27" imac for PT10

[VRW]

Originally Posted by ptdude

I may hold off on the iMac upgrade until I get this sorted out.
It sounds like 1) I was thinking I needed more power than I probably will (maybe wait until I run out first.)

One last suggestion.
You did not tell us whats in your Mini at the moment. Are you using it with the original hard drive and are you using a separate (external) drive for your PT audio?

Only asking because, as mentioned previously, I had the exact model of the Mini for about 3 years and used it with different configurations during this time.
You probably may know it anyway but the original HDD of the Mini is not the appropriate kind of drive to use with Pro Tools Native.
Its a 5400rpm HDD only which is too slow even for the OS drive finally.

Believe it or not, even the speed of the OS drive influences the overall performance of PT and the strain on the CPU. I definitely watched this on my system then.

I immediatly replaced the original 5400rpm HDD with a 7200rpm HDD when I got the Mini which did work so far. I also put in all available 16GB Ram.
So this was a good starting point and I did not experience serious issues most of time.
Nevertheless I definitely noticed less strain on the CPU after I got the 7200rpm replaced with a SSD and another certain amount of relief for the CPU when I finally
replaced the external FW800 7200rpm HDD for my PT audio with a 2nd internal SSD.

I heard very knowledgable guys here confirming that there even is an influence on the CPU by the drives you use in your system, internal and external.

So my last suggestion will be, if you haven´t done it already, that you may put in more powerful components in your Mini to gain more overall performance and even
a bit more headroom on the CPU finally.

Although you are still using a 32bit version of PT it definitely does make sense to put in more than 4GB Ram just because other parts of your system will be able to
use it and so the whole system will work better. Its not that expensive anymore, 16GB for $90.-.
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-DDR3L-...+mini+2012+Ram

Next step would be a SSD for the OS drive. Me personally used the 850 Pro series which are best SATA SSDs available but the 850 Evo will do the job as well and will
be more affordable, Samsung 850 Evo 250GB for $98.-.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-In...amsung+850+Evo

There you find the tutorial how to replace it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnBtXrofOLc

Just make sure to have the right tools, actually its no big deal to replace it.

The best performance out of your 2012 Mini you would get if you additionally would put in another internal SSD for your PT sessions/audio.
It really made a noticeable difference when I put my audio on the internal compared to having it on the FW external. Never had any CPU and disk errors/spikes anymore!

So depending on your budget and on the amount of storage speed you would need for your projects, another Samsung 850 Evo with 500GB or 1TB would be a cool solution
for sure, Samsung 850 Evo 500GB for $162.-.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-In...amsung+850+Evo

You would need another SATA cable and the appropriate tools. This would be a very good and reliable kit.
http://www.amazon.com/iFixit-Mini-Du...i+data+doubler

This is the tutorial how to put in 2 internal drives in a 2012 Mini.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63WL3Q7UujI

For about $380.- (with the 500GB for the 2nd internal) you could max out your Mini and get a real little power house which will perform a lot better than in its original configuration.

Btw if you ever would decide to replace the Mini with an even more powerful machine later you could take out your 2 SSDs again and put it into USB 3 enclosures and you would
have very fast external drives for whatever applications. Means, the investment would not be lost.
This one would be a good yet very affordable enclosure.
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Inat...SB+3+enclosure

I just wanted to show you this once again because I really had a lot (good) experience with the 2012 Mini and know what you finally can get out of it.
You may forgive me if you know this all already. Just trying to give you some kind of inspiration and help.

Anyway the best of success to you, VRW

[ptdude]

Again, very helpful.

Looks like it has the original 1TB internal - and I'm using a USB 1TB external for media.

It's got 16gb RAM, so good to go there.

I realized recently that it has thunderbolt, and had planned to replace the external, but this is a much better solution - particularly as I'd really like to ditch the external.

This will make for a huge performance increase. I'll be working on it this weekend.

[ptdude]

Originally Posted by VRW

Blue Cat Audio Patchwork is the most affordable yet stable host plugin
and works well with most of the (VST+AU) plugs in Pro Tools 11/12.
http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_PatchWork/

Blue Cat Audio MB-7
http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_MB7Mixer/

JBridge Mac
https://jstuff.wordpress.com/jbridgem/

Soundradix 23 Lives
http://www.soundradix.com/products/32-lives

All the best to you, VRW

Thinking what I have now is RTAS - so I'd need Soundradix?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by ptdude

Thinking what I have now is RTAS - so I'd need Soundradix?

