Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

>Regarding spotlight, I think it is common knowledge that you don't want any
>garbage apps running while you are doing audio. No screensavers, no fax
>reception programs, and now no searchlight. Those apps, even when 
>"idle" are still
>lurking in the backgroun - taking up ram, taking clock cycles to check if the
>computer is idle so they can spring to life, or sending out internet messages.
>With the fragility of music on G5, I would not take any chances.

I disagree with all of that. There's nothing to say that Spotlight is 
going to do bad stuff in the background, and there's nothing fragile 
at all about music on any computer these days. Ten years ago you had 
to worry about the menu clock taking up CPU. Those days are ancient 
history.

And if you have enough RAM, the background RAM isn't important - in 
other words, in Panther you can have 8GB in a G5 and Logic can still 
only use 4GB (which after Logic and overhead leaves 3GB for loading 
samples). System memory is outside that 4GB; I have 5GB in my new G5 
for that reason.

I also want to explain this thing about large sample library 
templates once more, because the conversation here is missing the 
point. More horsepower out of a G5 would be fine, but I haven't heard 
anyone complain about a dual 2.5 lacking muscle. That's not it.

The big deal is 64-bit memory addressing! Even if you don't use every 
one of 15 violin articulations, you don't want to have to stop to 
load and unload programs all the time. You want those programs loaded 
so you can try different ones until you find the right one for the 
note or phrase.

So today, composers use multiple Giga machines (I have two PCs + one 
running Kontakt) in order to have large templates loaded. Polyphony 
is also an issue, but not that much of an issue; you can get around 
that on a single machine by using multiple drives on separate busses, 
and also with RAID...except that it doesn't seem to help on Macs for 
some reason.

But anyway, if you can load, say 6GB of samples, that's the 
equivalent of six Giga machines. That's the big deal with 64-bit 
computing.

I just wanted to put a fine point on this so y'all understand.
-- 
Nick Batzdorf - editor
Virtual Instruments magazine
(the world of softsynths and samplers)
www.Virtualinstrumentsmag.com
1-877 VImagzn (846-2496), 818/905-9101, cell 590-9101