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The renegade
Macintosh computer has long held a strong place in the heart of the audio
community. With probably more third-party apps for music and audio
available on the platform than any other subject area, the Mac is well
designed to handle the processing of audio and MIDI data.
Mac OS X and Mac OS 9
In order to advance the platform, Apple made a radical switch to a UNIX-based OS
with the shift from OS 9 to OS 10 (or “OS X” as Apple calls it). This
change delivers a much more stable operating system, meaning less system crashes
and less restarts than its predecessor versions of OS.
With the migration to Mac OS X, Apple set new standards with the development of
Core Audio, including development guidelines and tools for third-party audio
developers, as well as a driver model for both Audio and MIDI devices that
meets the requirements of professional audio usage. This ensures greater
third-party interface/device compatibility, making for a better user experience.
Further, Core Audio implementation ensures better compatibility amongst different
audio and MIDI apps running on the same machine. Apple also developed a new
plug-in standard called Audio Units(AU) for OS X, providing consistency and
compatibility among both software instruments and other audio plug-ins, within
host applications like Emagic’s Logic, Steinberg’s Cubase and Nuendo,
and MOTU’s Digital Performer, as well as Apple applications like Final Cut Pro, Sound Track and the new, entry-level composing app, Garage Band.
If
you are ready to set up an entirely Mac OS X studio machine, then any of the current models should work fine for you. However,
if you are planning to run any OS 9 apps and don’t want be running Mac OS 9
as a virtual OS (much like running Virtual PC), then you will need to be careful
to purchase a machine that boots into Mac OS 9.
This change hailed a progressive rebirth for Mac Audio, which becomes more
complete with each passing trade show. And because of this, there are several important
considerations to be made when purchasing a Power Mac for use in recording and
producing audio and MIDI tracks.
Do You Need A OS 9-booting Machine?
If you are ready to set up an
entirely Mac OS X studio machine, then any of the current models should work fine
for you. However, if you are planning to run any OS 9 apps and don’t want be
running Mac OS 9 as a virtual OS (much like running Virtual PC), then you will
need to be careful to purchase a machine that boots into Mac OS 9. Most apps are
now out for Mac OS X, but if you are reluctant to upgrade to OS X because you have
some really killer plugins you lost the registration number for, or if are heavily using some retro
legacy app that never migrated to OS X, then you might want to get a machine that
is capable of booting into OS 9.
There is some debate on how
reliable it is to run audio apps virtually in OS 9 while booted into OS X. From
my own experience, I find certain office apps to be fine running virtually in OS
9, but I personally prefer an OS 9-booting machine for my OS 9 apps.
Unfortunately for Mac OS 9 audio holdouts, Apple does not produce that many
machines that boot into OS 9 anymore. To my knowledge, Apple is only producing OS
9-booting machines still for the Education market. So, be sure to check the
details on a given machine prior to purchasing it, to make sure it does boot into
OS 9 still, if this is what you’re looking for. Being that this is an audio
site, I will be sure to state whether this machine boots into 9 on any purchase
links posted on this site.
Single or Dual Processor?
Another consideration to be made is whether a single or dual-processor machine is
best for you. Some OS 9 apps, like Cycling 74’s Pluggo, do not run well on
dual-processor machines. Further, most audio apps don’t seem to make much
use of the second processor — at least not in the way that video apps like
Final Cut Pro do. So if you’re going with a Mac OS 9-booting machine, you
might want to consider getting the highest level single-processor machine you can
find, and avoid the hassle of any complications that may come from app or plug-in
incompatibility.
For example, I personally use a 1 Ghz Power Book as my main studio machine, and
have turned my legacy dual-processor G4 into my Mac OS X studio machine.
On the flip side, Mac OS X make great and optimal use of the dual-processors in
the new machines. So, if you’re just getting into audio and want the
biggest, most badass machine you can get, I would definitely advise going with
the G5. Any lack of compatibility between audio apps and the new OS is quickly
diminishing and should not concern you unless you have a passion for certain
older applications or plug-ins that you can’t quite let go of yet.
SEARCH AUDIOHEAD.NET
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PowerBook
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Power Mac
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iBook
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iMac
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eMac
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Displays
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Interviews