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio, I think it should be fine, because looking into the future I do not see any new technological developments in software that actually require more computing power for digital music production, and few if any of the digital music production software companies are going to devote the required resources to do parallel computing or intentional multicore processing, because (a) it costs too much and (b) there are few people who know how to do it, mostly because for a good bit of the work it makes no sense unless you devote a lot of time to devising new architectures, since a lot of stuff needs to be done in a linear sequential way, which means that there is no practical way to divide some tasks into parts that can be computed independently, which is the reason that getting a quad-core i7 processor might make a bit of sense even though it increases the cost . . .

Explained another way, for all practical purposes the 8-core processors of the dual quad-cores on the Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio mostly are 75 percent idle, so throwing more cores accomplishes nothing useful, and the limiting factor is the speed of the processors . . .

Lots of FUN!

[Surfwhammy]

I have AudioTools for iOS by studio six digital. Do you think it would be enough as far as measuring spl?

I downloaded and installed AudioTools for iOS on the iPad 2 here in the sound isolation studio, and I think it is reasonably accurate in the same way that I think the NADY DSM-1 Digital SPL Meter is reasonably accurate . . .

I did not do the full calibration, which requires constant pink noise, but this is something I can do, since I have at least two sources for pink noise:

(1) SignalSuite (Faber Acoustical): Mac OS X application . . .

SignalSuite (Faber Acoustical)

(2) Behringer ULTRACURVE PRO DEQ2496: Ultra-High Precision 24-Bit/96 kHz Equalizer, Analyzer, Feedback Destroyer and Mastering Processor . . .

Behringer ULTRACURVE PRO DEQ2496

Instead, I played the single version of "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson) and compared the levels reported by the NADY DSM-1 SPL Meter with the levels reported by the AudioTools Microphone Calibration Test Page, and at the AudioTools factory-recommended setting the levels were sufficiently consistent to map to good accuracy . . .

The AudioTools SPL Meter in the Slow setting with dBA weighting is a bit faster than the NADY DSM-1 SPL Meter in the same configuration, which is fine with me, since after watching the AudioTools readings for a while I think they are consistent with the NADY DSM-1 SPL Meter readings, and this was with the factory recommended +7 trim adjustment for the internal iPad 2 microphone . . .

[NOTE: I will do the full AudioTools microphone calibration later, and for reference it is supposed to be done with pink noise at a steady volume level, where you set the AudioTools microphone trim so that the steady value matches the steady value displayed on the NADY DSM-1 SPL Meter or the one you are using to do the comparison, but I am pleased with the results of the comparison I did . . . ]

The actual AudioTools Analog SPL Meter in the same setting {Slow, dBA Weighting} read pretty much the same as the NADY DSM-1 SPL Meter, and its refresh rate was similar to the NADY DSM-1 SPL Meter, so I think the AudioTools microphone calibration test intentionally has a faster refresh rate, which makes a bit of sense . . .

THOUGHTS

From what I have determined so far, I think that the AudioTools SPL Meter is reasonably accurate in the same way that I think the NADY DSM-1 SPL Meter is reasonably accurate, where the key is being reasonably accurate, which I think is all that one can expect from equipment at this level . . .

As an example, if you want a higher level of accuracy for the AudioTools SPL Meter, then AudioTools has a higher quality microphone, but it costs $200 (US), and there is a different and considerably more expensive microphone interface and microphone for AudoTools that meets both Type 1 and Type 2 certifications:

AudioTools 5.5 loaded onto an iPad 2, using an iAudioInterface2 as the audio input device with an AudioControl CM-145 microphone has passed both ANSI S1.4-1983 and IEC 61672-3 Type 1 Sound Level Meter certification. The testing was done by Scantek Labs, Inc.

[SOURCE: Type 1 & 2 Certification (Studio Six Digital) ]

[NOTE: The iAudioInterface2 unit costs $500 (US), and the CM-145 calibrated microphone costs $1,295 (US), which provides a clue to the cost of high-precision equipment, as you probably know . . . ]

This is the relevant information for the NADY DSM-1 Digital SPL Meter:

[NOTE: The NADY DSM-1 Digital SPL Meter is designed for Type 2 only--not for Type 1 and Type 2--and "conforms" is not the same as being certified, where actually certifying the unit would require sending it to a certifying laboratory like Scantek Labs, Inc., as is the case with the AudioTools products . . . ]

The NADY DSM-1 Digital SPL Meter conforms to the IEC651 type 2, ANSI S1.4 type 2 for Sound Level Meters.

