New to imac. Looking for a little advice

[Scott]

Sound Studio looks good, but is there other software someone might recommend that may provide more options?

Or let me rephrase this...If you could buy any software to handle sound editing, etc, what would you buy and why?

[ffooky]

I think you'd need to tell us what sort of options you're after. BIAS Peak would probably cover everything you might need but it's $600. At the other end of the scale ($30), Amadeus II is a nice bit of kit...the repair function is terrific. An all-in-one app might be more convenient but for my purposes so far, an Audacity/Sound Studio/Amadeus combo has been more than sufficient and relatively inexpensive.

[Scott]

I think what I would like, is the abiltiy to input DAT and Audio into my imac, edit the sound files, and output in WAV, or on accasion, MP3 files.

Also, I would like the ability to have a small studio where I could input guitar, vocals, bass, etc. Now with that setup, I have looked into digidesigns/ Mbox and Pro Tools. But will protools cover everything i neeed to do in regards to my first paragraph? I would think so.

I have no problem spending $400-600 for a good software program, but it gets confusing looking all the Audacity, digidesign, Bias, Logic, etc programs available.

[ffooky]

Originally Posted by Scott

Also, I would like the ability to have a small studio where I could input guitar, vocals, bass, etc. Now with that setup, I have looked into digidesigns/ Mbox and Pro Tools. But will protools cover everything i neeed to do in regards to my first paragraph? I would think so.

I agree with you. They used to have a very big, free demo version back in the OS 9 days. Do they no longer offer that ?

[AAR.oner]

software wise, Audacity is great for stereo 2track [which is probably all you'll need for most live show transfering]...for recording your own music, you'll want a multi-track program--ProTools should cover everything you'd be doing, and will have better filters than Audacity [i.e. EQs, compressors, etc]...i began using Ableton Live for making beats, but am constantly going to it for alot of other tasks now

hardware wise, you'll want to run thru something a bit better than the line-in jack, but you really don't need a Digi002 to make a decent recording...thats where the MBox comes in, or you can buy another A/D device [USB or Firewire]...for instance, i've used my Edirol UA-5 to transfer cassettes & vinyl, now i use a PMD671...i've also used the UA-5 in multi-track situations as the A/D converter between my mixer & the computer...you can cover yer bases for a home recording set-up for pretty cheap these days

from what you've said, i'd probly go with the Mbox2 Factory bundle...it'd be hard to find both the hardware & the software you need for anywhere close to the price...plus the bundle includes the mooger delay

[Scott]

I've been wondering about this for awhile, How do you delete a program from the HD on a mac. Do you really just drag it to the trash bin and that's it? Seems to easy.

Remember, I'm a convert, and with a PC, even though you deleted the file, it seemed there was always some left over shit that never really left the HD.

[U2Lynne]

Yes, it really is that easy. However, it will leave the old preferences in your library. If you want to get rid of *everything* associated with it, there is a little application called AppZapper that you can use.

[Scott]

My imac seems to be running very slow these days. With windows, I could check the hard drive and see how full it was. Is there a way to see if I've max'd out the HD on the Mac?

Any other programs/features that would let me know how the performance of the system is working?

[U2Lynne]

Select the drive on your desktop and do an apple+i (or File > Get Info) and it will tell you the Capacity and what is Available.

[Scott]

Capacity: 233GB
Available: 12 GB
Used: 221 GB on disk

Guess I need to make some additional hard drive space.

would the above stats make the system bog down?

[U2Lynne]

I've always gone by the old rule that you should leave at least 10% of your harddrive 'empty'. So, in your case you should always try to leave at leave 23 GB available. What I would do first is repair permissions (Utilities > Disk Utility - select harddrive, then Repair Disk Permissions). Also, you leave your machine on overnight so it does it's daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance? If not, open up your terminal and type "sudo periodic daily weekly monthly" and hit return. It will go though and run all those scripts. Perhaps repair permissions again. Then see how it's running. (Oh, and archive a bunch of your shows so you get more empty space!)

[Scott]

Thanks for the info Lynne. I'll dump some shows, go through your process and see where I end up.