Mac & Presonus Firestudio

[rexde]

Not so much a problem as a question. I'm thinking of getting a Mac, mainly (though not exclusively) for recording. Probably a laptop. I have a Presonus Firestudio Project. I would greatly appreciate any opinions/recommendations from people who have such a setup. In particular, exactly what Mac model/configuration do you have, pros and cons, gotchas etc.
Also, where is the best place to buy?
Thanks.

[String7th]

I don't know if Presonus stuff is compatable witrh Macs. You may want to check it out, but you may be forced into M-audio or Digidesign

[kbenton]

Originally Posted by String7th

I don't know if Presonus stuff is compatable witrh Macs. You may want to check it out, but you may be forced into M-audio or Digidesign

PreSonus is most definitely compatible with Mac. Your setup with the FireStudio Project with a mac should be perfectly fine. If you have any specific questions about the setup you can contact me directly if you'd like.

Best-

Katelyn Benton
PreSonus Audio Electronics
Kbenton@presonus.com

[rexde]

Hmm. So, on June 26, I sent Kate Benton a list of questions. I never got a reply. Not even, "I'll look into it.".

[mutchmandawg]

I have an iMac G5 (new one with the intel chip) a truly amazing computer - but I've been a Mac person for a long time. I'm not sure about the Laptop versions, but I've always had the belief that a laptop is somehow less reliable, less robust, less screen (for all your software windows open at the same time don't forget). More compact and mobile though - and more expensive upgrade parts. Just my laymans opinion is all. I think you can get my 20" iMac G5 for just over $1,200 now! Can't beat that.

Good luck!

[kbenton]

Originally Posted by rexde

Hmm. So, on June 26, I sent Kate Benton a list of questions. I never got a reply. Not even, "I'll look into it.".

Hi Rexde-

I'm sorry that you never heard back from me, I actually never recieved an e-mail...

Please feel free to call me at 225-215-0636. This is my direct line and I am happy to help you out.

[adorian]

I have FP10 and it runs great on Cubase LE, Live, Garageband. It has been very glitchy on Digital Performer, although Presonus swore it'll run great when I asked before purchase. I haven't tried it on other software.
As far as the midi - I recently became aware of a midi trailing issue which was caused by poor midi time clock in the FP, after some balking Presonus agreed that is the case and upgraded me to Cubase LE 4 which has some better sync free of charge.
I run a iBook G4 1.2 processor, 1.25 gig RAM. That is my portal recording app, so I don't do any heavy mixing on it, mainly some small tracking at rehersal.
So far Cubase LE ran fine with about 30-40 tracks and their effects, once you start piling up vst's it chokes but I've done some good mixes with it but usually sparingly on the reverbs, only 2 per session, but I never saw need for more.

[dp373]

I just changed my studio from PC/Windows and a standalone hardware DAW to a Macbook Pro, Presonus Firestudio, Cubase 4, Reason and a Western Digital My Studio terabyte external hardrive. The presonus is plugged into the firewire 400 port and the harddrive is plugged into the firewire 800 port.

The Macbook pro only has 2 usb ports and I use 4 midi instruments so I use a Belkin powered USB splitter and that works fine too.

Finally I plug in an old LCD monitor as well and use both the laptop screen and the monitor which overcomes the small screen issue.

I run Cubase and Reason together via Rewire and everything runs fine, the only issue is to be patient booting programs, if you rush to load the next thing before the previous thing is done loading it can cause problems. But once everything is loaded its ok. Latency is excellent.