[SOURCE: DSM-1 User Manual (NADY) -- PDF ]

I think the NADY DSM-1 Digital SPL Meter is pretty good, and after watching its real-time measurements for the single version of "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson) and comparing them to the real-time measurements of the AudioTools SPL Meter, I think the AudioTools SPL Meter is pretty good . . .

Another way to put this into perspective is that I usually do a lot of research before I decide which products I want to use, and for the most part all my friends and relatives think that I only get the best stuff and that I am a bit of a spendthrift, which might be the case, except that the best stuff is not always the most expensive stuff, which is very important to understand . . .

Occasionally, stuff that most folks would consider be junk actually is the best stuff, and I think this is the case with the Kustom self-powered PA loudspeakers and subwoofers, and this happens somewhat as the consequence of serendipity but also as the direct consequence of a senior design engineer who actually cares about their work and takes the time to ensure that everything is good which when considered in toto maps to a Gestalt that is the best . . .

The Kustom self-powered PA loudspeakers and subwoofers were designed for DJ and PA sound reinforcement work, not for use as a studio monitor system, but I did professional sound reinforcement for a while many years ago, and one of the things I discovered is that the types of amplifiers and loudspeaker units one uses in professional sound reinforcement sound really good when used as a stereo system or studio monitor system, so when I decided that it was time to solve the studio monitor system problem, I did a bit of research and decided that the Kustom units probably would work very nicely, and I ordered them without every actually hearing them at a music store or whatever, and when the KPC15P units arrived and I connected them to the MOTU 828mk3 the sound was simply amazing, but the subsonic and deep bass was a bit weak, hence I did more research and found the Kustom PA112S self-powered deep bass subwoofers, and they make the complete system perfect . . .

[NOTE: Another sneaky weasel trick that commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) studio monitor manufacturers use involves telling people that they need only one subwoofer, and they justify this by combining the subsonic and deep bass from the two stereo channels to create a single monaural channel, which is based on the patently goofy idea that subsonic and deep bass is so omnipresent that there is no reason to separate it into left and right channels. The reason that do this is that two of their subwoofer units typically cost more than a pair of their "studio monitors", which is something they cannot avoid due to the "big and heavy" rule, hence to maintain the marketing delusion they extend what I call the "big lie" to include the nonsense that you only need a single monaural subsonic and deep bass subwoofer. The fact is that you need a pair of them, one for each of the KPC15P units, which is the case even in a small sound isolation studio, and the truly annoying aspect of this particular flavor of sneaky weaseling is that COTS manufacturers have the audacity actually to premix the subsonic and deep bass to monaural, which is what happens. In other words, they arbitrarily are doing what you as the producer and audio engineer are supposed to be doing, which is mixing stereo audio, not an arbitrary combination of part of the music is stereo but the "low stuff" is monaural regardless of what you want to do . . . ]

In some respects, I am a very private person and I rarely invite people into the sound isolation studio, but I have done this a few times with close friends and relatives, and a few days after they have what I call the "epiphany", they call and ask me to provide a list of everything they need to have the same studio monitor system, except that they use it for karaoke or home theaters, which I think is a pretty good clue that the studio monitor system here in the sound isolation studio is excellent in every respect . . .

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[Surfwhammy]

~ ~ ~ Continued from the previous post ~ ~ ~

I did extensive research for several years before I had enough information to know how to design and to build the sound isolation studio, which is a room within a room within a room, where the floor, walls, and ceiling of innermost room are Helmholtz resonating panels of various sizes and the floor of the innermost room is fully floated, which is done by having it sit on thick rubber mats made from ground tires without being nailed or screwed to the middle and outer floors, and part of the concept came from something I observed when occasionally I would stick my head inside large loudspeaker enclosures, which admittedly was a strange thing to do, but everything sounds different inside a large loudspeaker enclosure and in some respects the innermost room of the sound isolation is a very large loudspeaker enclosure that happens to have a DISCO nightclub sound system, which is what the studio monitor system is, and the entire project is the result of several years of thinking outside the box and doing a lot of research, where my current thinking is that a sound isolation studio needs to be an instrument that is so amazing that people want to be in it and to hear music as it really is recorded . . .

In other words, a sound isolation studio is not just some room that you use to have a bit of FUN with a hobby. Instead, it is an instrument . . .

