PT on new iMac?

[pk_hat]

Hello all, been a while since I've come around here, so I will summarize.
My Powerbook G4 is slowly showing it's age and struggling with intense mix sessions in PT and Live, so I am ready to invest into a new machine. I have no need for dual monitors or expansion cards, so I was told to seriously consider a 20" iMac and save myself lots of dough from the G5 + monitor route. I realize the new ones are Intel based and that is great for Live but not sure if PT is yet supporting that, but I can wait on PT as I rarely use it anyways, so not much of an issue there for me. Just wanted to gather some opinions, perhaps some of you have had success running PT on the G5 iMacs? Likes, dislikes? Thanks!

[DJ Insomaniac]

PT doesn't support the Intel chips yet, but the update is coming sometime in May.

So PT running on the Mac Intels is right around the corner!

[pk_hat]

Yes I realize that, which is why I mentioned it in my post. How about those who run PT on G4/G5 iMacs, a good investment?

[xeeganx]

I'm going to have to say no to that one. I have a 1.8 G5 imac with 1.5gb ram, and it just does not have enough power to do what I need to do. I have very specific needs, and so it might be the specific plugins that I use, but here's what I basically use for all my recordings --

Drumkit from Hell Superior - is needed for every project, since i'm in a 400 sf studio and can't exactly record real drums. So I'm using at the minimum these tracks with these effects --
1 - bass drum - basic eq, compressor
2 - snare top - ", "
3 - snare bottom - ", "
4 - tom1 - just eq
5 - floor tom 1 - just eq
6 - hi-hat - eq
7, 8 - OH Left and Right - eq

I don't run into any RAM problems, since i run a really sparse kit Until i'm all done recording.
I then have 4 tracks of guitar, 1 track bass, and a vocal track or two.

If I turn off all the effects, I can get the buffer down to 256, which is sort of low enough to play the drums live w/ a roland TD-3 kit.

If i have all effects on, all bleeding on (for DFHS), I'm pushing about 50% with some CPU spikes at 1024 buffer. There's occasionally some stuttering and stops with this, particularly if I try to add in the ambient drum mics from DFHS.

As you can see, this isn't exactly a high impact session, but it pushes the capabilities of the iMac. I just recently got amplitube 2, which I think sounds absolutely amazing. However, I can barely run 1 instance of it at 1024. So much for live tracking of it, or using it on more than one track. It doesn't have an audiosuite version either, so I can't just apply it to a track and turn it off. So its basically an unusable plugin at this point.

I'm not even counting reverbs. I tried putting the an instance of the demo version of Altiverb on 1 aux track, and I couldn't even get the thing to play. This was without amplitube on any track.

So there you go. I guess its several CPU intensive plugins, but I feel pretty let down that I can't run what I'm thinking is a pretty basic rock setup.

[pk_hat]

Hmm...interesting. I think I may take my chance with it, even though ProTools isn't ready for the Intel just yet, it's mostly about getting more horsepower with Ableton Live, as I use PT mostly for final mixing anymore. A dual-core 20" iMac with all the ports and specs I need for nearly half the price of a tower + screen, it's definitely worth a shot. I already worked it out with my local dealer that I could step it up in the event I want the tower later on.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Hmm...interesting. I think I may take my chance with it, even though ProTools isn't ready for the Intel just yet, it's mostly about getting more horsepower with Ableton Live, as I use PT mostly for final mixing anymore. A dual-core 20" iMac with all the ports and specs I need for nearly half the price of a tower + screen, it's definitely worth a shot. I already worked it out with my local dealer that I could step it up in the event I want the tower later on.

hey, keep us posted