• Micha
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  • Registered: 2008-03-07
  • Posts: 3

Topic: best mac for RME interfaces (eg FF800 or others)? & hardware recomm.

Dear RME's,

I'm using FF800 with Win7 and Cubase - now I got Garageband on my iPhone and it's so handy that I want to switch to Logic X (supposed to be release in Jan on NAMM) - and of course: I need a mac for this.

Which mac can you recommend me for recording? I though of the stationary large ones (iMac 27") or the mac mini (to have it in a different room). Do you have experiences with these? Are they handy / noisy / latency issues / working well along with RME?

I think in general Apple always had more focus on music than Win - but shurely there's no SSD harddisk in it (or maybe that does not affect to much - I'm maximum working on 16 channels)?

These new macs also have Thunderbolt (OK, this is not the question here, since I guess in some years time we'll also see TB interfaces - also of RME).

Last remark on FF800: I had the following hardware issue: after leaving the FW cable in the plug for 2 month, the jack inside (innenbuchse) broke and the soldering lifted of (now the jack is inside & i didn't have a connection - a friend with special soldering equipment fixed it). As an old radio technician i'd recommend to solve this mechanical issue not only by the solderings but rather keep the mechanical stress of the wiring.

Thank you for your recommendations for the mac issue!

Kind regards, Michael (Kassel, GER wink

  • Registered: 2012-10-21
  • Posts: 3

Re: best mac for RME interfaces (eg FF800 or others)? & hardware recomm.

What I did in the past year being in a similar situation as you, was to purchase an older Mac Pro system. Used in conjunction with my RME FF800 my Mac Pro 3.0 Ghz 8 core gives stunning results compared to what I was getting using a much newer iMac. I have yet to raise my buffer sizes over 256 and my projects are generally track and plug in intensive. What used to drive the 2.66 duoCore processor of the iMac into a frenzy at 1056 buffer size doesn't even phase the Mac Pro at 256. These machines can be picked up for relatively cheap as many video houses and larger studios are now of course selling their machines to purchase the new onslaught of Mac Pro machines. I couldn't be happier with mine. Although, I sacrificed iSight and retina display and future system upgrades past ML, what I gained in the audio department was more than substantial. My suggestion is to shop around for a similar machine as this and you should be well satisfied with your investment.:cool:

Happy New Year!