About To Switch To Mac...general Questions, Multitrack recording & mastering on Mac Options

[EletrikGutar182]

I currently am, and have been, a PC user. I am making the switch to Mac this week. I am ordering a 14" iBook G4 (933 MHz, 40 Gig HDD, etc...)

I currently have a pretty basic setup involving a digital 8-track recorder that I record onto and then connect to my PC for mastering (SoundForge). I am thinking of downloading ProTools free to start off with, after I buy either the iMic or the Mobile Pre.

Will ProTools FREE work with OS X?

Would Garage Band be a good idea?

Will I be able to use the USB interface (probably the Griffin iMic...) easily with ProTools or any other software?

Does anybody have any other reccomendations besides ProTools?

As a fallback option, If I wanted to do mastering on the Mac as I did with soundforge, what is a good freeware or inexpensive mastering program I should use?

P.S., I am not a newbie when it comes to music and recording, so if there are any suggestions of good programs that aren't necessarily meant for beginners, That is fine.

Thanks in advance,
Alex

[Synthetic]

no "free" mastering software exists from what I know other than maybe some mastering type plugins for apps like Cubase and Logic in VST format.

imic... save your money ofr a nicer audio interface... imic is worthless and seen many who bought one later decide it wasn't good enough and just ended up buying another interface to replace it.

As far as I know... you can't use PT software without Digidesign hardware either Mbox, Digi001, Digi002 or the TDM systems. The reason PT apps will not work without hardware is they look for the Digidesign hardware for audio output and cannot use the built-in sound manager or ASIO like some other interfaces.

If you see people selling ProTools LE without any hardware... you can probably bet they made a copy when they bought a Mbox or Digi001 or Digi002 and are just trying to get some cash back. Basically with exception to ProTools Free... PT is useless without Digidesign hardware to make it work

But on the other hand... you can use other apps with Digidesign hardware though... for example... I use Logic with my Digi001 interface.

Ce message a été modifié par Synthetic - lun. 26 janv. 2004, 18:20.