iMac & audio interface

John_A

Moving house and going to have myself a little project studio, nothing too pro, but planning buying a few new toys   Currently using a Windows laptop to run Cubase, but fancy going to a Mac

Don't want to spend a fortune, would something like this be up to the job:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Imac-27-3-4-GHZ-i7-16GB-memory-2TB-HDD-251GB-SSD/114373908699?hash=item1aa13758db:g:Qf4AAOSwYN5e0liU

Mostly will be just me, but very occasionally may mic live drums.

The other thing Id be looking to upgrade is my audio interface, currently using a Steinberg UR44, thinking Apollo Audio twin MKII, anyone got any thoughts or suggestions?

JohnS37

Try and find a Mac with an SSD instead of an HDD, makes a huge difference when recording music, whatever DAW you are into.

Jalapeno

As I just wrote on another thread - Focusrite Scarlett range, I have a 2i2.  Also historically had an Apogee solo.

JohnS37

While we’re on the subject, if it will be your first time with a Mac, start off with GarageBand.  It is exceptionally capable and will do pretty well anything you want, and has a very easy learning curve.  If you want more it’s a relatively easy step up to Logic, and Logic will import all your GB songs intact.
Good luck, and keep us posted!

John_A

JohnS37 said:

While we’re on the subject, if it will be your first time with a Mac, start off with GarageBand.  It is exceptionally capable and will do pretty well anything you want, and has a very easy learning curve.  If you want more it’s a relatively easy step up to Logic, and Logic will import all your GB songs intact.
Good luck, and keep us posted!

First time with a Mac, but a long time Cubase user, so will be using Cubase unless there's a really good reason not to

John_A

Jalapeno said:

As I just wrote on another thread - Focusrite Scarlett range, I have a 2i2.  Also historically had an Apogee solo.

Actually coming round to thinking my UR44 is fine.  Dont need ultra low latency, I normaly use direct monitoring with the internal DSP reverb/channel strip if needed.

My thought are the UA stuff looks great, but it could turn in to an expensive plug-in habbit, the scarlett doesnt really get me anything new

John_A

JohnS37 said:

Try and find a Mac with an SSD instead of an HDD, makes a huge difference when recording music, whatever DAW you are into.

Yes, SSD is top of the list of requirements - Thanks

John_A

Could do with some help on which iMac to go for.  @Danny1969 you seem to be well clued up

Leaning towards universal audio, but the newer devices are all thunderbolt 3, which means a 2017 or later iMac which is a lot of cash, I’m sure an older one would do me though, this isn’t a pro set up

Danny1969

The iMac hasn't really changed much in the last 7 years. Apart from the Pro. They are good machines but upgrading the drive means cutting through the adhesive and removing the LCD unit, not that hard but a pain to do so buying one with an SSD already fitted is a bonus. One with a proper Apple drive is generally better as if the iMac can't read a drives temperature it can make the fan spin excessively which is noisy. 
I prefer the Intel Iris graphics as the machines run cooler, processor wise any quad i5 or i7 should be fine and go for at least 8Gb of ram. The bigger the better, 27" is very nice for editing audio. 

Latency wise the standard firewire 800 port on the old iMacs is more than capable. Even on my old 2007 model I have a 128 sample buffer and monitor everything post processing via the firewire audio interface so the newer machines should be more than capable. 

Get one that's been looked after from a non smoker and one that hasn't been used in a kitchen or garage etc ... people tend to put iMacs in all kinds of places but the all in one design isn't as tolerant to dust, smoke and moisture as a regular design. 

A small warranty would be nice as any repair on iMacs is more expensive than repairing any other desktop PC due to the design and the cost of the parts. 

Genuine Apple keyboards are far nicer than after market and you need a genuine one to access certain functions. The remote controls are handy but people often lose those so most 2nd hand ones don't come with one. I prefer a Logitech mouse with right click and wheel for audio editing. 

John_A

Thanks @Danny1969 much appreciated.  I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a nice one

spooner248

John_A said:

JohnS37 said:

While we’re on the subject, if it will be your first time with a Mac, start off with GarageBand.  It is exceptionally capable and will do pretty well anything you want, and has a very easy learning curve.  If you want more it’s a relatively easy step up to Logic, and Logic will import all your GB songs intact.
Good luck, and keep us posted!

