Getting to Know the Mac Pro

Now that I have had some time to configure and customize the Mac Pro 8-core at home as well as buy some software for it, I can start to make observations about how it compares to my Linux boxes and my Vista Ultimate Shuttle mini PC (Q6600 Quad-Core).  My Linux box is a dual AMD Opteron server that is starting to look old.  By the way, I hooked my Sony HDR-SR12 to the Mac Pro and iMovie instantly loaded the videos.  It was that easy.  Although I don't have a cheap way to write a Blu-ray disc for it like I can in my little Shuttle SX38P2, I am putting an LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray writer into the 2nd optical drive slot of the Mac Pro in a matter of days as soon as the SATA/PATA adapter arrives (the Mac Pro still has a PATA optical drive connector, but the adapter is cheap).  Currently I do not think I can watch a Blu-ray disc on the Mac like I can on the Shuttle, which is kind of a pity.  Adobe Encore CS4 apparently is able to write a Blu-ray video disk, though at a much higher price point than Pinnacle Studio 12 (which is consumer oriented, however).

Now back to music creation, which I just dabble in.

I used to use the Commodore Amiga 1000 (then upgraded to the 2000) back in around 1987-92 for MIDI sequencing (I bought my first issue of Electronic Musician in 1985), using a program called Dr.T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer and a bunch of outboard gear, including Roland and Yamaha synths, and even a drum synth.  Tying all these together back than I had a StudioMaster 6-channel input mixer that had two FX sends which I could hook up to my reverb general purpose FX box.   I actually created a home album from this setup which I still have (it was on high-quality metal audio tapes, I digitized it in the late 90s with my Turtle Beach MultiSound card which is the same card I wrote a Linux driver for), though I got rid of most of the equipment.  A bit later I also picked up a Korg Wavestation EX that I could use with it as well.  Of course, sequencing with all of this stuff with Dr.T's KCS was fun but very limiting compared to what can be done now.  Of all that equipment I only have the Korg Wavestation EX left from around 1991.  My current controllers are an M-Audio Axiom 61 and a novation remote 61 SL, which is my current favorite.  The Axiom 61 is currently out getting serviced.

Before using the Mac and after using the Amiga, I tried using Cakewalk 2.0 (early version), but didn't do too much on that.  Much later, about 8-9 years so, I picked up SONAR 5 and worked my way up to SONAR 7 running on a dual dual-core Opteron workstation, which was pretty good.  SONAR is a decent Windows sequencer,  with a bunch of software synths.  You have to tweak a lot of stuff I have to admit.  But there was something missing in my workflow that I had with Dr.T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer on the Amiga.  That something I recently rediscovered after picking up Logic Studio for the Mac to install in my Mac Pro.  After doing that and reading the manual for it I concluded I could use a similar workflow I used to use on the old Keyboard Controlled Sequencer that I had on the Amiga.  If you want to know what I mean by regaining workflow ability -- it refers to being able to nest tracks and turn a set of tracks in to a composite track.   SONAR does not have this ability at the moment.  A lot of my software synthesizers I had amassed for Windows it turns out have Mac OS X counterparts, and I got them up and running on the Mac without too much trouble, so I feel I haven't lost much investment.  So now I'm at the point where every time I get some time free I will sit and delve into this setup.  I use an RME Fireface 800 as the sound card, and am primarily using the novation remote 61 SL.  You can have it map to Logic Pro 8 and do mix automation so easily, and combine it with the nested track concepts i.e. Folders in Logic Pro I find I have the power of a linear-based sequencer as well as a pattern based sequencer when I need it as well.  I could not duplicate that workflow in SONAR, though it is still a good product and if it gains a similar ability in the future I may upgrade it and try it out again.  Logic Studio is a bargain at the moment, it's almost a no brainer if you want to do this stuff.  Also the Mac Pro shines in one area my other homebuilt systems do not -- in noise level.  The Mac Pro 8-core is nearly silent when operating.  Very important if you are working on audio applications.  The Shuttle SX38P2 Pro is very loud in comparison, though it is meant to be a small form factor machine that is powerful.

Also Mac OS X is going in the direction of the most advanced integration of 32-bit and 64-bit code mixed.  You can even run 64-bit programs on Leopard even though the kernel is 32-bit.  I think that is cool.  As a stopgap measure, it uses the Intel chip's Physical Address Extension (PAE) mode to access another 4-bits of address, sort of like 36-bit addressing until the kernel goes all out Long Mode (LM) x86_64 kernel next year in Snow Leopard.  So I can still make use of the 10GB of RAM in the machine (just not for a single 32-bit app) but Logic itself is not yet a 64-bit app, which may take a bit longer to do since it looks like Carbon is being deprecated for 64-bit API implementations.  Hopefully Snow Leopard will spawn new Universal binary apps like Logic Pro and Final Cut that are i386 and x86_64.  I am hearing that PowerPC support may not happen for Snow Leopard (10.6.0).  But that's evolution for you, which makes the Mac kernel aptly named Darwin.