'newbie wannabe' kindly asking for help

[nickysnd]

Hello,

I am in the process of becoming a former-Logic-user, seriously considering to switch to DP 5. As there's no trial version, there is a certain amount of risk to it, which might be reduced by a little guidance from good-willing people like you.

Here's my system:
- iMac G4 700MHz, 640 MB RAM
- OS X 10.2.8 (planning to upgrade to 10.3.9 for DP's sake)
- Tascam US-122 USB audio/MIDI interface
- no DVD drive (only CD, of course)

From what I have seen on motu.com, this configuration seems compatible with DP 5, but I thought I'd better ask the people who know better. ;-)

So, is there anyone using DP 5 on a similar system? Or knowing about issues that may arise from running this up-to-date software on that kind of old and *minimalistic* hardware?

Any hint, advice, or any kind of comment would be much appreciated.

Thanks for being there,
Nicky

[chrispick]

You really don't have enough RAM to adequately handle DP and the upgraded OS, I think. I'd recommend a minimum of 1 GB. 1.5 GB would be even better.

[Spikey Horse]

I have been running DP3 up to DP5 on a G4 (quicksilver powermac) 733Mhz with 640 MB ram on 10.3.9

This was my studio mac from 2001 until I got a G5 a year and a half ago and now I use it for live only, so although it mirrors my studio set up for the sake of project transfers (minus a few VI's etc) I only really use it for playback of backing tracks in the form of 'half rendered' DP projects.

I have just bought more ram to take it to 1 GB which I think will make a HUGE difference (as would another 512 MB on top of that) but I have not installed yet....

However, at the specs listed above I can still do a lot with DP on it but there is quite a lot of waiting with spinning rainbow wheel while my mac 'has a think about stuff' and graphics are twitchy.

At buffer size 1024 I can run BFD (the ultimate ram/CPU hungry VI!) in a project with no other VI's and playback is Ok ........ but playing it live would be a joke with these specs.

When I used it for studio work before I would tend to manage large-ish projects by I splitting them up into separate sequences and/or changing the buffer size for tracking, MIDI-softsampler/VI, editing, mixing and so on.

I am not sure exactly how the G4 powermac and iMacs compare but I think you will be pushing things - but it all depends on the kind of projects you will be doing and your working needs ...... can you afford to patiently adjust your workflow to accomodate a slow mac or do you want to be able to work fast and have freedom to be able to throw VI's into a project on a whim or run altiverb while tracking etc ?

In short .... ..... it's possible - but as Chrispick says throw as much ram into the equation as you can (the cheapest and most dramatic way to improve your mac specs) .... and be prepared to be flexible/accomodating with your working methods.

HTH!

P.S. For RAM I recommend these guys - cheap, fast and reliable:

www.crucial.com/index.asp

[emulatorloo]

Any hint, advice, or any kind of comment would be much appreciated.

1. As the other guys said, RAM RAM RAM RAM RAM! A good vendor for me has been www.datamem.com Lifetime warranty, good prices, no I don't work for them.

2. Excellent article re optimizing OS X for audio work. Author is a DP User. See esp "New Cats In Old Cages."

http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_trackin ... index.html

3. Comprehensive reviews of DP here to help you w decision:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb05/a ... tudp45.htm

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Nov01/a ... otudp3.asp

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[nickysnd]

Thanks a lot, chrispick, Spikey Horse, and emulatorloo, for your advices and links, I really appreciate.

If I understand correctly, my system should do OK, with a not so many VIs and other "RAM eaters", assuming that I upgrade to X 10.3.9 and to 1GB of RAM, right?

Thank you,
Nicky

[jonotronic]

Although DP has its good points, for a lesser spec of computer you are better sticking to logic, which is better optimised for older computers, and much more efficient in general.

[nickysnd]

[quote] Although DP has its good points, for a lesser spec of computer you are better sticking to logic, which is better optimised for older computers, and much more efficient in general.[/quote]

Thanks for pointing this out, I will strive improve my system as much as I will be able to. Meanwhile I'd like to learn DP, little by little, and see how it goes. I just want to make sure that people didn't encounter major problems with DP on a poor system like mine, so I can start.

My personal problem with Logic is that I have had enough of its "logic". Maybe it's just me, but after three years of using it I still find it sort of convoluted, although it surely seems to be a great program for millions of other users.

Thanks,
Nicky