Logic Pro 9 Running Logic 9 on a dedicated audio computer - is it necessary?

[Andrew Harrison]

Hi all,

I've got a quick question regarding the need of a dedicated Logic machine. For a long time I've used my Mac Pro 2x2.66 as my dedicated music workstation, running Logic 9 and Finale 2011 (on 10.6.8), with little else (a little bit of internet stuff, plus iTunes and iPhoto). I've kept all of my business stuff, such as MS Office, email and iCal and Address Book on my very old PPC G4 (400 mghz) using 10.4.11, which has worked quite nicely.

However, I've been having some issues with iSync and other things recently, and I suspect that these may be fixed by a faster machine and a newer OS, so I'm considering transferring all of my activities on to the Mac Pro. I'm concerned this might slow down all of my music work, as I usually run iCal and email etc all the time in the background.

So I wanted to know what people thought about having separate machines for admin and music applications? Over the years I've heard mixed reports about whether it is necessary. Any advice would be great!

Regards
ANDREW HARRISON

 

[gdoubleyou]

I have everything on my MBP, my main concern is what if it goes down.
So I have a Mini that can boot from my MBP backup drive.

The business tasks you described can be performed on a smart phone/iPod/iPad or in the cloud.

 

[Orren Merton]

I've used one machine as my "everything box" since the beginning; I've never had a separate audio machine. No problems here.

Remember that if you want to keep things separate, you can always create a separate user in Mac OS X for your audio stuff.

Orren

 

[georgelegeriii]

I 2nd Orren: I use my main music system for whatever needs to be done at any particular time. No problems.

 

[Andrew Harrison]

Thanks George, Orren and gdoubleyou for your responses. Sounds like it might be okay to make the transition across. All that I need now is the time to get it done - it always takes longer than you think.

Regards
ANDREW

 

[Pete Thomas]

- it always takes longer than you think.

It usually takes twice as long than "longer than you think"

 

[sonnykeyes]

Also, be prepared for the Upgrade Blues, where a piece of software that ran beautifully on your old G4 doesn't work at all on the Mac Pro because it's an Intel machine, so you buy the upgrade and discover that the new version works differently than you're used to, and at least one function you depended on has been eliminated from the new version.

 

[Doug Zangar]

It usually takes twice as long than "longer than you think"