Mac Mini with DP setup, simple task, possible?

[alex2035]

Hi , one of the guys at the studio asked me to find out if a setup with a Mac Mini (i5, 5400rpm drive,4 gig RAM) would suit him for home practising, meaning this simple workflow:

using Digital Performer (we use it here in all controls thats why DP) , capture or track a YouTube music video, or whatever from the Web. Analize tempo, and throw that soundbite over Capo/Riffstation for practise piano playing, or guitar, whatever.

Question is, does the 5400 HD be a bottleneck? does he need a second (USB3) audio drive? I guess yes.
And finally can he get off without an external (USB?) audio interface? meaning "does DP could record and playback from Mac Mini's internal audio card?" I am tempted to think No.

Thanks for any tips.
Alex

[mikehalloran]

Will it work? Yea but...

You have a couple of bottlenecks. DP really wants to see at least 8G but you want to max out the RAM at 16G if possible. Replace that hard drive with an SSD—the bigger the better. It's a fairly easy install.

Besides DP, it will make everything run faster and more smoothly.

[alex2035]

Thanks Mike

[mikehalloran]

I didn't address this:

does DP could record and playback from Mac Mini's internal audio card?" I am tempted to think No.

Playback, yes through powered speakers or unpowered headphones.

DP can record audio but it's a kludge and may involve Soundflower. There are other, easier ways.

If the audio is coming from the internet, you have to record it. From a downloaded video, you have to rip it. There are ways to do this in Quicktime. VLC Player and Handbrake.app have been around for many years and are more versatile for this use as well as being faster.
https://www.wikihow.com/Rip-DVD-Audio-t ... dia-Player

Once you have the audio file, you can then drop it into DP.

[arion]

I've been working with a mac mini, 5400 rpm drive and an UAD Apollo Twin since 2014 without any problems. Mix and edit not too complicated rock-pop-jazz 20-48 tracks.