I'm new to computer recording.. is this what I need?

[sears]

I've done a lot of research and I guess I'm looking for any holes in my plan.

I record myself. I've used an Akai DPS16, an all-in-one box, for the last seven years or so. Before that, cassette. I've been doing it since 1996 or so.

I've never used a computer based DAW. I'd like to have something that's similarly easy to use as what I have, but with better mixing and editing capabilities. Better sound would be ok. One DAW program seems as good as another to me. I'm down with a learning curve.

This is what's in my rack.

2 x Speck ASC-T
Hamptone JFET dual channel
Overstayer FET
RNC
RNLA
501

I'm currently taking apart an old Sony board and following some directions to mod it for direct outs. If it works, I'll have eight extra preamps/eq to wire into the patchbay. I won't buy an interface until the results are clear.

I'm thinking of getting:

Mac Mini Server
Echo Audiofire 12
Behringer BCF2000
Reaper

If my Sony experiment fails then maybe I'll get the Steinberg 816 with its preamps.

My concerns are:

1. Do people really use Reaper with Macs? It seems to be more of a PC thing. The Reaper OSX forum isn't too busy.. but maybe it works so smoothly nobody has any issues?
2. The Mac Mini Server comes with two 5400 RPM hard drives. Should I be able to devote one of those to audio with Reaper? Is it too slow? If I go to 16GB RAM would it be less of a problem?
3. My home computer is a PC. Would I need to hook this Mac up to the internet to get Reaper into it?

Does this sound like a decent plan? What can I share that would help you help me?

[kslight]

A 5400 rpm drive would work, but not ideal, 7200 rpm would be better. I don't know Reaper's full specs but I'm not sure that it would be able to take advantage of 16gb of RAM in a way that would remove the need for a faster drive.

I could be wrong but one theory behind the lack of Reaper users on Macs is that people that have the money to spend on Macs probably are going to spend the money on a bigger name DAW.

Any reason to choose Reaper over others?

[dfuruta]

I use Reaper on a Mac (hackintosh, actually, but close enough). It works great. I've only had one major problem with it (a new version broke the support for aggregate audio devices in os x), I submitted a bug report, and the problem was fixed in a release the next day.

Don't worry too much about hard disk speed unless you're using huge numbers of tracks.

Reaper is a small enough file that you can just put it on a flash drive or whatever and transfer it over. It's only a few MB.

[ott0bot]

Regarding the Mac. if you spring for a newer iMac, you'll have more RAM capability and an internal 7200 rpm drive....for not much more than the mini server.

if you don't end up using the board, but you have a good patchbay for mults/sends/inserts you'll be good. Seems like you'd have everything else you need.

just a thought about control surfaces. I have no experience with the unit you are looking at...but chrap,poorly built, plastic, automated faders will wear out fast and are really no fun to work with. I'd personally hold off on that purchase until you can test out a few other surfaces or determine if you need one at all.

[sears]

Thanks for all the help.

It seems weird that I'd choose a Mac and then Reaper but since I've never used a DAW I'd like to economize somewhere.

I'm in a single room and I thought with a Mac Mini, if the fan noise is too loud, I could put a hole in the drywall and move it into the next room. But maybe the iMac is dependably quiet enough.

I will get hands on with control surfaces first. Maybe with DAWs too but that's harder since they're so customizable and they all kind of look the same at first.

[ott0bot]

Thanks for all the help.

I'm in a single room and I thought with a Mac Mini, if the fan noise is too loud, I could put a hole in the drywall and move it into the next room. But maybe

I will get hands on with control surfaces first. Maybe with DAWs too but that's harder since they're so customizable and they all kind of look the same at first.

the iMac is super quiet. no fan, so just the back it the unit away from any walls. the loudest part if my set up is the external drive. so I usually write to the internal drive that I have partitioned and transfer after the project is over. i rarely hear the internal disc spinning, except on start up. I'm looking to pic up a new, fan-less external with a heavier case so I stop having to transfer stuff all the time. it works fine with protools even at track counts of 30 or more.

and definitely try out control surfaces. the euphonic ones are nice, but spendy, the Presonus fader port is a single one, but feels solid.

[dfuruta]

Reaper is great. I used to use Logic and Cubase before that, but I much prefer Reaper. ProTools is the standard because it got the market first, not because it's the best.

[sears]

How about, instead of the Mac Mini Server, one of the better Mac Minis, single 1TB 5400rpm drive, and then an external 256gb Firewire SSD for tracking which I could back up to HD when I need to? That would be pretty quiet and fast enough, eh?

The iMac is probably above my budget. If I can get the computer plus interface to two grand I wouldn't feel so extravagant. I know, "build a PC," but my PC refuses to print because of the "print spooler" and I don't feel like going through two days of driver hell every year.

[dfuruta]

If you go with the Echo interface, make sure you have enough firewire ports for everything

[sears]

but you can daisychain a Firewire interface and a drive, right? Or I could use a USB 3.0 drive.

The more I look, the more it seems ill advised to use SSD for tracking audio to.. yet.

[dfuruta]

Why not just give it a go with the internal drive, first? If you run into problems (and there's no reason to expect you will), then you can add an external one later.

[tjcasey1]

but you can daisychain a Firewire interface and a drive, right? Or I could use a USB 3.0 drive.

If the daisychain doesn't work (that happens with some equipment), you can get a firewire hub for about $20.

[The Scum]

I'm not sure what the legend about SSD performance is based on. In my experience, they're faster than regular drives.

They're fast enough that digital cinema cameras are using them, and storing in formats that use very little data compression. The Blackmagic claims 5MB per frame, and stores 30 frames a second.

Still, it's kinda an expensive experiment if there's a risk it won't work out.

[getreel]

After having Logic on my Macbook Pro and Sonar on PCs, I switched to Reaper that runs on both. Reaper is fantastic in my opinion and less expensive than Logic. Reaper will get you going great and there are tons of tutorials online and a very complete manual. Hint: Use the quick start guide to get going quickly and then you can get into more advanced stuff later. Reaper kind of grows with you because it has tons of features and options but you don't have to go too deep for basic usage starting out. Reaper runs smoothly for me on both systems, but the Mac OS is generally a little less flaky feeling though Windows 7 and Reaper don't give me many problems.

I also have Audiofire 12s. It's a good sounding interface and relatively few problems. I've more trouble with it on the PC than the Mac, but it was nothing major. For the money, that's a great unit if you have preamps and other analog gear to use. It doesn't have pres or any dedicated Monitor output(although you can assign a couple of outputs to monitor with from your DAW. If you get your console going, it will be perfect and I personally recommend that setup. I like the way the inputs and outputs act like a tape machine in input mode when tracking. No latency when using this way. The Audiofire console software makes using all the inputs and outputs more visual and there are tons of ways to set it up. It takes a little getting used to, but it is also a unit that can grow with you and you're never tied to the same analog front end, you just get 12 balanced inputs and outputs to interface with your analog gear(in my case case, consoles and preamps that I like and can upgrade). I've used 3 different consoles with mine since I got them(I have 2 synced for 24 I/O). No problems there but use a BNC cable and word clock between them if you ever get more than 1 going.

[sears]

I'm really glad I posted this thread. Thanks for confirming and dispelling certain beliefs I had.

Someone local's selling a practically new 2012 i5 4gb mini for $415.. I want it but don't have the monitor or interface yet! It's all happening so fast..