Mac Mini + Live Multitrack Recording Options

[Quintron]

Hi All, glad to have found this knowledgable spot!
First off I know hardly anything about Macs except they have a good track record as stable units good with audio applications.

As I'm sure is the case with many others I have become enamoured with the new Mac Mini but am wondering if it will be sufficent for what I need.

I run a small Jazz CLub in Ireland and for a long time was considering a laptop to record live gigs there. I was looking at Macs and PC laptops, but on a budget of next to nothing with the venue, all desirable options were off limits.

With this new machine there is some hope. I am looking at the 1.4Ghz mac mini with 512MB RAM option. I would also get an Edirol FA-101 usb capture card and was wondering how good these would be at live multitrack recording using Logic or Cubase (Have both). I would need to record usually up to 6 Mic imputs or 4 MIc ins with maybe 2-3 Line ins at a push. The usual setup for a night is about that. Sometimes less. Mix it down when I get home. What can I expect from this box with the FA-101 (or indeed a cheaper alternative if anyone knows??)?

Any options / help / advice greatly appreciated!

One of the sellers of this for me is that it would also be an excellent replacement for my ailing PC at home.
Adding a KVM switch I'd have the best of both worlds. Not a laptop, but a unit in the two places I need it most. (Its' lighter to transport than a lot of Laptops) and a hell of a lot cheaper!

If my above expectations are unrealistic then caould anyone suggest the max abilities of this unit for live recording. I could work something out.

Sorry for the barage of questions.

Cheers in advance,
Quintron.

Well, now I'm confused. I was going to buy a mac mini and upgrade to the DVD Rom and the iGig memory. I'm maybe glad I found you guys before I did it.

1) I was thinking of using a Firewire Presonus FirePod up front to record, say, two acoustic guitars and three vocal mikes up front. (This is the smaller of my two bands). Will the system be too slow to do this?

2) How many songs can I record in a row with three vocals and two guitars before I have totally maxed out the memory and the 80 gig hard drive? (I was expecting to be able to use this as a live recording application, but I fear that there is not enough memory in the world).

3) In relation to the first question -- I am planning on using garage band at this time. (I know NO recording except for old analog stuff -- a 16 track recording class in the late 1970's, other analog multitrack studio experience as a musician from the early 1980's, and one bit in the mid' 90's where I just played my part and went home.) Will Garage band even do multiple track recordings this way? If not, I guess the consensus in another thread was Tracktion?

3) Firepod is a firewire deal. I relation to question number 1, how do I get a bigger, faster, harddrive on-line given that I have used up the Firewire plug on the FirePod? Do they have hubs? I should warn you, I have had trouble with hubs diving me insufficient power messages before.

Just FYI -- I would buy a laptop, but I have bad shoulders and tennis elbows. I also write, can't afford two computers, and can't type on a laptop all day.

So it's a problem.

Thanks for any input in advance.