First time with a Mac, but a long time Cubase user, so will be using Cubase unless there's a really good reason not to

There is a good reason not to...Logic Pro.
I used Cubase on PC for years (still have 10.5 on my Win comp.) but bought a Mac in 2011 and moved over to Logic.
The transition was difficult at first, but well worth the effort.

spooner248

Danny1969 said:

The iMac hasn't really changed much in the last 7 years. Apart from the Pro. They are good machines but upgrading the drive means cutting through the adhesive and removing the LCD unit, not that hard but a pain to do so buying one with an SSD already fitted is a bonus. One with a proper Apple drive is generally better as if the iMac can't read a drives temperature it can make the fan spin excessively which is noisy. 
I prefer the Intel Iris graphics as the machines run cooler, processor wise any quad i5 or i7 should be fine and go for at least 8Gb of ram. The bigger the better, 27" is very nice for editing audio. 

Latency wise the standard firewire 800 port on the old iMacs is more than capable. Even on my old 2007 model I have a 128 sample buffer and monitor everything post processing via the firewire audio interface so the newer machines should be more than capable. 

Get one that's been looked after from a non smoker and one that hasn't been used in a kitchen or garage etc ... people tend to put iMacs in all kinds of places but the all in one design isn't as tolerant to dust, smoke and moisture as a regular design. 

A small warranty would be nice as any repair on iMacs is more expensive than repairing any other desktop PC due to the design and the cost of the parts. 

Genuine Apple keyboards are far nicer than after market and you need a genuine one to access certain functions. The remote controls are handy but people often lose those so most 2nd hand ones don't come with one. I prefer a Logitech mouse with right click and wheel for audio editing. 

The older iMacs screens are not glued on, they're held by magnets and easy to remove.
Mine has a HDD but I record to an external SSD, works fine.
Also, USB interfaces are much better now, you don't have to pay top dollar for a thunderbolt device.
Not contradicting you, just saying from my own experience.

octatonic

John_A said:

JohnS37 said:

While we’re on the subject, if it will be your first time with a Mac, start off with GarageBand.  It is exceptionally capable and will do pretty well anything you want, and has a very easy learning curve.  If you want more it’s a relatively easy step up to Logic, and Logic will import all your GB songs intact.
Good luck, and keep us posted!

First time with a Mac, but a long time Cubase user, so will be using Cubase unless there's a really good reason not to

Stick with what you know.
No sense adding the stress of a new DAW as well as a new OS.

But I've shifted from Cubase to Nuendo recently- I find Nuendo more stable than Cubase on a Mac.

axisus

Love the Focusrite Scarlett personally as an interface. Works well with my macbook pro

Danny1969

spooner248 said:

Danny1969 said:

The iMac hasn't really changed much in the last 7 years. Apart from the Pro. They are good machines but upgrading the drive means cutting through the adhesive and removing the LCD unit, not that hard but a pain to do so buying one with an SSD already fitted is a bonus. One with a proper Apple drive is generally better as if the iMac can't read a drives temperature it can make the fan spin excessively which is noisy. 
I prefer the Intel Iris graphics as the machines run cooler, processor wise any quad i5 or i7 should be fine and go for at least 8Gb of ram. The bigger the better, 27" is very nice for editing audio. 

Latency wise the standard firewire 800 port on the old iMacs is more than capable. Even on my old 2007 model I have a 128 sample buffer and monitor everything post processing via the firewire audio interface so the newer machines should be more than capable. 

Get one that's been looked after from a non smoker and one that hasn't been used in a kitchen or garage etc ... people tend to put iMacs in all kinds of places but the all in one design isn't as tolerant to dust, smoke and moisture as a regular design. 

A small warranty would be nice as any repair on iMacs is more expensive than repairing any other desktop PC due to the design and the cost of the parts. 

Genuine Apple keyboards are far nicer than after market and you need a genuine one to access certain functions. The remote controls are handy but people often lose those so most 2nd hand ones don't come with one. I prefer a Logitech mouse with right click and wheel for audio editing. 

The older iMacs screens are not glued on, they're held by magnets and easy to remove.
Mine has a HDD but I record to an external SSD, works fine.
Also, USB interfaces are much better now, you don't have to pay top dollar for a thunderbolt device.
Not contradicting you, just saying from my own experience.

I know, I have 3 of them and am a professional repairer of Apple devices. The magnetic protector panel with the LCD behind was a good design but they haven't been made that way since about 2012, 8 years ago which is a bit long on the tooth for most people, although I'm still happy with mine

USB now is very good but the better interfaces are often firewire \ thunderbolt ... my own one is ancient but really good, with very very low latency ... pretty much non existent 

jaymenon

You'd be very pleasantly surprised by how good the Zoom TAC-2 and TAC2-R are...