It needs to be a finely tuned instrument that has the ability to reproduce music accurately in a way that is verified and calibrated using meters, measuring equipment, and calibration software, since this is the only way you can trust your ears and what you perceive when you are listening to music . . .

Explained another way, if you want to know how the studio monitor system here in the sound isolation studio sounds, then go to a DISCO nightclub that has a professionally designed and calibrated sound reinforcement system, and there you are, and the fact of the matter is that the fundamental rules of acoustic physics require the loudspeakers and subwoofer to be "big and heavy", because they need to push a lot air to reproduce the subsonic and deep bass accurately, even in a sound isolation studio that is 6 feet wide by 12 feet long and 7 feet high, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

[hselburn]

Well one thing I remember from mastering class is that for vinyl, that in some cases to keep the needle in the groove, that you mix low frequencies to mono with an elliptical eq. It has various crossover points depending where it needs to be done. The cannon on the telarc recording of the 1812 overture is a classic example.

[Surfwhammy]

Well one thing I remember from mastering class is that for vinyl, that in some cases to keep the needle in the groove, that you mix low frequencies to mono with an elliptical eq. It has various crossover points depending where it needs to be done. The cannon on the telarc recording of the 1812 overture is a classic example.

Interesting!

This is fine with me, since it is the mastering engineer who makes the decision and determines the best technique for doing it . . .

The problem from my perspective occurs when the studio monitor system, itself, arbitrarily decides to do it for everything all the time without the producer, audio engineer, or mastering engineer having any control over it . . .

There are software effects plug-ins that make doing this both possible and practical, and they work nicely with a stereo studio monitor system that has a subsonic and deep bass subwoofer for each channel (left and right), as well as separate left channel and right channel loudspeakers for the higher bass, midrange, and high frequencies . . .

In fact, it is standard for most mastering component plug-ins to have what are called "Mid+Side (M+S|M/S)" functionality, where the stereo left and right channels are combined to create a monaural "Mid" and the difference then becomes the "Side", and there are controls that allow one to do various activities on the "Mid" and "Side" equally or separately . . .

This is one of the signal processor plug-ins that is part of the T-RackS CS mastering collection, and you will notice that at the upper-left there is a rectangular block of buttons that are used to determine the type of control desired . . .





Lots of FUN!

[hselburn]

Are there any iMac sales? 2300 to 2500 is more than I have to spend on the Mac PC side of the equation. I understand the reasons for needing/wanting one, but I'm on SSDI, and more money is something I'm going to ever have. Meaning I need to get the best deal possible. Rule of thumb is if the price approaches the new Mac Pro, it's too expensive. Heck the top of the line Mac mini may end up being the way to go. I think it allows for 16GB of ram and a quad core upgrade is available.

[Surfwhammy]

Are there any iMac sales? 2300 to 2500 is more than I have to spend on the Mac PC side of the equation. I understand the reasons for needing/wanting one, but I'm on SSDI, and more money is something I'm going to ever have. Meaning I need to get the best deal possible. Rule of thumb is if the price approaches the new Mac Pro, it's too expensive. Heck the top of the line Mac mini may end up being the way to go. I think it allows for 16GB of ram and a quad core upgrade is available.

One of my friends who does graphic design and digital photography recently got a Mac mini, and he says it is a very nice Mac, which is useful to know, and I think this puts the Mac mini on the list for consideration, since in some respects graphic design and digital photography are more computing and memory intensive than digital music production when one is working with raw digital images, which can be huge and require significant processing, hence if it were a slow Mac, he would not be a happy camper, but since he is a happy camper, I interpret this as a strong clue that the Mac mini is a fast computer. The primary application he uses is Adobe Photoshop, and with a slow Mac the fact of the matter is that loading raw digital images from a high-resolution professional Nikon digital camera can take a painfully long time, so it must be a very fast Mac mini . . .

However, you need a separate display for a Mac mini, which my friend has and actually is the same model 23" Apple Cinema Display that I use here in the sound isolation studio . . .

Another possibility is to get the basic 21.5" iMac and then to upgrade the memory with to 16GB with memory from Other World Computing, which is one of the ways I do it, where my strategy is that when I need a new Mac, I wait until Apple announces new models, and then I watch for discounts on the current and soon to be "previous" model, where I get the most basic configuration that maps to the best overall pricing . . .

