Logic Pro 9 Looking to get back in to Logic - a few questions

[EHO]

Hi everyone. I've been out of the music making loop for about 4 years. I have an old Logic Audio Platinum 5.5 set up on a 7 year old PC that's on its last legs. I love Logic and have been blown away by some of the things I've seen about the new Logic 9. I'm looking to set myself up with Logic Pro and a mac to run it on.

Thanks in advance for any input you have. Please feel free to direct your answers to the question numbers below. 🙂


1) Can I use a Mac Mini to run Logic reliably? They seem to have the same hardware as the lower end mac book pros. I typically have around 6 main audio/instrument tracks with another 6 or 10 infrequent tracks in my productions. Do you think this would work out for me?

1.1) How noisy is the Mac Mini when it's running? Is the hard drive or any fans loud? Could I mic a vocalist or acoustic instrument with it in the same room?

1.2) Can I depend on the main hard drive of the Mac Mini (would upgrade to 320 GB)? I think it only has one firewire port which I may need for an audio interface.



2) If you don't think the Mac Mini would work for my needs, what mac do you recommend? Would an iMac work? I'm only really using this for audio so I'm looking to limit my spend.


3) What would you recommend as the best value of sound quality vs. cost for a 2 channel audio interface?


4) How are the Apogee One and Duet? I was really impressed by the One promo video of Ozomatli doing a track with just a mac book and One. Do these interfaces have sound quality to match the price tag? (Duet struck me as a little pricey. Would love to just use the One but I need to be able to record in stereo...)


5) I used the Phatmatic Pro VST extensively with my LAP 5.5 set up to chop up and rearange breaks. Are there good ways to achieve a similar effect in the new Logic? It seems like a person can use Flex Time to find the transients in an audio file and then use those to slice it up?


6) Any recommendations on a Midi interface? I've got some old synths from the 90's I'd like to be able to sequence with Logic as well as use my old midi based keyboard controller.


Thanks again for any advice you can offer, I'm really excited about making some music 🙂

 

[CSeye]

Just my 2¢
1. http://www.apple.com/macmini/
Based on your description of the structure of your tunes, you should have plenty of juice to run Logic 9.

1.1. I don't think it makes much noise at all so you should be ok with acoustic recordings as long as you pay attention to where you aim the mic.

2. By the time you add in a monitor, larger hard drive, etc, what's the cost difference between the Mini and a lower end iMac?

4. If you need to record in stereo and want the sweet sound of Apogee...

The MINI has one FW and several USB ports. You might consider getting a USB external drive and FW interface, or FW drive and a USB interface.

MOTU makes great MIDI interfaces large and small. But if you want to record your old 90's synths, then you're gonna need an external mixer, or a multi input audio interface and multi port MIDI interface, or... buy a MOTU Fastlane, hook up one sound module to the Duet or whatever stereo audio interface you get, record the synth, then hook up another synth, repeat. You can keep costs down this way.

But then again, you might be amazed at how fantastic Logics software instruments sound!!!😉

Ok, I gave you 5¢.
Do the math, then sleep on it.

 

[EHO]

Just my 2¢
1. http://www.apple.com/macmini/
Based on your description of the structure of your tunes, you should have plenty of juice to run Logic 9.

That's what I was thikning. Would love to hear a few other opinions.

1.1. I don't think it makes much noise at all so you should be ok with acoustic recordings as long as you pay attention to where you aim the mic.

Good point, would definately be careful about the micing.

2. By the time you add in a monitor, larger hard drive, etc, what's the cost difference between the Mini and a lower end iMac?

I own a monitor and some external hard drives so I think I'm set. The only question is whether USB is sufficient for audio files or if I would need to go firewire. I wonder if the native hard drive on the mini is fast enough?

4. If you need to record in stereo and want the sweet sound of Apogee...

So Apogee One and Duet have excellent sound quality?

The MINI has one FW and several USB ports. You might consider getting a USB external drive and FW interface, or FW drive and a USB interface.

Would probably need a firewire audio interface so I'm wondering if USB is OK for the drive?

MOTU makes great MIDI interfaces large and small. But if you want to record your old 90's synths, then you're gonna need an external mixer, or a multi input audio interface and multi port MIDI interface, or... buy a MOTU Fastlane, hook up one sound module to the Duet or whatever stereo audio interface you get, record the synth, then hook up another synth, repeat. You can keep costs down this way.

I have a 14 channel mixer. I only need to record one instrument at a time so I think I'm OK with just 2 ins and outs on the interface. Good to know about MOTU making good midi interfaces.

But then again, you might be amazed at how fantastic Logics software instruments sound!!!😉

Yeah! I'm a big fan of the native Logic instruments.

Ok, I gave you 5¢.
Do the math, then sleep on it.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it 🙂

 

[daveyboy]

I'd be concerned about the limited ram as Logic seems to tank at around 2 gigs. May not be an issue for you though if you're not running memory hungry vi's and plugins. The worst that will happen is that you'll get set up with the mini and get back into and at some point, assuming your digging it, upgrade your computer to something bigger/better! So what are you waiting for? Go on and get it!

 

[EHO]

I'd be concerned about the limited ram as Logic seems to tank at around 2 gigs. May not be an issue for you though if you're not running memory hungry vi's and plugins. The worst that will happen is that you'll get set up with the mini and get back into and at some point, assuming your digging it, upgrade your computer to something bigger/better! So what are you waiting for? Go on and get it!

Great point. One more reason I'm thinking that I'd need to go with the $799 mini (4GB ram and the 320GB hard drive).

I think Logic is an incredible value at $499 and if I can get into it on a machine that's $799, I'm pretty stoked.