Older Friend-Vocal Only Home Studio Mac Recommendations?

[buzzsmith]

I have an older (but still sounds great!) singer friend that has in his home vocal recording only studio...

Roland VS-1824
Neumann TLM-49
Avalon Vt737SP
Apogee Rosetta AD

The Roland is not aging well and is just too non-intuitive. He has to read from a 3 page checklist just to get it set up!

His previous MO would be to load in the instrumental track from a CD, sing a few takes and then burn the best back to a CD with an unprocessed vocal on the left and track on the right to make the syncing quicker to the multitrack session.

We've decided to go the GarageBand route with, probably, the UltraLite-mk4 as his interface. Recording his vocal while monitoring (but not recording) reverb is a must.

So, which MacBook, please, and minimum requirements?
SSD is a given.
A CD drive is also not necessary.
He would prefer to buy new.

Again, all he will use this setup for is loading a track, sing vocals, and export to a left-voice, right-track file. No other instruments will ever be recorded at his place.

Thanks very much!

Buzzy

[mikehalloran]

Certainly don’t need much for such a setup. I’d look at the Air. Get the i7 and the largest SSD the budget can handle.

Th Apple CD/DVD Superdrive is good but, if portability is not an issue, there are faster USB drives for less.

A USB 3 / TB 2 Dock will let him hook up a number of peripherals with only one cable to the Mac. As our eyes age, a large HDMI monitor can be added easily for under $200 or so.

CueMix will let him use reverb while tracking if he must.

[buzzsmith]

Thank you, Mike.


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[mikehalloran]

I was looking at the wrong specs (rather, a comparison site that had them wrong) when I made the recommendation. I have edited my post.

Still, even though the Air doesn’t have 16G RAM available, I still think it’s perfectly adequate. With 2 USB3 ports and a TB2, a dock is convenient but not really necessary—you may still want one, especially if hooking to Ethernet (or get the TB2-Ethernet adapter).

People are speculating that the Air is overdue for an update. Few believe one will be announced tomorrow at the WWDC (the ones I talked to here in Austin say they haven’t a clue what hardware is being announced tomorrow, if any).

It’s the basic MacBook that has the single USB C out. A dock is a really good idea with these. I do recommend 16 RAM and the i7 CPU. I’ve A/B’d DP on the i5 and i7 using otherwise identical Macs more than once. It makes a big difference.

I think the MB has an edge over the Air for your friend’s needs but not by much. The 1.4mHz i7 MB 512G SSD with 16G RAM is $1,949 while the 2.2mHz i7 Air 512G SSD Win 8G RAM is $1,549.

Neither price includes AppleCare @ $249 or a Dock (many choices).

[buzzsmith]

I think the MB has an edge over the Air for your friend’s needs but not by much. The 1.4mHz i7 MB 512G SSD with 16G RAM is $1,949 while the 2.2mHz i7 Air 512G SSD Win 8G RAM is $1,549.

Neither price includes AppleCare @ $249 or a Dock (many choices).

Cool and thanks again, Mike!

I think he could handle the (approximate) cost of $2,100 (including the MOTU interface).

But, as a possible alternative, is there a 2016 or 2017 MB or Air that might also be worthy?

Buzzy


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[mikehalloran]

The Air hasn’t had an update in a few years. Still a few of last year’s in the Refurb Store.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/G0UV ... el-Core-i7

With only 256G SSD, one will be offloading completed projects sooner but this 2015 MBP will certainly get the job done. With two TB 2 and three USB3 ports, I’m liking this one a lot.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/FJLQ ... na-display

The thing about the Refurb Store is to check it frequently. When you see something you like, snag it as it may never appear again. Warranties are the same and you can add AppleCare at time of purchase or anytime within the first year.
https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

I’m assuming that portability is key. Otherwise I’d be including 21.5” iMacs and Minis for consideration.