For a while, I did this exclusively with purchases at Amazon.com, but over the past year or so they have started charging sales tax, since they have a warehouse distribution center in this state, which maps to Amazon.com charging sales tax in more states, which negates some of the smaller discounts, noting that Apple computers never are heavily discounted, so a discount of 5 to 8 percent is significant . . .

PowerMax is in Oregon, and even if you live in Oregon there is no sales tax, because Oregon does not have sales tax, as I recall . . .

You can check current pricing at the PowerMax website, but this is the lowest price new 21.5" iMac that I found:

Apple 21.5-inch iMac model ME086LL/A 2.7GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5 (PowerMax)

PowerMax also sells refurbished Apple computers, and the Mac Pro model I have here in the sound isolation studio is attractively priced, although as with the Mac mini you need an Apple display, keyboard, and mouse . . .

[NOTE: This model is has a 1TB internal hard drive, but only 6GB of memory, but you can get an additional 8GB of memory from one of the Amazon.com third-party vendors for $127 (US), where the way to find it is by doing a search at the Amazon.com website on "Mushkin Enhanced Apple MacPro FB 8 GB Memory For Apple Mac Pro 976609A". This is the memory I used to upgrade the memory in the Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio, and it is working very nicely, and it is easy to install. It is a matched pair of 4GB memory modules, and they fit in the the two empty slots for a Mac Pro that has 6GB of memory, which in this instance will put the total at 14GB, and is plenty of memory for 64-bit digital music production. This particular model Mac Pro (Early 2008) is well designed, and PowerMax has a 90-day warranty and offers a 6-month or 12-month extended warranty at a reasonable price, which from my perspective is sufficient to make this a safe strategy, and it is very capable Mac Pro. I have no plans to do anything on the 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro (Early 2008) here in the sound isolation studio other than upgrading the video card, which I think will map to faster overall response. If it works for a week, then I think it is reasonable to expect it to work nicely at least for several years . . . ]

Used Harpertown Mac Pro Eight Core/2.8 GHz (PowerMax)

On the other hand, after doing a bit of research on the Mac mini, there is merit to getting a new Mac mini as contrasted to a new 21.5" iMac or a used 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro (Early 2008), where for example PowerMax has a new Mac mini with a 2.3-GHz quad-core i7 processor; 4GB of memory; and two 1TB internal hard drives for $989 (US), and all the new Macs have one-year AppleCare, which is good . . .

[NOTE: This Mac mini has Mac OS X Server, and the key information is that Mac OS X Server actually is a set of utilities and extensions that installs on top of Mac OS X, where for example Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) costs $19.95 (US) at the Mac App Store is a download, and Mac OS X Server costs an additional $19.95 (US) and is downloaded and installed after Mac OS X is installed, so having Mac OS X on this Mac mini is not a big deal, and it is Mac OS X Server installed on top of Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), hence is the current version at least until Mavericks is released and you want to upgrade to Mavericks . . . ]

Apple Mac mini with OS X Server Aluminum Unibody model MD389LL/A Quad-Core Intel Core i7/2.3 GHz (PowerMax)

This will be a very fast Mac mini, since it has the quad-core i7 processor, but it only has 4GB of memory . . .

However, you can upgrade the memory to 16GB for approximately $200 (US) using Other World Computing (OWC) memory, and there is a video at the OWC website that shows how to do it, and it is very easy to do the memory upgrade, since no tools are required . . .

[NOTE: The "2012" is the colloquial way to refer to the model, and it does not indicate that the Mac mini was manufactured in 2012, although this is possible. It could have been manufactured in 2013, and it is a new Mac mini. The Mac mini shown in the OWC video is a 2011 model, but the procedure is the same for the 2012 mode . . . ]

Videos showing how to install memory for Mac mini 2012 Server (Other World Computing)

And you can check with PowerMax to see how much they charge for the memory upgrade, which might make sense if it is about the same as doing it yourself with OWC memory . . .

The primary reason for the Mac mini with two 1TB internal drives is that this is more than sufficient hard drive space, which I base on the primary 3TB hard drive on the Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio having approximately 1.5TB of used space, and I have a virtual festival of digital music production software installed . . .

On the other hand, if you are going to work only with NOTION 4 and Studio One 2.6 Professional and perhaps Logic Pro X sometime in the future, then another possibility is the following Mac mini, which has a 1TB Fusion drive and a faster quad-core i7 processor, hence it will be noticeably faster then the Mac mini with two 1TB internal hard drives. It has 4GB of memory, so you will need to upgrade the memory, but the cost for the Mac mini is not a lot more than the one with two 1TB internal drives. This one costs $1,149 (US), which is not a lot extra for the faster processor and upgrade to the Fusion internal drive . . .

