motu/pc/mac?

[bluesy]

new guy here. using a celeron 733mhz 512ram 7200rpm drive motu's 2408 mkll and 24i with Sonar. works well till effects come into the mix. A new computer seems in order. I get 18 or so tracks per song- sometimes recording 12 at a time. Once I start adding Sonar's effects the computer all but quits. Two mackie analog boards, the motu stuff, some outboard gear, and a computer--that's all I want to use (or can afford) What would be the best solution for track count with effects? New PC? A Mac? i'm trying this in the Mac forum because you Mac guys seem to like your platform more than the Windows guys. Any input?

[michaelhoddy]

I'm one of those Mac guys, but with the advent of Windows XP, I'd have to say that either one can be made to work well. The Macs have the advantage of a streamlined OS and rock-solid reliability even for regular people who don't know the depths of their computer, mainly because Apple builds 'em all, and there is not the conundrum of endless motherboard, processor, RAM, and peripheral combinations.

I can't believe that I'm saying this as a Mac guy, but if you're comfortable with the Windows OS and with your current software, go get a purpose-built PC, preferably built by someone who knows how to build computers for audio, and carry on.

That said, I don't think you'd be disappointed with the Mac at all, except to have to learn a new method of working.

[bluesy]

Mhoddy- You think I could get as good a track/effect count with a Mac? Right now I hate to even start recording 'cause when it's all done nothing can be reasonably effected before the pc stalls

[cmchamp]

Bluesy:
Presently, on a G4-400, just a bit more powerful than your celeron, 1G ram, and Tons of HD space (320G over 6 drives) I'm able to easily record 32 tracks at a time with DP3, 2408MKII and 24i. If you've only got one drive you're using, that may be your bottleneck. If you're financially able to, go out and pick up another ATA66 or ATA100 drive, plop it in and then record a project with your data spanned over the two drives. Don't know if Sonar will allow you to do this, but it's a cheaper remedy than the new CPU. In addition, I used to use 4 drives for recording, and topped out at about 12-18 tracks depending on the number of efx I was running. Was easily able to handle 32 with 6 drives.
No matter which way you go, if you're serious about what you're doing, when you make your next CPU purchase, be it a PC (AMD chipset) or Mac, invest in an ATA133 RAID card and 4 identical drives. You'll be much more pleased with the response.