Setting up modest home studio: PC or Mac? Which ProTools product?

[NoIdea]

These are my main questions:

Should I get a G4 iMac or a fully loaded PC?

I am ignorant to what I need in terms of the software, adapters, and outboard gear?

Any advice would be much appreciated...

Thanks,

Christian

[andyo]

I am not trying to spam you (since I am selling my G4 emac)... but...

The cheapest way to get into the game, in my opinion, would be a G4 emac with an MBox.

Depends on what you want to spend and what you want to do.

If you want to record drums, you will need a larger system.

If you are going to use loops, midi, and dub some vox and guitar, or whatever, the above combo would be great.

If you are going to be modest - I would get a cheap mac, the mbox, and a nice RTAS reverb
and use the Digirack plugs for a while. Add Reason, or another soft synth program and you'd be set for a lot of music. You'd probably want to add a firewire drive too. Figure $300 more for that. Shoot for less than $2,000.00.

You can do it.

Andy

[NoIdea]

One follow-up question:

Is the Digi 001 compatible with the new iMac or should I go with the Mbox which has a USB connection?

[DesertDude]

Is the Digi 001 compatible with the new iMac or should I go with the Mbox which has a USB connection?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">001 requires the use of a PCI card slot, imac has none

before you buy anything, read the DUC until your eyes bleed. Then rub 'em, and read some more. Then and only then, can you buy with confidence [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

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[digitaltoast]

002

[Kev]

Go and play with someone else's system first.

There must be someone will to give you a couple of hours on their spare system. I would and many of my fiends would but we are in Australia so can't help. I have someone coming around today to spend some time on a PTfree system.

You will soon have an idea of what you want to do and therefore what you need. I like the look of the Mbox BUT is doesn't catter for external synths well. The 002 is expensive for the first timer and that leaves the 001. It has been popular for many reasons.

You need to work out your expectations first.

[Michael Ellis]

I agree with Andy, the eMac + MBox combo is a great, inexpensive solution. Plus, you can collaborate with a friend (who might have a 001 or greater for recording drums) through DigiStudio (included with PTLE 5.2).

Cheers, and good luck!

[aziel]

the new Digi002 works throug firewire, so, you can use an Imac...