mac mini for music vs new soundcard

When you lose your car keys, do you get the key re-made or buy a new car? That's kind of what it sounds like you're asking.

Anyway, to move your music over, just copy the files to the Mac. I think you may have to re-create any playlists, however. Music you've bought from iTunes will work on any of your iPods and up to 5 computers you have, so it won't be a problem.

Two words. Core Audio. Try and get that on your Windows machine.

OS X is just flat-out designed for professional audio creation from the ground up. All of the best music creation apps are available for OS X, and If you want a serious studio for an awesome price, you can't beat the Mac. This is the platform that the Pros endorse, and with good reason too!

Everything else is just a cheap imitation...

Brian

Brian, actually there is a low-level driver in Windows for this kind of stuff. Not many sound cards can handle it though, as it's response time is 1ms.. It's called ASIO, and I think Windows 98 can support it, not sure, but XP and 2000 without a doubt can very much do it, and it's what I use for gaming and my music.

Yep, and the music studio I am in, uses ASIO on ALL Windows computers, and all Macs use Core Audio.

ASIO and Core Audio just don't compare.

• ASIO isn't in Windows, it's a third-party add-on. Windows XP wasn't designed to handle its specific purpose. Microsoft is just flat-out more interested in audio for gaming than they are for audio production.
• Steinberg's Official ASIO driver isn't even being developed anymore. There hasn't been a new version since 2003 I believe.
• Core Audio allows for multiple applications to access the same audio device. You can switch back and forth from Reason to Logic, etc. easily
• Up to 30 channels (I believe) on Core Audio vs 18 on ASIO
• Core Audio has Device Aggregation, that's even more channels
• ASIO supports up to 96Khz sample rates, while Core Audio does 192Khz
• Let's say you have multiple Macs, a fast network, and one device that you'd like to use without unplugging, etc. You can use Core Audio to send a receive MIDI signal through the network!

The list goes on. Core Audio is much better to work with than ASIO. Not to mention the great software available on the Mac.

Brian

You forgot to compare this.

ASIO allows all the way down to 1ms response time, where Core Audio don't.

Ok, Core Audio may support up to 192 KHz, but the Mac mini does not. And not to mention, ASIO can have multiple applications access the same device, with proper programming.

ASIO allows all the way down to 1ms response time, where Core Audio don't.

That's not true, some people have even said that Core Audio can achieve up to .5 milliseconds on a 400Mhz G3!

Ok, Core Audio may support up to 192 KHz, but the Mac mini does not.

Isn't this determined by the input interface?

ASIO can have multiple applications access the same device, with proper programming

In other words, you have to hack it. Nice and stable eh? Well supported eh?

What'd be really informative would be exactly which Audigy sound card evilswan was going to get with Cubase as well.

Brian

No, actually the hardware has to support what sampling rate, not the control panel... For example, you can't playback anything higher than 48 KHz on the Mac mini, the audio chip can't do it. The control panel may show it, but it can't really do it.

What I meant by ASIO supporting multiple programs with proper programing, means that applications have to fully support ASIO. Programs that don't support ASIO, only get the supplement version, which gives ASIO qualities, but not multiple applications can share though, they get crossed.

Trust me, I work in a studio, I know very good ASIO apps, and how they work. Now Core Audio, be my guest, educate me on that.

I wasn't speaking of the software interface. I'm speaking of the hardware interface. This can be both input and output. Just because the built-in hardware output can't produce a 192Khz sound doesn't mean that the input can't be 192Khz, and that you can't have single input/output device that supports it. It depends on the way he's inputting, not the specs of the internal sound card since the internal one doesn't do input anyway.

So you're saying ASIO's not very flexible either? Don't you also have to worry about specific hardware too to support multiple application support, etc.?

Considering you're not familiar with Core Audio it shows your level of keeping up with audio production technology. If you're a studio professional, you should know this stuff already, sorry.

Brian

ASIO can work on any sound card. There is a driver called Asio4All.

I don't have to know Core Audio, that's not my department. I deal with ASIO on a mixer board. I will be implementing Core Audio on to it, and guess what, will learn it. But for now, ASIO works just fine on it and has given no problems at all. Just because I don't know Core Audio, doesn't mean I don't know profesional music, it's just not my part, someone else does the Core Audio integration part (that department interfaces Core Audio to ASIO).

I mainly mix, use the ASIO system, and use a Yamaha DX7 on songs and use ASIO on a cheap mini PC under the DX7, which records live on an HD, and into the mixer board. The recording on the HD is for my personal use, incase I need to check something I might have played wrong.

That PC under the DX7 is a Intel Celeron 533 MHz, 192 MB RAM, with a SoundBlaster Live!, and it runs ASIO4All to run. And not to mention, that SAME soundcard sends the audio from the DX7 out of it's Digital-Out to the mixer.

ASIO may "work fine", but it's still no Core Audio. That was my whole point. That's why its very advantageous to have a Mac for studio use. I'm not trying to attack ASIO, I'm just trying to point out why he'd want a Mac versus him just using his PC.

Of course, this is my opinion, but I'll also add, that most music professionals share this opinion. Windows is still in the minority in the pro audio world. There was a doubt from 2000-2002 as to which platform would capture the future of the audio world, but this has been eliminated after Apple acquired Logic and developed Core Audio in my opinion.

No hard feelings.

Brian

Hi evilswan. If you choose to get a Mac mini, for your needs, I would recommend 1GB of RAM and a SuperDrive. If you still choose to go the PC route, I would give Sony ACID Pro a try. It of course, doesn't look as good as OSX applications, but I would say it is just as simple to use. There is a demo version available if you would like to try it: www.sonymediasoftware.com.

And I'd just like to say, I don't think this is an appropriate thread for a "debate" on Core Audio.

My two cents.

Which is why this studio is migrating to Macs (but they are holding off until the Intel Macs are released).

But a lot of our equipment are ASIO equipment, and migration of those equipment, for examples, some synthesizers, aren't easy to get switched over, without having to buy a new synth.