CPU power and live tracks at once

[cojo1take]

Is there a rule of thumb for processor power and the number of live tracks you can record at once? I'm setting up a live recording studio and I'm on the verge of buying a new iMac and Pro Tools 10. I want to make sure I get a powerful enough computer to record up to 16 tracks at once (tho probly won't ever use that many)

[albee1952]

Any quad core will handle that. You said 16 tracks, but I'm sure you will find reasons to record a lot more

[digidesigner]

Originally Posted by cojo1take

Is there a rule of thumb for processor power and the number of live tracks you can record at once? I'm setting up a live recording studio and I'm on the verge of buying a new iMac and Pro Tools 10. I want to make sure I get a powerful enough computer to record up to 16 tracks at once (tho probly won't ever use that many)

There was a version of Pro Tools released without IO limitations many years ago. It was Pro Tools M-Powered 7.3.1 Back then I had the first version of MacBook Pro that had intel processor. So I used that and Pro Tools 7.3.1 to do 32 track live recordings with LightBridge interface and it run just fine. It's true, that PT has become much buggier and probably needs way more recourses to handle same tasks