Logic 9: Intel Mac recommended or required?

Logic 8 works great on my old dp G4 with a 1.8 GHz cpu accelerator. It's used for audio-mostly projects but it can manage 8-10 software instruments at a time. Bouncing SI is frequently necessary but not a big problem.

Of course there's no performance comparison between L8 on the G4 and my Intel Mac Pro. But the G4 ( a 533 MHz dp) is a pretty stout performer despite it's age and is kept pretty busy. I'm tempted to try to install L9 on it but will wait to hear from others.

I've installed 9 on my G5 dual 2.0Ghz.

Timestretching works although analyzing takes quite a while. Haven't tried the amp sims on it - I've been using them on my MBP.

Performance is better, surprisingly. I'd been getting constant 'unable to process audio' messages for a project I'm working on. They come much less frequently in 9, so that should be great news.

I spent $2,500 on this computer and have had it for 7 years now I think. $350 per year - not bad. If I were a professional engineer maybe I would upgrade, but the extra time waiting for the rare render I can can deal with. Hopefully it stays alive for another few years!

sam squarewave wrote:
I've installed 9 on my G5 dual 2.0Ghz.

Timestretching works although analyzing takes quite a while. Haven't tried the amp sims on it - I've been using them on my MBP.

Hey, could you do me a favor and try out the amp sims on your G5? I have the same rig and am curious about if Amp Designer is usable or too CPU heavy. Also, what interface and lowest latency are you running on the G5?

Thanks!

Just because LP9 (being Universal Binary) is able to at least be installed on a PPC (non Intel), doesn't mean smooth sailing IMO.

Have you tried some of the new features, such as:

Does the new Flex Audio feature & Flex Tool work as is should? And how well does this work on your G5?

Tried all the new Amp Simulators?

As soon as you have tried out all the new features in LP9.. we'd be interested in your results.

I have the same PPC that you've got, so am extremely curious!

I will do that, tonight probably.

Apple Store had them in stock.

and on YouTube.

Just picked up a copy at the Apple store. Will be installing on my PowerMac G5 Dual 2.7GHz tonight.

Update: Everything is working including the ProjectMix I/O. Now the LCD screen even shows the name of the project being loaded. Everything seems to be usable including the guitar amps.

I'm currently playing around with "Lily Allen - The Fear" which is a 53 track project with loads of effects ...

Running smoothly so far!

The Power Tower wrote:
I'm currently playing around with "Lily Allen - The Fear" which is a 53 track project with loads of effects ...

Running smoothly so far!

Thanks for the update!

What is "Lily Allen - The Fear"? A Logic Studio demo project?

And by "usable" - do you mean you are able to play live with low latency?

Yes it is a demo project. I am able to play live, my I/O buffer is 256 and it says roundtrip latency is 19ms.

I am not sure if this particular demo would play on any slower G5's but it is definitely the most CPU intensive demo included in Logic 9.

53 Tracks, avg 3-7 plug-ins per track

Very cool... keep the results coming. I just wonder then, what type of performance I'd get from my trusty PPC G5 Dual Core

I was able to run 8 full guitar rigs. Typically a noise gate > Amp > Pedalboard > compressor > eq.

I could play at 64 I/O buffer, but not record. I could record at 128.

My interface is an RME Multiface. It has DSP on the card, so that could be improving my performance. I also have 1.5GB of RAM.

As I noted before, the FlexTime seems to work fine. I also tested varispeed, speeding the track up by 10% and then rerecording the 8th guitar. Worked fine.

Playback at this point has both of my CPU's pegged red.

Pegged red?...that's not good.

Thanks for the info, Power Tower.