Logic - Rewire - Notion (issue)

[hselburn]

You can get an i7 on an iMac? I didn't think that was an option. I admit to being curious as to benchmarks between the Mac mini and iMac, how different are they. Surely. Macworld has a chart with benchmarks of the two.

[Surfwhammy]

Only thing is, there are major issues running logic on a fusion drive according to the apple support site. Logic promx doesn't like to do that. But I'm sure that will get fixed at some point.

I have not tried a Fusion drive yet, so there is not much I can say about them other than the obvious problem of determining which files and data are put on the SSD part as contrasted to the actual hard drive platters . . .

I think that for a new Mac mini or iMac, a 5,400 RPM internal hard drive should be plenty fast, although a 7,200 RPM drive will be faster, except that it increases the cost significantly . . .

LaCie has Thunderbolt external drives, but they are a bit expensive. The 2TB version actually is a pair of 5,400 RPM hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration, which is interesting . . .

The LaCie USB 3.0 external drives are fast, so if having a 5.400 RPM internal drive becomes a problem, this is an option, but other than initial load times, I do not think that a 5,400 RPM internal drive will be "slow" or whatever . . .

The Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio is very peppy, but I think that getting a faster PCI Express video card will be productive, once I can afford it, and adding more memory also looks to be productive, but everything is nice as it is, and this is Mac Pro from 2008 that I purchased new in 2009 . . .

Three hardware components are very important for digital audio production:

[NOTE: Other stuff is equally as important, but on the Mac it already is there, so this stuff is where there are options based on how much you want to spend . . . ]

(1) quad-core or greater processor . . .

(2) system memory (at least 8GB, but more is better) . . .

(3) hard drive(s) or SSD drives . . .

For 64-bit computing on the Mac, you want a quad-core processor or greater, and you want at least 8GB of system memory, but 16GB is better, since Mac OS X will use the increased memory for the operating system and applications . . .

The importance of hard drive performance depends on the types of digital music production applications and the way sample sound libraries and used . . .

There are high-end sample sound libraries that have so much data that it is not possible to load all of it into memory, and these types of virtual instruments stream the sampled sounds based on which notes, articulations, and so forth are needed at any particular time, but for the most part Logic Pro X, NOTION 4, and Kontakt 5 are not going to be doing any sample sound streaming, instead focusing on loading the samples into memory or managing it behind the scenes in a transparent way, where for example Kontakt 5 has memory management options, hence for the particular digital music production applications you are planning to use, the key is to have 16GB of system memory and a quad-core processor . . .

And there are additional strategies that keep everything focused in a practical way, where one strategy is to work on a song in layers where a subset of layers is kept in a separate NOTION 4 score, such that a song actually is spread over several synchronized NOTION 4 scores . . .

In this strategy, when each NOTION 4 score is complete, it is recorded in the DAW application as soundbites, and then you start working on another section with a separate NOTION 4 score, and so forth and so on . . .

This way, you never need to load 120 virtual instruments to have a full orchestra, because you do the work in sections where each section is a separate but synchronized NOTION 4 score . . .

As the number of tracks increases in the DAW application, you can combine tracks and do a submix, where the submix then replaces all the separate tracks . . .

This can appear to be vastly complex, but it is one of the strategies that producers use to keep everything as simple and practical as possible, where at some point it can be useful to have a separate track for each drum, cymbal, Latin percussion instrument, and so forth, but at a higher level, it is a drumkit and perhaps a separate Latin percussion section, so you do a submix and work with a single stereo drumkit track and a single stereo Latin percussion track, where the general idea is that somewhere in the range of 25 to 50 tracks in a DAW application is at the upper limit of what is practical in terms of producing, mixing, and so forth . . .

There might be hundreds of real instrument tracks, NOTION 4 soundbites, Reason 7 soundbites, and whatever else makes sense, but everything is combined into layer groups to make it easy to manage and to fine-tune . . .

And if you need to change something, you always can delve into the raw tracks and do a revised submix, but ideally you want to keep everything as simple as possible, and one way to keep everything simple is to work with individual layers when it makes sense but to group layers when grouping them makes sense, always ensuring that you can go backward and revise or regroup when necessary . . .

Lots of FUN!

~ ~ ~ Continued in the next post ~ ~ ~

[Surfwhammy]

~ ~ ~ Continued from the previous post ~ ~ ~

Regarding memory prices, it depends on whether you decide to get a Mac mini or an iMac . . .

If you get a Mac mini, then it is less expensive to get the memory at Other World Computing or perhaps Amazon.com if you know the type and model number, but for an iMac there is not so much difference, since they come with 8GB (2x4GB) and the upgrade to 16GB (2x8GB) done by Apple is $200 (US) . . .

The difference is that the Mac mini comes with 4GB of memory, so its Apple upgrade to 16GB is $300 (US), which is more than the price at Other World Computing . . .

There is an additional bit of information to ponder, and it is that the Mac mini and 21.5" iMac models have two memory slots, hence a maximum of 16GB of memory (2x8GB), but the 27" iMac has four memory slots for a maximum of 32GB (4x8GB), but they come with 8GB (2x4GB), so you can add 16GB (2x8GB) and have 24GB of memory for an additional $200 (US) or less, depending on current memory prices . . .

