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iMac Questions
New to the forums, though an "avid" reader. (Cue groans.) I'm getting back in the game and will be getting new HW/SW. Audio only, no video. Unlikely to exceed 8-16 tracks on most sessions. Thanks in advance for guidance/patience as I work through choices. First set of questions:
1. I will likely go with a new iMac. My space will be very small and thus I will be sitting quite close to the screen. Will a 21.5" version (rather than 27") be adequate? I'm hoping so, because it will allow me to put my $$ to other key features like i7, internal SSD and more RAM. 2. I plan to run PT2018 on the internal SSD and have the session/audio files on an external SSD. Can I get away with 512 GB on the internal SSD and even 256 GB if I'm not using the iMac for any other functions other than running PT? Thanks everyone! |
#2
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Re: iMac Questions
Quote:
tg
__________________
Mac Studio (2022) M1 MAX / 64GB / 2TB HD / macOS Ventura 13.6.5 / RME BabyFace Pro FS / SSL UF8 + UF1 + UC1 / Roland SYSTEM 8 / Kontrol S61 mk3 / Pro Tools Studio 2024.3 / Nuendo 13 / Reaper 7 / Komplete 14 / Omnisphere / Keyscape / Trilian / V Collection X |
#3
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Re: iMac Questions
Thank you, grayter1. Wise advice. I would be interested in knowing if some view 256 GB on the internal SSD as too much of a skimp? I'm also vacillating between 16 vs. 32 MB RAM....
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#4
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Re: iMac Questions
Thank you, grayter1. That's very helpful. My plan is to go at least 16 MB of RAM, but perhaps 32 MB is a smarter play. I will go as big as practical on the external SSD. I probably will use VI's. Given that, should I also go at least 512 GB on the internal SSD (i.e., forget about 256 GB)?
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#5
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Re: iMac Questions
Oops. I mean "16 GB of RAM, and 32 GB ..." Doh!
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#6
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Re: iMac Questions
Much depends on the plugins, to be honest. If you're going to be using the latest fancy hardware modeling plugins, you may have to freeze tracks quite often. If you'll be sticking mostly with stock plugins or relatively low-CPU stuff, you should be fine.
I have a 2015 iMac retina (i5) and was constantly running into CPU overloads when using stuff like Abbey Road Plates and various all-in-wonder signature series stuff from Waves, unless I boosted the buffers to 2048. More recently, I've been using mostly simple, older stuff like the old Waves Ren series. The difference has been tremendous. I now rarely run into CPU overloads unless I'm doing something sketchy. |
#7
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Re: iMac Questions
I would definitely go for the 500g internal.
that space goes fast
__________________
William Wittman Producer/Engineer (Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne, The Fixx, The Outfield, Hooters...Kinky Boots!) |
#8
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Re: iMac Questions
Thank you for the guidance.
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Re: iMac Questions
If you are using the SSD as just a drive to boot the OS and have your applications on it, and if the apps are only going to be Pro Tools & Audio related then 250GB is going to be plenty. You will only have about 30GB of space utilized after installing the OS and Pro Tools. This recommendation assumes you will use separate SSD's or HDD's for other requirements such as your sessions and audio files, samples for VI's, and backups.
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Mac Pro '09 - 5,1 - Dual Hex Core X5680 3.33 ghz CPU - 48GB RAM 970EVO 500GB (10.13.6) - 1TB WD Black HDD (Samples) - 6TB Toshiba HDD (Backups) - 500GB Glyph GT050Q (Legacy sessions & backups) - 3TB Glyph Studio (Main audio/sessions) HD5770 GPU OSX 10.13.6 - Pro Tools 2018.12 - Presonus Studio 192 / Digi 003 Rack+ Focusrite Clarett OctoPre - AKG HPE6 - DBX160A - WA76 |
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Re: iMac Questions
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Desktop build: PT 2020.5 / Win 11 / i9-11900K @ 5.1GHz / 64GB / 4TB NVMe PCIe 4 / Gigabyte Z590 Vision D / PreSonus 2626 Laptop: PT 2020.5 / Win 11 / i5-12500H / 16GB / 1TB NVMe / Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Pro / U-PHORIA UMC1820 Ancient/Legacy (still works!): PT 5 & 6 / OS9 & OSX / Mac G4 / DIGI 001 Click for audio/video demo Click for resume |
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