New Power Mac G4 Line, Improvements worth the money for audio? Options

[salparadise99]

Are the improvements worth the money for audio?

Specifically:

It seems that there are very good graphics improvements (from what were already exceptional), but budgetwise I don't need better graphics, but rather optimal audio functionality.

Also, a couple of questions...

1) The Xserve technology that I think all of the new G4's come with seems to be a server based advantage. I am somewhat of a novice. ...Was Apple trying to design a superpower machine for creative people (like me who wants to dedicate my machine to recording music) and therefore assumed that when you are recording that your machine is functioning as a server as opposed to a home computer?

2) Is the Mac® OS X version 10.2 “Jaguar” designed for tasks such as audio recording? Have there been some good reviews on this yet?

[damann]

extra power is always useful for audio.
dual processing particularly. under osx, certainly.
they have "optimal audio functionality" built in.
xserve is indeed a "server based advantage", but watch this space for a few months.
cubase and nuendo. o.k, steinberg, already implement the networking/clustering of computers for audio purposes. it's not even platform specific!
apple have always tried, at least, to design "superpower machines for creative people".
jaguar represents apple's most serious commitment to audio/midi recording etc to date, to the point that they have taken over responsibility for this from their third party developers.
i think i answered your queries, other than to say that software support for audio/midi in 10.2 is where the only (temporary) problem actually exists.

[rickenbacker]

I think it's fair to say that Jaguar is ready, but the full range of Mac music software/hardware is not.

[salparadise99]

Rickenbacker,

Thanks. Would you say it's okay to purchase the Jag with a new G4 and just download software updates from Mac as things improve?

Which software/hardware in particular could use improvement? Is it audio-related?

[rickenbacker]

If I had £2,000 to spare, I'd definitely spring for one of the new 1GHz dual processor G4s (or maybe the dual 867 plus a 17" Apple display). But I don't.

If you're prepared to be patient, yeah, why not? Go for Jaguar and over the next few months, all the audio and Midi options will eventually slide over to OS X. Logic is already there, which I think will definitely encourage everyone else. In fact, I was at Apple Expo Paris on Tuesday and saw a lot of OS X music stuff, notably Cubase SX which looks great.

Then finally you need the interface manufacturers to come out with drivers, but most of that work is nearly finished, too. I think within a couple of months there'll be a wide range of products available to choose from and build a terrific recording set-up.

I've got Reason, Live, Melodyne and Logic, with an Edirol UA-5 - all OS X compatible and I don't think that I personally need much more. Well, there's always techno lust for new gear, but that'll always be with us! I'm keeping that under control now my studio set-up is OS X compatible.

[ruggedbeline]

what about the noisey fans in these new machines.
They are very loud.
people could email apple about this problem,
It doesn't cost to much for quiet fans surely.

[salparadise99]

wow really?..that's the first that I have heard that they are loud. Anyone else experience that?

That sure is a bummer for audio recording.

[rickenbacker]

Noisy fans, yep, people have mentioned that a lot. We're not talking loud in terms of Rolls Royce jet engines, but you still wouldn't want to record your vocal standing next to one.

BTW, in the current issue of MacUser (in the UK - macuser.co.uk), they review the dual 867MHz G4 and conclude that it's pretty good, but not significantly faster than a single processor G4. A lot of it probably is Apple simply wanting new machines on the market without any revolutionary performance to offer.

Any decent-spec G4 from the last year or so is still going to be an excellent machine for music.

[salparadise99]

I wonder which one is faster is you were to make a head to head comparison of the single processor, and the new dual processor machine? Has anyone seen any articles yet with such a comparison?

[salparadise99]

Here's a good one...they say that the fan isn't as noisy as the last line but that it's not saying much!!

Check it out:

http://macspeedzone.com/html/hardware/mach...ter_list_9.html