Live Recording Computer

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Evan F. Hunter

Junior
Jan 11, 2011
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Houston, Texas
Looking for a bit of advice, please feel free to move this if it is the wrong section.

I would like to start recording at my shows again and I am looking at an older Mac G5 that is in my area. The specs are: Apple PowerMac A1177, 2.5 GHz X 2, 2GB Ram, 160G 7200rpm HD. It is running 10.6 or so for the OS. I am looking at this because it is cheap honestly, Ram is cheap and so are hard drives. The Processors are my concern. I know I can get at least 8gigs of ram into this computer and a dedicated HD to record to. My question is, with 2x 2.5GHz processors, and 8GB of ram would I be able to record up to 32 tracks via firewire? Typically it would only be 20 channels. The console I have now as well as the one I want in the future and many digital options will all serve as the interface.

Reading on the internet I should be OK, but I wanted to ask you guys first.
 
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Re: Live Recording Computer

Evan F. Hunter said:
Looking for a bit of advice, please feel free to move this if it is the wrong section.

I would like to start recording at my shows again and I am looking at an older Mac G5 that is in my area. The specs are: Apple PowerMac A1177, 2.5 GHz X 2, 2GB Ram, 160G 7200rpm HD. It is running 10.6 or so for the OS. I am looking at this because it is cheap honestly, Ram is cheap and so are hard drives. The Processors are my concern. I know I can get at least 8gigs of ram into this computer and a dedicated HD to record to. My question is, with 2x 2.5GHz processors, and 8GB of ram would I be able to record up to 32 tracks via firewire? Typically it would only be 20 channels. The console I have now as well as the one I want in the future and many digital options will all serve as the interface.

Reading on the internet I should be OK, but I wanted to ask you guys first.
Click to expand...

Short answer, yes. I use a quad core version of the same machine to record 48tracks from 2 x32s every Sunday, routinely recording 90 minutes at a shot. No issues.

Couple of notes. I recommend reaper since it uses very little processor overhead to record and is stable. Also, that machine has reached end of life on OS and the OS cannot be upgraded past 10.5.8. That means that if you need other or more modern software, you might run into a problem. But reaper still supports PowerPc processors, so as long as you stick to just recording you should be fine.

lastly, I don't know how we'll that machine will perform for mixing. I do all my mixing on a modern Intel i7 iMac and only use the PowerMac for recording. Again. Just something to look into.

if it's cheap (and it probably will be) I'd say go for it.

oh, one last thing. These beasts are heavy. Sturdy, but heavy. Just something to know going in....
 
Re: Live Recording Computer

Thanks Brian,I was planning on using reaper. Others have mentioned that it doesn't use as much cpu and since its free ill gladly use it!! I know they are heavier, gonna build a little road case for it or find a used case.
 
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Re: Live Recording Computer

Evan F. Hunter said:
Thanks Brian,I was planning on using reaper. Others have mentioned that it doesn't use as much cpu and since its free ill gladly use it!! I know try Re heavier, gonna build a little road case for it or find a used case. What about if it was a single dual core 2.0?

I should be able to upgrade the OS just like my old MacBook...
Click to expand...

Reaper is not free.
 
Re: Live Recording Computer

brian maddox said:
Short answer, yes. I use a quad core version of the same machine to record 48tracks from 2 x32s every Sunday, routinely recording 90 minutes at a shot. No issues.

Couple of notes. I recommend reaper since it uses very little processor overhead to record and is stable. Also, that machine has reached end of life on OS and the OS cannot be upgraded past 10.5.8. That means that if you need other or more modern software, you might run into a problem. But reaper still supports PowerPc processors, so as long as you stick to just recording you should be fine.

lastly, I don't know how we'll that machine will perform for mixing. I do all my mixing on a modern Intel i7 iMac and only use the PowerMac for recording. Again. Just something to look into.

if it's cheap (and it probably will be) I'd say go for it.

oh, one last thing. These beasts are heavy. Sturdy, but heavy. Just something to know going in....
Click to expand...

I agree with everything Brian says. I also had a G5 Mac Pro that I used for recording.

I would add to the "Sturdy, but heavy" note one more thing. It CAN get loud if things heat up inside and the collective audio output of all the little fans it took to keep that processor chip happy can be a problem if you're recording quiet music in quiet environments.

If you're recording metal bands in a space with a rowdy crowd, no problem ;-)
 
Re: Live Recording Computer

OK, So what I got was extremely cheap but its not what the description was. I have 2x 2.0GHZ Processors and a Maximum of 4GB ram, I will still have a dedicated drive to record to. I managed to pick up one of the 3 G5s models that cannot take 8GB. If its like my mac book, It says it will only take 4, but did take 8 because of the chipset I have. Reading on some other forums it looks like this will still work for tracking up to 32 channels?

If anything its an office computer ($40.00) and it already has word suite on it so I dont consider it a loss. But will this work or should I shoot again for one that I can shove more ram into?
 
Re: Live Recording Computer

I run 18 tracks into a 6 year old Acer Laptop running 64bit Win7 with 4gb RAM and a 5400rpm drive no problem. Reaper doesn't use hardly any CPU while recording and the 4gb of RAM has never been a problem. I think my HDD speed would be the limiting factor in the number of tracks I could record with my rig.
 
Re: Live Recording Computer

Evan F. Hunter said:
OK, So what I got was extremely cheap but its not what the description was. I have 2x 2.0GHZ Processors and a Maximum of 4GB ram, I will still have a dedicated drive to record to. I managed to pick up one of the 3 G5s models that cannot take 8GB. If its like my mac book, It says it will only take 4, but did take 8 because of the chipset I have. Reading on some other forums it looks like this will still work for tracking up to 32 channels?

If anything its an office computer ($40.00) and it already has word suite on it so I dont consider it a loss. But will this work or should I shoot again for one that I can shove more ram into?
Click to expand...

If you already have it, why not just try it? Run whatever resource monitor Apple has and see how much it's using. It will not be much other than disk throughput.

Adding RAM is not going to miraculously help it record more tracks, either.
 
Re: Live Recording Computer

Silas Pradetto said:
If you already have it, why not just try it? Run whatever resource monitor Apple has and see how much it's using. It will not be much other than disk throughput.

Adding RAM is not going to miraculously help it record more tracks, either.
Click to expand...

I am getting it setup as I go. This is a cheap project so as I find something cheap or 20 bucks here or there Im getting it up and running. Adding ram isnt my miracle fix but but it is a good thing to have.
 
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