Almost Ready To Buy First Interface And Software, newbie questions Options

[Rodrigo Ramos]

Hello everybody,

Alright here is where i am at, i have a Mac G4 powerbook and a 1000 dollars to invest in my first interface and software (aaah!) Like several other writers i have been contemplating between:
digidesign mbox with PTLE vs. MOTU ultralite with logic express.

I want to record mostly acoustic instruments (saxophone, elec and acoustic guitars etc.) but i also want to do field recordings (animals and machines) and i am certain that at some point i will work with midi. I am inspired by the work of brian eno, nigel goodrich (radiohead, beck) jim orourke and john mcentire.

Although i am looking towards doing mainly audio recordings i feel like MOTU/logic is more advantageous - 1) both are particularly MAC oriented, 2)both seem to be more flexible in working with other programs 3) tech support for both sounds more favorable- interestingly i have only found one complaint against Logic/MAC (hahaworld from last november) but i have seen much more complaints about digidesign and PTLE tech support. . . me being a newbie this is important. 4) reviews seem more positive about MOTU preamps than the digi mbox 5) MOTU has more analog i/o than the digi mbox.
Does my reasoning make sense?

question #1 can my MAC G4(OSX) handle logic express? i only have 512 MB and i read Lepetitmartien saying that 768 MB is not enough ( LPM, if you are reading this what were you refering to?)

question #2 i am living in spain (canary islands) and retailers/ distributors in the US dont ship overseas, does anyone know any reliable retailers in Europe ( U.K. will be too expensive!)

question #3 if i buy the MOTU interface in europe, will it be rated to work only with european voltage? or can it function in the states also?

thank you,

rodrigo ramos

[ArchivalAudio]

hey
techtool is a great tool program, it is not a music softtware program, but is very usful for diagnosing porblems and "optimizing" your drives
applejack is a free opensource program, it is easy to use and is great for repairing permissions, I am not sure but think it works better than apples disc utility, at least I like the functions it has

as for OWC sign up for their mailing list and "specials" page
I reciently got a 250 GB Neptune drive for $109

I have not had any issuers with their HD's
and I like them for any hardware (non audio) I even got a great deal on an "older" version of techtool (by Micromat) there......
http://www.micromat.com/
thechtool is similar to Norton DiscDoctor utilities, I think it works better for macs
but what do I know
?

Apple Jack
http://applejack.sourceforge.net/


both are easy to find just google them
thats how I got these...

peace
thru
music