Help Me Get The Best Setup For Me.. Thanks Options

[shaneblyth]

I am totally new to Macs so new I have not bought one yet but want to in the next little while purely for Music.
I have a really good Keyboard Midi Synth, and a proffessional Mixer, PA, and Mics as well as an electric guitar and base.
I am a one man band who wants to record on this equipment using a MAC.. I dont expect to be selling my stuff but who knows one day

Can people suggest what is a good system to buy ?
and what about additional hardware ? I intend to be recoding only 1 audio track at a time so what should I use to interface with my external gear and MIDI . what spec of MAC would you suggest ?
and what would you recommend for software and why..

I know it is a big ask but you would be helping a soon to be EX PC user get into some good gear and systems finally where i can hopefully create some good quality Music.

Cheers I appreciate your time and input

Shane

[arvidtp]

be cautious of the Mbox - while quick and easy, it is not a great interface (high latency, non-standard driver, sometimes buggy) and Pro TOols LE on OS X is a serious problem. I find it very CPU inefficient, slow, buggy and limiting. Also not great for composition. If it just worked and did what it claims to do, it would be fine. But it is the instability that bugs me (no pun intended).

On the other hand, I just bought Logic Pro, and I am loving it, besides the frustration of learning new software (and logic is more complex than PT) it is like a whole other world (like a new double powered music computer!) - so much more CPU efficient, flexible and with the added bonus of being able to Jack in other software like MaxMSP. The soft instruments and effects (particularly space designer) are impressive to say the least. And all this is still with the Mbox as a primary audio interface (switching to built-in to play soft-instruments for lower latency). Logic must be great with a nice one like the MOTU 828. Wow. cool.