I have a certain amount of money to spend (as we all do) for my computer and audio software. I am looking at purchasing one of the new Dual Processor 867mhz Mac towers (I know about the fan noise issue). I will also purchase Logic Platinum and Logic Control. These pretty much takes up my budget as far as a keyboard goes for now. I could afford a Fatar 88key controller board though. So my question is: Can Logic Audio and soft synths run acceptably on this configuration? Would this Mac be able to handle Reason and Logic Audio at the same time? In other words, is anyone out there using strictly soft-synths with a controller keyboard on just one Mac? It seems to me the Dual Processor 867 should be able to handle this in OSX but I would love to hear from anyone that is doing this or has some knowledge on it. As a secondary solution, I could get an eMac and Logic Audio as well as a Triton or Karma. But I would really prefer everything internalized because of space limitations. Any comments appreciated. Thanks Doug

ItsDouglas wrote: > I have a certain amount of money to spend (as we all do) for my > computer and audio software. I am looking at purchasing one of the new > Dual Processor 867mhz Mac towers (I know about the fan noise issue). > I will also purchase Logic Platinum and Logic Control. These pretty > much takes up my budget as far as a keyboard goes for now. I could > afford a Fatar 88key controller board though. So my question is: Can > Logic Audio and soft synths run acceptably on this configuration? > Would this Mac be able to handle Reason and Logic Audio at the same > time? In other words, is anyone out there using strictly soft-synths > with a controller keyboard on just one Mac? It seems to me the Dual > Processor 867 should be able to handle this in OSX but I would love to > hear from anyone that is doing this or has some knowledge on it. As a > secondary solution, I could get an eMac and Logic Audio as well as a > Triton or Karma. But I would really prefer everything internalized > because of space limitations. Any comments appreciated. Douglas, With a dual 867, one has more than enough power, my friend (but add some RAM - go for 1 gig). I use nothing but softsynths/samplers, and I have a single 867. Logic and Reason have a MIDI delay when you try to trigger Reason from with Logic using ReWire, but hopefully this will get fixed before the end of the year (Santa OS X?). Your machine will be powerful enough to run Logic and Reason and Absynth and FX plug-ins, etc, etc, etc. Welcome to the softsynth club! Ned

ItsDouglas wrote: > > > I have a certain amount of money to spend (as we all do) for my > > computer and audio software. I am looking at purchasing one of the new > > Dual Processor 867mhz Mac towers (I know about the fan noise issue). > > I will also purchase Logic Platinum and Logic Control. These pretty > > much takes up my budget as far as a keyboard goes for now. I could > > afford a Fatar 88key controller board though. So my question is: Can > > Logic Audio and soft synths run acceptably on this configuration? > > Would this Mac be able to handle Reason and Logic Audio at the same > > time? In other words, is anyone out there using strictly soft-synths > > with a controller keyboard on just one Mac? It seems to me the Dual > > Processor 867 should be able to handle this in OSX but I would love to > > hear from anyone that is doing this or has some knowledge on it. As a > > secondary solution, I could get an eMac and Logic Audio as well as a > > Triton or Karma. But I would really prefer everything internalized > > because of space limitations. Any comments appreciated. Ned Bouhalassa <ned@n...> wrote: > Douglas, > > With a dual 867, one has more than enough power, my friend (but add some > RAM - go for 1 gig). I use nothing but softsynths/samplers, and I have a > single 867. Logic and Reason have a MIDI delay when you try to trigger > Reason from with Logic using ReWire, but hopefully this will get fixed > before the end of the year (Santa OS X?). Your machine will be powerful > enough to run Logic and Reason and Absynth and FX plug-ins, etc, etc, etc. > > Welcome to the softsynth club! Ned, THank you for your positive reply! A couple of additional questions if you dont mind. Are you saying that I should be able to run multiple softsynths at the same time? I do orchestral sequencing and so will need lots of polyphony. Finally, although I realize it is subjective, could you recommend some softynths that you find are diverse enough to do orchestral and ambient/new age type of arrangements? Are the synths provided in Logic Plat capable of multitimbral operation? Sorry for all the questions. THanks@! DOug

Douglas wrote: > THank you for your positive reply! A couple of additional questions > if you dont mind. Are you saying that I should be able to run > multiple softsynths at the same time? Yes, many, although how many depends on how taxing they are in terms of cpu usage. For eg, Logic's ES2 is a powerful, rich-sounding softsynth, but it does take quite a bit of juice. FM7, Absynth and others will also take up quite a bit of cpu power, but then again, if a synth is rich-souding, chances are you won't need to use many others at the same time! >I do orchestral sequencing and > so will need lots of polyphony. Again, this all depends on how complex the synthesizer is. With a sampler, like EXS, you will achieve a lot of polyphony, don't worry. >Finally, although I realize it is > subjective, could you recommend some softynths that you find are > diverse enough to do orchestral and ambient/new age type of > arrangements? For orchestral, I would recommend EXS24. For ambient/new age, I would go with Spectrasonics' Atmosphere (I have been playing with the beta, and it's absolutely fantastic) and/or Absynth. >Are the synths provided in Logic Plat capable of > multitimbral operation? No. But it doesn't matter. You can load up to 64 (if your computer can handle it), and assign them different MIDI channels. Next questions might be asked to the group in general - many very knowledgeable people here! Ned http://www.nedfx.com Ned Bouhalassa n e d @ n e d f x . c o m