Help buying a mac....

[Mikeit]

I recently acquired an 003 factory, currently a pc user not too familiar with changing OS versions, most of the older macbooks on craigslist have incompatible OS, as I understand, I need OS x 10.5XXX, Just a little confused on which MacBook, MacBook pro to buy? Any help would be much appreciated. I have Pro tools LE 8 I might have an update for it to 8.0.2 or 3 it's on a thumb drive my computer doesn't read...

[YYR123]

10.6.8 is the oldest you want to go it's also called Snow Leopard

10.7.x was Lion - most people hated on it but I thought the best idea of lion was being able to resize a finder window on any side !!! Yeah (should have been included years ago)
I think this is as far as you can go with PT8

10.8.x Mountain lion ! most Mountain lion operating systems were all 64-bit so core 2 duo CPUs won't cut it - officially anyway

[VRW]

Hi, I also had been using a 003R (Factory) from PT version 7.0, which was the one it came with, to PT version 10
and of course only my personal opinion is that it is no bad idea to stay at PTLE8 using an 003.

Theoretically the 003 has been supported through all later versions of PT including the recent version 11
(just to let you know-you theoretically now could upgrade your LE8 to 11 and try to use it with the 003)
but practically it never has worked that flawlessly and reliably again after LE8.
As the standalone core driver finally stopped working with PT10 I decided to replace it for myself.

I sold the whole system (including the computer) to a good friend who had LE8 himself
(and didn´t have the need to get a higher version of PT) and
he has never got any problems anymore using it in this original conjunction.

To get the best solid build out of a LE8/003 system you maybe should consider to get one of those Macs
that once came originally
with Snow Leopard which then was the last OS that officially supported LE8 (LE 8.0.5, the last final update of PT8).
Just have a look there:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1159
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1758
Me personally would recommend iMac models Mid 2010 or Mid 2011.
Mine was a Mid 2010 which came originally with OS 10.6.3 which I updated to 10.6.8.
This worked then and it still does at my friend´s studio absolutely flawlessly
with Pro Tools LE 8.0.5 and the Digi003R.

So I can definitely recommend an iMac Mid 2010 for this usage.
Mine even was not the most powerful as it was an i3 3.06GHz 21,5" but it got the job done great.
You can get this model these days for example for around 600-800.- in good conditions at ebay.
What´s cool about this was that the original OS drive was already 7200rpm so I didn´t have to change the drive.
What I did was to put more RAM into it actually.
If iMacs are not what you are considering you also can look at MacBooks Pro from Mid 2010 to Early 2011.
You will find it here too if you scroll down:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1159

Finally, let me list the most important "steps":
1. get e.g. an iMac Mid 2010 or Mid 2011
2. install Snow Leopard OS 10.6. up to 10.6.8
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
3. install PTLE8.0.5
4. get an external FW800 drive with 2 FW ports as your recording drive which
you plug into the Macs FW800 port, then connect the 2nd FW800 port of your drive to
the Digi003 via an adapter cable (FW800 one side, FW400 on the other)
Please, note the order as it is important to have the 003 as the last in the chain!
5. have fun making music

As for the PTLE8 on your stick-you don´t need it, you can download it from the original site
as long as you have your serial number.
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...663?popup=true
What you also may need as there are updates and fixes for the later LE8/003Factory stuff:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...761?popup=true
Do not install any separate driver for the 003 itself when using it with LE8,
it´s already included in the LE8 installer!

I hope this can be some kinda help for you.
Wishing you the best,

VRW


MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.1, Apogee Quartet, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP,
Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

[VRW]

PS: if you are new to Mac+Pro Tools you might find this helpful too as it is important stuff for using LE:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...3Fpopup%3Dtrue
Cheers

[Mikeit]

Thank you so much, this has helped me tremendously!!! I just want a solid system that works...

[Mikeit]

Originally Posted by VRW

Hi, I also had been using a 003R (Factory) from PT version 7.0, which was the one it came with, to PT version 10
and of course only my personal opinion is that it is no bad idea to stay at PTLE8 using an 003.

Theoretically the 003 has been supported through all later versions of PT including the recent version 11
(just to let you know-you theoretically now could upgrade your LE8 to 11 and try to use it with the 003)
but practically it never has worked that flawlessly and reliably again after LE8.
As the standalone core driver finally stopped working with PT10 I decided to replace it for myself.

I sold the whole system (including the computer) to a good friend who had LE8 himself
(and didn´t have the need to get a higher version of PT) and
he has never got any problems anymore using it in this original conjunction.

To get the best solid build out of a LE8/003 system you maybe should consider to get one of those Macs
that once came originally
with Snow Leopard which then was the last OS that officially supported LE8 (LE 8.0.5, the last final update of PT8).
Just have a look there:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1159
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1758
Me personally would recommend iMac models Mid 2010 or Mid 2011.
Mine was a Mid 2010 which came originally with OS 10.6.3 which I updated to 10.6.8.
This worked then and it still does at my friend´s studio absolutely flawlessly
with Pro Tools LE 8.0.5 and the Digi003R.

