Music PC for Production

[lem]

I fully agree with Hades, my first mac was a 2010 mac mini, bottom spec. everyone said it wouldnt b powerful enough. it was about £500, i already had mouse keyboard and fw soundcard. good entry point i thought.

I know that i could of had an i7 quad blah blah, but when toying with the idea of building a pc, i was only concerned about build quality and acoustic noise.

the mac mini is silent. i have to put my ear close to it to b able to tell if its on or not. other than learning osx, it has been the most transparent computer experience i have ever had.
unless apples quality massivly declines, i will never buy a pc again. always just a bottom end mac.

[eggnchips]

and I honestly don't want to start a mac vs PC debate, but consider getting a macbook instead of a PC.
I switched to mac about 5 years ago after the Xth frustrating experience, and I never ever regretted that choice.
In fact, I should have done it years before.
everything is so much easier with a mac.
It's the PC for dummies, in a way.

I can understand how people say that mac charges tons for their stuff, but I'll happily pay the extra cash for my peace of mind and an easy workflow.
Plus, macs don't have to cost tons either.
I give private Ableton lessons, and for that purpose I bought 2 extra laptops for my students.
I bought both used, and paid around 400 euro's for each (and that was a few years ago so I'm guessing prices might even be cheaper now).
They've both been working fine for years.

Yes you do want to start a Mac Vs PC debate. His question was about music PC's.

[Hades]

and I honestly don't want to start a mac vs PC debate, but consider getting a macbook instead of a PC.
I switched to mac about 5 years ago after the Xth frustrating experience, and I never ever regretted that choice.
In fact, I should have done it years before.
everything is so much easier with a mac.
It's the PC for dummies, in a way.

I can understand how people say that mac charges tons for their stuff, but I'll happily pay the extra cash for my peace of mind and an easy workflow.
Plus, macs don't have to cost tons either.
I give private Ableton lessons, and for that purpose I bought 2 extra laptops for my students.
I bought both used, and paid around 400 euro's for each (and that was a few years ago so I'm guessing prices might even be cheaper now).
They've both been working fine for years.

Yes you do want to start a Mac Vs PC debate. His question was about music PC's.

ok, sure, whatever, I have nothing better to do than to convert people to macs, if that's what you want to believe...
All the suggestions I made about specs are things that are the same whether you use mac or pc, btw.

honestly, I don't want to start one.
I'm only suggesting an option to consider.
why is it that as soon as you mention the word mac, some pc guys can get so defensive ?
why is it people must see this as some big "versus" war ?
why can't people see it as PC or mac ?

you see, I consider it just a tool for a job, and if I hear the word "PC", I always just think about a "computer", as I think many of us subconsciously do.
I don't think "PC" = Windows only. I know technically mac probably isn't even allowed to use the term Personal Computer, just like they aren't allowed to use the right click on a mouse, even though you can perfectly use a PC mouse on a mac and by doing so avoid the irritating "command+click" by simply right-clicking.

So, I'm just suggesting a tool.
Maybe it's not the exact same tool someone asked for, but sometimes it helps to hear other options you may not have considered yet.
And it's no use suggesting a mac if you're not getting a new machine anyway, but if you are, then why not just consider the option.
That's all I'm saying.
If you walk into a travel agency to book a flight to a certain country, and the guy that works there makes a suggestion to visit another country that might be something you like, why not listen to the suggestion ?
Or are you just gonna get mad and say "hey you, that's not what I asked for !"

just my 2cts.
take it with a Dead Sea of salt, as always.

[jackbrazzo]

again thanks for all the tips guys. I've got lucky a mate of mine is giving me a Dell Tower desktop and its preloaded with Reason and has a soundcard!

Just gotta get dual monitors now and I am away.

One other thing I've got a Korg synth, 707 and 727 - what mixer will I require to link my hardware into the desktop? I guess I will also have to get a ton of leads!

Sorry for all the newbie questions - appreciate all the comments so far.

[Hades]

again thanks for all the tips guys. I've got lucky a mate of mine is giving me a Dell Tower desktop and its preloaded with Reason and has a soundcard!

Just gotta get dual monitors now and I am away.

One other thing I've got a Korg synth, 707 and 727 - what mixer will I require to link my hardware into the desktop? I guess I will also have to get a ton of leads!

Sorry for all the newbie questions - appreciate all the comments so far.

what mixer ?
one with enough channels for you.
if you have enough inputs and outputs on your soundcard, you might not even need a mixer.
or you can use a patchbay if you're only gonna record 1 instrument at the same time.

if you give us the type of soundcard we can see how many ins and outs it has and be more specific.

there's this advice about mixers that says "take the maximum amount of channels that you'll need, and double them" and that's the amount of channels you should get when you buy a mixer.
it's a golden piece of advice for anyone that stays in this long enough and builds up with some hardware.
but I don't think it's valid for a lot of pure hobbyists that work software mostly.

you might want to look at this site :

http://tweakheadz.com/

it has a lot of info on how to build up a home studio, and explains all the basics.
it might look like crap, but it's rather useful when you're starting out.
it has a practical beginner's guide on there as well.