EXS 24 Logic Sampler Users Group

Because I'm still working in LAPW 5.5 (P4/2.4/1GB/2x 20" LCD) I 
don't know if I should save my money for a G5 and a Cinema display 
or if a dual G4 will provide plenty of breathing room.  Can anyone 
help me out?   I would plan to sell my Dell system to re-claim some 
of the cost. 

I've found dual 800 G4 with 22" Cinamea display and loaded pretty 
nicely for around $2,200.  Without a monitor, I've seen dual 867 for 
around $1100.  

Keep in mind I'm a total home user, I don't write music for a 
living. I don't want to feel totally behind the 8-ball in a year 
either.  I'm just not familiar enough with Apple's performance to 
know if a dual 800 or 867 will get pushed to its knees easily.  

My typical use for Logic is using around 10 virtual instruments, 
about 6 inserts, and some bus effects like Reverb and Delay.  Most 
of my songs end up around 20 to 28 tracks.  I don't use a whole lot 
of third party effects.  


I appreciate you guys helping me make a decision!  Thanks!

on one very special day, Mark at dfusion2000@... wrote:

> Because I'm still working in LAPW 5.5 (P4/2.4/1GB/2x 20" LCD) I
> don't know if I should save my money for a G5 and a Cinema display
> or if a dual G4 will provide plenty of breathing room.
[snip]
> Keep in mind I'm a total home user, I don't write music for a
> living. I don't want to feel totally behind the 8-ball in a year
> either.
[snip]
> My typical use for Logic is using around 10 virtual instruments,
> about 6 inserts, and some bus effects like Reverb and Delay.  Most
> of my songs end up around 20 to 28 tracks.  I don't use a whole lot
> of third party effects.

Just to play devil's advocate: why switch now? It seems like you have a nice
working setup and a nice workflow. Why not wait until your current system
begins to feel pokey, _then_ make the switch? By that time you'll get more
Mac processing bang for your buck.

If your system is already starting to feel pokey and that is why you want to
switch now, then go for the G5. But wait a few weeks until the new
announcements from the big Mac show next month.

-- 
Eli Krantzberg
Nightshift orchestra / Almat Productions
http://www.nightshiftorchestra.com

I have a dual G4 867 with 768 RAM. The amount of tracks and plugins you use seems about the same as me. Actually, I think I probably use a bit more. I do lots of effects while bussing also. I dont seem to have a problem...especially now that I use many instances of the EXS sampler. I also use Spectrasonics Stylus and occasionally a couple other instruments. I have gotten much better using few different instruments.
At any rate, I believe you will be fine, at least for your applications. If you follow a few tricks to help with your processing power you should be ok. For example, remember to set the number of voices on your instruments to no more than you need.
Also, I am running Logic 6 on OSX. Logic seems to use the processing power more efficiently. Im also wondering what you will be doing about software since you will be changing from PC to MAC.
My other suggestion is that you should probably scrap the 22" cinema display, save that money, but then put a little more money back into it by getting a dual Gig perhaps. If you are willing to pay for the cinema display, which you probably do not need....you would save money by not getting that, and getting more processing power.
Hope this helps.

Pete

Mark wrote: 

>
> My typical use for Logic is using around 10 virtual instruments, 
> about 6 inserts, and some bus effects like Reverb and Delay.  Most 
> of my songs end up around 20 to 28 tracks.  I don't use a whole lot 
> of third party effects.  


Sounds like you are not exactly maxing out your current system. If so, why not
do as Eli suggested and keep using it and just wait a while - the longer you
delay buying new hardware the more you will get in the way of
[Performance/price].

If you want more performance and you are switching Mac I would definitely go
with a G5 if and when you can afford it. The G4's you are looking at are quite
likely slower than your current system in terms of plugin instances etc.

You might be interested to read the thread running in the LUG on Apple's plans
.

Good luck,
Murray

I appreciate the replies!

I think you guys are spot-on in all aspects..

1) My Dell P4/2.4 does not hit the max when I'm writing music.  
Typically there is still a fair amount of breathing room and things 
do not feel sluggish.  Changing platforms, especially to a G4, may 
not provide much gain.

2) Because I use LAPW with all of emagic's software synths, I don't 
think there is enough difference between Logic 5.5 and 6.3 to warrant 
an upgrade right now.  The more I think about it, the more I realize 
I should wait until 2nd generation G5 machines and possibly even 
Logic 7 to get "value" when spending all that money to go from Intel 
to Apple.


Thanks again!
Mark


--- In exs-users@yahoogroups.com, Murray McDowall <murraymc@m...> 
wrote:
> Mark wrote: 
> 
> >
> > My typical use for Logic is using around 10 virtual instruments, 
> > about 6 inserts, and some bus effects like Reverb and Delay.  
Most 
> > of my songs end up around 20 to 28 tracks.  I don't use a whole 
lot 
> > of third party effects.  
> 
> 
> Sounds like you are not exactly maxing out your current system. If 
so, why not
> do as Eli suggested and keep using it and just wait a while - the 
longer you
> delay buying new hardware the more you will get in the way of
> [Performance/price].
> 
> If you want more performance and you are switching Mac I would 
definitely go
> with a G5 if and when you can afford it. The G4's you are looking 
at are quite
> likely slower than your current system in terms of plugin instances 
etc.
> 
> You might be interested to read the thread running in the LUG on 
Apple's plans

> .
> 
> Good luck,
> Murray

Mark wrote:

> Because I'm still working in LAPW 5.5 (P4/2.4/1GB/2x 20" LCD) I
> don't know if I should save my money for a G5 and a Cinema display
> or if a dual G4 will provide plenty of breathing room.  Can anyone
> help me out?   I would plan to sell my Dell system to re-claim some
> of the cost.

I work in Logic 6.3.2 on a dual 1.25GHz G4, most of the time I am under 
30% CPU with fairly complex arrangments, but I have maxed it out with 
one song (12 audio tracks, hundreds of audio files, 5+ virtual 
instruments, maxing out the CPU on my UAD-1 card, LOTS of insert 
effects, auxes sending to auxes, extremely dense MIDI data). It's 
powerful, but probably about the same as your P4/2.4, not worth the 
switch unless you want to use OSX (which I highly recommend, I love it).

By the way, if you want to get rid of those two tiny, useless 20" LCDs, 
I'll take them off your hands... :)

    -smeet