At some point, it helps to have a worksheet to compare different models and options, but there are a few general rules that are helpful, one of which is that processor models are more significant than small speed differences within the same processor model, where for example the difference in a quad-core i5 and quad-core i7 is significant, but the difference in a 2.5-GHz quad-core i5 and 2.7-GHz quad-core i5 is so small that unless you are doing digital video work, it is insignificant . . .

In the latter example (quad-core i5 but two different speeds), if it costs $100 (US) to increase the speed by two-tenths, then is this the best use of $100?

Probably not!

The best use of the $100 is to get more system memory, because it makes a significant difference . . .

Another useful rule is that "bottlenecks" tend to be less expensive to remedy when they are caused by slower components, where from slowest to fastest the general sequence is {CD/DVD, hard drive, system memory, video memory and video card, processors}, where the key is to identify which component actually is creating a "bottleneck", where "bottleneck" is the colloquial name for a computing situation where faster stuff is doing nothing because it is waiting on something else to do whatever it is supposed to do . . .

If the "bottleneck" is the processor(s), then there is not much you can do other than get a faster computer, but if the "bottleneck" is system memory, then you can get more system memory, unless it already is maxed, in which case you need to get a faster computer, and so forth and so on . . .

Activity Monitor (Mac OS X) is helpful in determining which of the various hardware components are running at or near maximum, if any of them are, and this provides clues . . .

For the Mac mini, depending on the specific model, Other World Computing has a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kit that adds a second internal hard drive, which can be a 7,200 RPM internal hard drive, which is interesting, and if you are not comfortable doing it yourself, I think you can send them the Mac mini, and they will do the upgrade for a reasonable fee . . .

[NOTE: The currently available Mac mini models are the 2012 models, so there are DIY kits for adding a second internal hard drive, and as noted OWC has an installation service which costs $99 (US) and includes two-way FedEx shipping with specially designed shipping cartons, which is an option for folks who are not so comfortable doing hardware updates, noting that this is bit more complex, but doable. There is a video that shows how to do the upgrade on the following page, and this DIY data doubler upgrade has a 7,200 RPM hard drive . . . ]

OWC DIY Upgrade Kit: OWC Data Doubler, HGST 7200RPM 1.0TB hard drive, and an OWC 5-piece ToolKit. (Other World Computing)

This actually is a good reason not to get the newest and most current model Mac mini or iMac, because it takes a while to design, build, and test these types of DIY performance upgrades, so instead of being available immediately when a new model is released, it might be a few months later or whatever, but as noted (see above) the current models are the 2012 models, so this upgrade is available from OWC . . .

If you select the quad-core i7 Mac mini, then it has a 5,400 RPM 1TB internal hard drive, which you can augment with the OWC DIY data doubler to add a 7,200 RPM 1TB internal hard drive, for a total of 2TB, which is plenty of storage, and you will want to upgrade the memory to 16GB, as well, which can be done with OWC memory, but there are less expensive 16GB upgrades available from Amazon.com, which is what I started using, and Amazon.com will do a replacement if the memory does not work, where the general rule is that if memory works for a week, then it will work as long as you have the computer, based on using a Tripp-Lite surge protector, of course . . .

[NOTE: Amazon.com sells these, and sometimes the ISOBAR8ULTRA costs less than the ISOBAR6ULTRA, which is interesting, so I get whichever of the two units costs less. This might appear to be a lot for a surge protectors, but these units actually work and are made with the best components. Less expensive models are junk, which defeats the purpose, which is to protect your valuable computer and other digital music production hardware . . . ]

ISOBAR6ULTRA (Tripp-Lite)

As with pretty much everything, there is so much detailed information that it tends to make one a bit batty trying to understand all of it, but if you want the most stuff for the money, then you need to understand this stuff, and some of it is made all the more complex by design so that sales folks can use it to bedazzle customers to the point at which customers simply stop trying to determine the lowest price and instead just do whatever the sales folks tell them to do . . .

Lots of FUN!

[Surfwhammy]

You can get an i7 on an iMac? I didn't think that was an option. I admit to being curious as to benchmarks between the Mac mini and iMac, how different are they. Surely. Macworld has a chart with benchmarks of the two.

Yes!

And until the very recent release of the new Mac Pro, a 27" iMac with a 3.5-GHz quad-core i7 processor and an internal SSD drive was one of the fastest Macs that Apple made--if not the fastest--strange as it might be, depending on which Mac Pro one uses for doing the speed comparison, and it only costs approximately $4,000 (US) with 32GB of memory and an internal 1TB SSD drive . . .

The 3.5-GHz quad-core i7 is an option for the high-end 27" iMac, and it adds $200 (US) to the base price of the $1,999 (US) model . . .

The $4,000 (US) configuration has everything maxed, but with a 3TB 7,200 RPM internal hard drive rather than an internal SSD drive, and with 16GB of memory rather than 32GB of memory, the price is lower at $2,778 (US) plus sales tax . . .

3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X8GB
3TB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
Apple USB SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
Accessory Kit

Lots of FUN!