EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

No Such User wrote:
> Sacha - I dont want to get into this whole debate as I do agree the
currnet
> situation is unfortunate. However, check out second had prices where you
> are. I bought a good s/h mac a year ago so I could run logic on its own
> machine - My mac cost me 600 UKP (approx 900 euros) for a good G3 with
SCSI
> card and several SCSI drives and a CDR.

Pev, that was certainly one of the things I considered.
But even then I'd still need to run a PC in addition, even linked through
MIDI, Audio and a network. Such a second hand Mac wouldn't even halfway
deliver the computing power that I need. So I'd need to use Cubase on my PC
as a VSTi host. And of course I don't need to tell you about the additional
troubles this would lead to (double saved files, double KB, mouse, maybe
even a third monitor, some additional MIDI/audio interface, etc etc).
I am indeed thinking about something like a powerbook as I allways wanted a
mobile solution as well - but that's lightyears away, especially as it had
to be a reasonable one as well.

>  Ok you wont get the latest
> greatest dual-1GHz mac, but its the same in the PC world to be fair. You
buy
> the latest top CPU and MOBO and itll still cost you (e.g. 2.4G P4 = 350UKP
+
> mobo = 120UKP == approx 470UKP == approx 650 euros) Life behind the
cutting
> edge is always most economical.

See, my current machine is an Athlon 1GHz. Made of well chosen components. I
will only have to echange mainboard, CPU and Ram and that PC will become an
Athlon XP 2000+. Tests have been proven (Logic tests) that this machine
should deliver a similar (if not slightly better) performance like a Dual
1GHz Mac. Total costs of that modification: 500 Euros (maybe even less). I
am not kidding or dreaming or whatever.
Next year I wanted buy a completely new computer, with 4GHz Opteron CPUs
coming ahead. At least that's what my plan was until monday.
I seriously can't see myself shelling out 3000 Euro for a Mac, not at all,
at least not in the foreseeable future. I know that once you're done with
the burden of the initial costs, Macs offer relatively good upgrade paths
too, especially because you can still get good prices for older machines.
But that still doesn't make it anymore affordable for me.

Also, I really have a LOT of things (especially plugins) that I'm using on a
daily base (most important ones: DR-008, Pentagon) and there's no Mac
versions of them.

In the end, I will update my current machine anyways (next thing I will
spend some money for) and have some fun with it.

Don't misunderstand me, I am not in panic mood or so at all.
I just know that I can do some nice things with what I have, Logic 5.2
certainly is the best choice for me, and it will stay like that for quite
some time. Especially on my updated "VRROOAAAM"-ing PC. Also, Emagic won't
stop supporting it immediately after Sept.30th., there's just no new
versions to be expected, but we'll still see bugfixes for quite a while
after that date.
In the long run, I will of course have to look for some alternatives - all
that "you can even do nice music on an Atari" doesn't apply to me. I am
allready working 100% natively, and apart from some reverb I will never buy
any external sound gear again in all my life (well, uhm, maybe another dozen
of guitars and amps in addition to those I allready have... ;-). So I want
to stay up to date with what's hot in native audio processing. And there's
gonna be one day LAW won't allow me to do that anymore.

If my next big step will be Cubase or a Mac - only time will tell. I
allready tried out SX in the shop, and while it still sucks ergonomically
(Logic is simply unbeatable at that) it surely has some fantastic features,
such as saveable mixer scenarios (individual channels, a bunch of them or
the complete setup), build in beat slicing and what not. I will buy that
anyways as I can update my old VST 3 version for 199 Euro only. Of course
I'll loose all the kickass Emagic instruments, that's indeed my major
concern, but I will have to buy Kontakt some day anyways (as it's just
great), allready have HAlion (even if I don't like it much at all) and the
EXSP (that I allready have) will make it easier too.

Anyways, no need to panic right now.

Cheers,
Sascha