[NOTE: A "Fusion" drive is a combination of a small SSD drive (very fast flash memory) and a traditional hard drive, with the result that it is significantly faster than a traditional hard drive . . . ]

Apple Mac mini Aluminum Unibody CTO Upgraded to Quad-Core Intel Core i7/2.6 GHz

The Mac mini does not come with a SuperDrive, keyboard, mouse, or display, so you need these things, as well, which makes the overall decision a bit more complex . . .

And there is another possibility, which is to get a used Mac Pro from Other World Computing, where this model is intriguing, since it has 16GB of memory and is a newer quad-core Mac Pro from 2009. It has an internal SuperDrive and a 90-day OTC warranty, and it costs $1,019 (US) . . .

2.66GHz 4-Core Mac Pro Early 2009 (Other World Computing)

THOUGHTS

From my perspective, I think the key factor is whether you have an Apple display, keyboard, mouse, and external SuperDrive, where if you do, then I like the Mac mini, with either of the two models being very nice, as is the case for the used Mac Pro models, where one of them has 16GB of memory and both have internal SuperDrives . . .

In this scenario, the Mac mini models have the advantage of being new and being covered with AppleCare for the first year, with the option to extend AppleCare if you do it within the first year, and they will be very fast computers, but again the are the computer only, so you need other stuff (display, keyboard, mouse, and SuperDrive) . . .

If you do not have a display, keyboard, and mouse, then the 21.5" iMac becomes attractive, but it does not a SuperDrive, so you will need to add a SuperDrive, but since it is a new iMac, it has AppleCare for the first 12 months, which can be extended if you purchase the AppleCare extension within the first 12 months . . .

If nothing else, I can see why my friend is very enthusiastic about his new Mac mini, and after reading about the new Mac minis, I am a bit intrigued . . .

Lots of FUN!

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[Surfwhammy]

~ ~ ~ Continued from the previous post ~ ~ ~

P. S. I am working on getting more information about the Melodyne "audio-to-MIDI" strategy, but it is a possibility, and since I verified that Studio One 2.6 Producer/Professional can use a "virtual MIDI cable", I see no problems regarding Studio One 2.6 Producer/Professional playing native or VSTI virtual instruments in NOTION 4 as part of a ReWire 2 session, where the audio generated by NOTION 4 can be recorded in Studio One 2.6 Producer/Professional. And the MIDI created via the Melodyne "audio-to-MIDI" technique can be exported and then imported to NOTION 4, and there might be a way to record it as MIDI directly in NOTION 4 in a ReWire 2 session, but verifying this latter possibility will require doing some experiments, except that a "virtual MIDI cable" looks the same to NOTION 4 as a real external MIDI device sending MIDI messages, so I think this latter functionality exists, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

[hselburn]

How are the Kustom KPC 10’s?

[Surfwhammy]

How are the Kustom KPC 10’s?

They are too small, plus the self-powered units are not significantly lower in cost than the 15" self-powered units, as is the case with the 12" self-powered units . . .

The Fabulous Affordable Studio Monitor System™ is a Gestalt, and one of the reasons for the larger units is that since you run them at low volume, their power amplifiers have more dynamic headroom, which is a key part of the equation. The 10" units are bookshelf loudspeakers, and this does not work, because it violates the "big and heavy" rule, which is primary . . .

The KPC15P units paired with PA112S self-powered deep bass subwoofers work, and I have verified it . . .

