Multitrack Track Counts?, How many tracks, and how much Mac? Options

[TylerEss]

First Post!

Hi, all. I'm assembling a PowerMac 8100 as a Macromedia Deck workstation so I can do some recording with my father-in-law. I'm still fine-tuning the audio drive performance, but it's looking like when everythings finished it'll be doing 24 tracks rock-solid. (I'm not going to tolerate dropouts or inconsistent performance!)

I wonder how it stacks up against more modern workstations in price and performance, so:

How many tracks do you get?
What software are you using?
What's the Mac's hardware configuration?

Thanks so much!

Tyler Sable
http://www.fenestrated.net/~macman/mac.html
http://www.lowendmac.com/sable/

[gdoubleyou]

Disk speed is the primary factor of track count, with a fast SCSI drive you should be OK.

Using the effects in Deck is where you WILL have problems at. I used to have an 8600, I tested playback up to 64 tracks before i became bored. You might want to look a 3rd party CPU upgrade, but a prudent choice would be to pick up a Mini, G4, or Intel.

I'm currently doing sessions of 32-48 24bit tracks using native effects, and virtual instruments exclusively, on my 1.4GHz mini. And once you experience the difference between 16bit recording vs 24bit. you will be looking for another app besides Deck.

The new MacIntels on the lowend have about the same processing power as the current dual G5's.

[Mac Daddy]

gdoubleyou,

Thanks for that information on the MacIntels... I could not imagine it being "That" much better. I mean a new Porche, Mercedes or Ford is only going to be "Newer"... Sometimes they can be slower than the older ones....

I could not believe how 'Big and Badd' they claim to be... as my Home Boys PE said: 'Don't Believe The Hype' only thing I want to know is: Do the "new" G5's have that PowerBook Pro 'Confrencing' ability? Other than that Steve Jobs has gotten enough of my cash for the next few years... It's either drugs or a new Mac.... Hmmmm.... I'll use these next months Mixing, learning, reading Mac Forum and 'smoking'.

[rickenbacker]

The new MacIntels on the lowend have about the same processing power as the current dual G5's

Not strictly true. On some applications, they get close. On others, they fall way behind, as you'd expect from a computer with a slower bus speed, slower hard drive, much less RAM capability, etc.