You can't convert RTAS to aax or any other format. Third party plugins that are RTAS also generally have a vst and/or au version as well.

[VRW]

One thing I forgot about using SSDs. If you will put in 2 of those Samsung SSDs into your Mini, please, don´t forget to download
and install this little 3rd party app which will enable Trim support for them.
https://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/

This is quite important to have the SSDs work properly, as fast as they were advertised and finally have a decent long lifetime.
There are 2 variants of this app available, 1 for free, 1 -Pro- version for $10.-.
Even the free version will do the job perfectly, the -Pro- version just gives you a little more control and some extra features.

This app is completely safe and doesn´t interfere with any other apps on the system incl. Pro Tools at all. Once activated it completely
disappears in the background and you will not notice it anymore except for large OSX Updates after which you will have to activate it again.
The app then will pop up automatically and tell you that you will have to activate it again.

This 3rd party app is necessary for 3rd party SSDs since Mac OSX 10.8 because Apple have deactivated Trim support for all 3rd party SSDs
in the OSX by default. Only their own SSDs come with Trim enabled by default. One policy kinda thing.

Now with Mac OSX Yosemite 10.10.4 however Apple gives back Trim support to all users of 3rd party SSDs. You now can enable it by Terminal
commands permanently in the OSX again.
Unfortunately you are still using 10.8. for your PT10, so you still have to use the Trim Enabler app to get Trim support enabled on your system.

As mentioned before its absolutely no problem at all to use this with Pro Tools. I have used it myself for years on several Mac systems without
one single issue.

On the other hand it is necessary to have Trim support enabled to get your SSDs to work as fast and reliably as they should.

All the best to you again!

[VRW]

Originally Posted by musicman691

You can't convert RTAS to aax or any other format. Third party plugins that are RTAS also generally have a vst and/or au version as well.

+1
You only need to find the VST or AU versions of the particular plugins to use it with the host plugin.
Most of the plugins/VIs are available as VST/AU as well. I only remember the early/LE versions of
MCDSP plugs being RTAS only.

[ptdude]

SSDs, kit and Trim Enabler ordered.
Thanks again for all the help.

[ptdude]

Quick update.

SSDs installed - and all OS, PT, and plugins (plus Trimmer) installed and working. I already had 16gb of RAM, so good to go there.

The SSD install went relatively smoothly - and will definitely go smoothly if I ever do one again.

The Waves 9 installer threw me until I figured out it was due to no more iLok.

The speed improvements are impressive. I really don't think I needed the iMac (and this was a lot cheaper!)

Next up is getting PT 12 set up to run a few VST plug-ins. In the meantime, this will more than handle the project that starts next week.

Thanks again.

[VRW]

Originally Posted by ptdude

Quick update.

SSDs installed - and all OS, PT, and plugins (plus Trimmer) installed and working. I already had 16gb of RAM, so good to go there.

The SSD install went relatively smoothly - and will definitely go smoothly if I ever do one again.

The Waves 9 installer threw me until I figured out it was due to no more iLok.

The speed improvements are impressive. I really don't think I needed the iMac (and this was a lot cheaper!)

Next up is getting PT 12 set up to run a few VST plug-ins. In the meantime, this will more than handle the project that starts next week.

Thanks again.

Hey, thats really cool! Great news that everything went well and is working like it should. Congratulations and lots of fun!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by ptdude

Quick update.

SSDs installed - and all OS, PT, and plugins (plus Trimmer) installed and working. I already had 16gb of RAM, so good to go there.

The SSD install went relatively smoothly - and will definitely go smoothly if I ever do one again.

The Waves 9 installer threw me until I figured out it was due to no more iLok.

The speed improvements are impressive. I really don't think I needed the iMac (and this was a lot cheaper!)

Next up is getting PT 12 set up to run a few VST plug-ins. In the meantime, this will more than handle the project that starts next week.

Thanks again.

Good to hear the change worked okay for you.

About getting vst plugins working in PT11/12 that's a relatively easy one. If they're already 64 bit you can use Blue Cat Audio MB7-2 or Patchwork to host the plugins (same if you have au plugins). If they're 32 bit you'll need a bridge and one and that would be jbridge-Mac for the vst plugins. If you have au format plugins Sound Radix 32 Lives is the path you want. Convert the plugin to 64 bit using either of those programs and then host it in one of the Blue Cat programs.