[NOTE: You can use studio quality headphones like the SONY MDR-7506 (a personal favorite) while you are saving money for the studio monitor system, and this is fine for composing and doing a bit of preliminary mixing, but while there are variations on the studio monitor system that I recommend, the "big and heavy" rule is primary. For reference, a variation is to use similarly sized Behringer units, but they cost more than the Kustom units, approximately twice as much, and they are more powerful, which is fine, but the Kustom units I recommend are fine for a room as large as 20 feet wide by 20 feet long and 12 feet high, and I know this because some friends visited last year and I let them listen to the studio monitor system in the sound isolation studio, and a few days later they called and asked me to get them the same system but to add a unit for karaoke, which I did, and their karaoke room is larger than the sound isolation studio, but even with the larger room the Kustom units only needed to be on 3 or perhaps 3.5 on a scale of 0 to 10, which leaves plenty of headroom. I go with what I know, which includes verifying it, and the fact of the matter is that once you do the calibration step, the Kustom units I recommend are excellent to the level that when people hear them, they usually want the same system for their studio, home theater, karaoke room, or listening room. For studio work, the complete system includes two Behringer units (real-time analyzer and stereo equalizer unit and calibrated microphone; and the distributed loudspeaker controller), ARC System 2 (IK Multimedia), and the NADY DSM-1 Digital SPL Meter or equivalent like the AudioTools (Digital Studio Six) unit, but with the PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL you can start with a pair of KPC15P units and adjust them "by ear" and check it with the AudioTools SPL Meter, adding the other units and signal processors as your budget allows. If the PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL has the ability to do equalization on the Main output channels, then you can use a pink noise generator and the AudioTools Real-Time Analyzer (RTA) to do a manual calibration, where the key is to limit boosting to no more than +3dB to avoid introducing amplifier distortion, although if there is a troublesome isolated dip, I suppose you could increase the boost to +6dB to pull-up the dip, but +3dB is the preferred upper limit to boosting, and the KPC15P units are reasonably flat, so the midrange and high frequencies will be fine, where you might need to boost the deep bass, but again no more than +3dB. Studio One 2.6 Producer/Professional has a pink noise generator, and I think that the Studio Live software that comes with the PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL probably is similar to the CueMix FX software that controls the MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid from the Mac Pro, in which case you can use it as an equalizer to calibrate the Main left and right output channels , since the way it works is that the audio generated by NOTION and Studio One 2.6 Producer/Professional are sent to the Main stereo output channels that feed the PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL, hence using Studio Live to equalize the Main stereo output channels of the PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL will work nicely for doing manual calibration, and the calibration will apply to everything that generates audio on your Mac. It is easier to do the calibration with the Behringer RTA and Equalizer unit with matching calibrated microphone and the ARC System 2, which also has a calibrated microphone, but I am reasonably certain that you can do it with the software, PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL, and AudioTools that you already have. And be certain to set the volume levels on the KPC15P units to 0 (the lowest volume level so that you hear nothing from the KCP15P units at first) and your computer and PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL master volume levels to the maximum, followed by playing a reference song and then gradually increasing the volume levels of the KPC15P units using the volume knob at the back of each unit, where 85 dB SPL as measured by a SPL Meter should map to the KPC15P volume knobs being in the range of 2 or perhaps 3 at most for a small studio, and until you are familiar with all the various volume controls (Mac, PreSonus Audio Box, Studio Live, and so forth) I recommend wearing OSHA-approved hearing protection . . . ]

For reference, I started with a pair of Kustom KPC15P self-powered 15" two-way loudspeaker units, and it was very nice, but it was not perfect . . .

Adding the Kustom PA112S self-powered deep bass subwoofers made it perfect, but I did not add the PA112S units until several months later, so starting with a pair of the KPC15P units is a good way to begin, where the key is not to wait too long, since you want to ensure that you can get the PA112S units, although waiting a few months probably is fine . . .

You also need a pair of cables, where using TRS guitar-style cables works best, since in the complete system you connect first to the PA112S units and then connect from them to the KPC15P units, where the PA112S units only have TRS guitar-style ports, so you need two longer TRS guitar-style cords and two shorter ones . . .

The advantage of using the self-powered units is that you connect to them with line outputs from the PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL external digital audio and MIDI interface . . .

I like GLS Audio cables, and you can get them at Amazon.com in varying lengths at reasonable prices . . .

Lots of FUN!

P. S. PreSonus Studio Live has a "Fat Channel" that includes an equalizer, which will work nicely for doing a manual calibration of the Main stereo output channels (Left, Right) of the PreSonus AudioBox-1818VSL, which is fabulous . . .

[NOTE: If the Fat Channel is stereo, then you just need one, but if it is monaural, then you need one for each of the Main stereo channels (Left, Right), but either way will work when combined with the Studio One 2.6 Producer/Professional pink noise generator and Audio Tools SPL Meter and RTA components. And I recommend wearing the OSHA-approved ear protectors when running pink noise at 85 dB SPL, because it is a bit annoying after a few seconds . . . ]


PreSonus Studio Live ~ Fat Channel Parametric Equalizer

Fabulous!