Mac mini as MIDI farm master primarily

[gaucho]

Still in the farm business, slaving a kontakt pc and, yes, a giga studio pc, my Mac needs are more for MIDI and fewer than 24 tracks of audio. I do think a Mac mini might suffice for a dp machine. I might run amplitude and a couple vi things in the Mac , but most in the slave.

I get that waiting for a Mac Pro is appropriate for those who run most of their audio sources and processing inside the master. But my usage is a bit different.

The only hitch is getting my lightpipes into it. I guess I'll get the FW to TB adapter and toss out my pci stuff.

Anything else I should know that might dissuade me? How is dp8 running in macminis?

[mikehalloran]

Those who went to the workshop in LA this year were assured that DP 8 runs fine in a Mini - and it does. 64bit actually runs with less overhead and uses memory better.

Definitely go with the i7 chip. It is a lot faster for some DP functions and doesn't cost much more.

For straight MIDI, an older Core2 Duo will work but I assume that you will use your Mac for other things as well.

Most (but not all) MOTU interfaces will work with the TB-FW adapter as long as you do not use bus power. If buying a new one, go with a hybrid that supports usb. Although MOTU still pays attention to FW, Apple no longer does.

[gaucho]

It's ironic that the post about the new Mac Pro just appeared.

As mentioned around here, at the very least that'll drive down the price of the refurbs.