So I can definitely recommend an iMac Mid 2010 for this usage.
Mine even was not the most powerful as it was an i3 3.06GHz 21,5" but it got the job done great.
You can get this model these days for example for around 600-800.- in good conditions at ebay.
What´s cool about this was that the original OS drive was already 7200rpm so I didn´t have to change the drive.
What I did was to put more RAM into it actually.
If iMacs are not what you are considering you also can look at MacBooks Pro from Mid 2010 to Early 2011.
You will find it here too if you scroll down:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1159

Finally, let me list the most important "steps":
1. get e.g. an iMac Mid 2010 or Mid 2011
2. install Snow Leopard OS 10.6. up to 10.6.8
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
3. install PTLE8.0.5
4. get an external FW800 drive with 2 FW ports as your recording drive which
you plug into the Macs FW800 port, then connect the 2nd FW800 port of your drive to
the Digi003 via an adapter cable (FW800 one side, FW400 on the other)
Please, note the order as it is important to have the 003 as the last in the chain!
5. have fun making music

As for the PTLE8 on your stick-you don´t need it, you can download it from the original site
as long as you have your serial number.
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...663?popup=true
What you also may need as there are updates and fixes for the later LE8/003Factory stuff:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...761?popup=true
Do not install any separate driver for the 003 itself when using it with LE8,
it´s already included in the LE8 installer!

I hope this can be some kinda help for you.
Wishing you the best,

VRW


MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.1, Apogee Quartet, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP,
Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

Is an external drive required? or can I partition? will a solid state drive work?

[YYR123]

SSD are great - partitions no - second drive is obligatory

Then you end up getting a 3rd and 4th

[VRW]

Glad I could help!
Yes, as YYr123 says, partitions ain´t work, you have to use a separate 2nd,
fast drive when recording with Pro Tools.
It´s officially required by Digidesign/Avid.

Other DAWs may work on recording even to the OS drive,
Pro Tools does not really.
You will get errors and failed recordings by the time.
At computers you can put into additional internal drives you may use
such of course but with an iMac or MacBook Pro you will just have to use
externals drives.
But it ain´t a problem at all, Pro Tools is made to work with external drives
very well.

SSD drives are fantastic actually but are not necessary by all means
as it is hard to find external SSDs with FW connections that offer
enough GBs/TBs besides being affordable (I have looked for something like that for myself
but couldn´t find one-you only will get USB3s, Thunderbolts but no affordable
external FW800-SSD with at least 500GB).

So my personal suggestion would be to go for 1 external solid drive with 500GBs-2TBs,
2 FW800 ports and (very important!) at least 7200rpm rotation speed for now.
For example:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ME3QH7T2.0/
if you are hard on a budget you could also try one of these:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Rugged500/
(these are not bad drives actually, but there are many bad reviews
out on the www as for the reliability. Many are satisfied, many others
have had serious problems-you will have got to check it out for yourself
if you are gonna take the risk...?)
I got one for backups for myself recently as it is really cheap now and
I have not experienced any problems so far but you know...

If you are really limited financially at the moment you could go for the LaCie,
if you can afford a bit more I would rather take the OWC e.g.
Or just find one for yourself of course!

Again the requirements:
1. rotation speed 7200rpm
2. 2 FW800 ports
3. at least 500GBs (as the audio data is piling up way faster you may think )
4. no "Green" drives
5. high quality Firewire cables, as short in length as it is possible
(good FW cables are important indeed as there are often occurring problems
with the 003 just because of a bad FW connection)

And what I would recommend doing at first when you get it is to format it
instantly with MAC OS Extended Journaled to get rid of any software or whatever
else may be on the drive when you buy it!
There should be no (active) software on the drive. Only your song/audio data.

As you are new to Pro Tools let me say that you will have to install Pro Tools and
all DAW related software automatically to your OS drive,
but save your song data as well as your recorded audio files to the external drive.
This is the way it works.

Finally let me say that also the OS drive should be a fast drive to work with
Pro Tools. It´s not that important as for the external audio drive but it definitely
influences the overall performance of Pro Tools.

The advantage of this 2010 iMac is that it´s got an original OS drive with
7200rpm so you would not have to take any further action regarding this as
it is fast enough.
If you buy another Mac you may find out the rotation speed of the build in
OS drive and if necessary replace it with a 7200rpm solid drive or a SSD drive.
Some of the newer Macs come with only 5400rpm drives which can work but
is not recommended IMO.
Best of course for an OS drive is a SSD but a solid 7200rpm does the job as well.

So that´s it I guess .

Whishing you a great time,

VRW



MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.1, Apogee Quartet, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP,
Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

[Mikeit]

will a newer Mac with an older os work? is it just the OS that matters?

[VRW]

Me personally have no experience with that but I have heard people say that it´s rather not recommended to do so.
Here more details about it:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2186
My personal experience and what I have seen at others has been that things used to work best
when being about of the same period of time.
Of course many people "extend" it, like using older interfaces with newer computers which of course can work.
But there always comes the "time of troubles" someday when it simply does not
fit anymore.
If you want to have a real stable system you should use components of the same
period of time as it was made to work together best at this time.
As I previously wrote you of course can try to use your 003 with the latest PT11,
there are people who do it but it will be not that stable and reliable than using
it with LE8 and a Mac of the time when both was released and made to work
together.
Anyway.
Wishing you da best,

cheers, VRW


MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.1, Apogee Quartet, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP,
Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc