Expanding To Audio, What setup? Options

[Ambeintz]

Hm,I've been playing around with MIDI and GarageBand for the past 6 months and ive really enjoyed it.But im a bit restless and I want something a little more competent,something that i can use for recording my sax as well as midi ...so basically a USB/FW soundcard and some kind of sequencer.Can anyone recommend anything?

my current set up is:
iBook G3 600mhz,640MB ram
Emagic MT4 MIDI interface, a midi keyboard and garageband..

[kaboombahchuck]

Metro has changed a bit. I don't use external synths much any more, but with the advent of core midi things have become much better. Seems Metro still uses the old "cakewalk" patch names.. same as used with OMS.

The true step forward has come with the usabilities of softsynths and soundfonts (IMO). With the ability to render midi to audio using internal synths has vastly improved sound quality, ease of use, and speed.

There have been other leaps, such as the ability to utilize loops, able to pitch sift, and time shift.

CPU usage is now at or below that of logic.

There is a "G4" eddition spicificaly designed for the arcitecture of the G4 and G5 systems.

It aslo supports rewire.

[Ambeintz]

ok will have a look at that.rewire support is nice though..

[rickenbacker]

I think you'd end up buying extra instruments and synths, whatever app you go with… although the Logic bundle is one of the best available. The instruments and plug-ins are of the highest quality.

Logic can handle ReWire. IMHO, though, I think ReWire is over-rated, given the extra strain running two different music apps puts on your lil ol' CPU. If you can do it all in one app, your Mac will thank you.