What is the best Apple Mac setup for music? - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glen G 

EBay can definitely be a wonderful thing.
I got my Decco2 for $450. delivered! This is a spectacular piece of equipment. Never knew hpw much sound I was missing.

I should just troll around for a used IPod touch. Then I can control the Mini/Decco from the same room without connecting a monitor.
I don't use cans/buds much. I just prefer speakers. I don't use them at work because I am around a lot of metal dust. Which can spell death for ear buds,phones and pods. Generally I just prefer to be un-tethered.

At work a couple of my friends use the Goal Zero Rock Out portable speaker that charges/runs off a usb.  It has a zippered pouch that will hold an iPod Classic.  The way they use it is they plug the usb cable into the usb slot on the computer on the forklifts at work and place the Goal Zero speaker on top of the forklift cage so the speakers are pointing down towards them while operating the forklift.  This is the best cheap small portable speaker I have personally heard anyone use on the forklifts at my job.  It can get very loud also and we work in a noisy environment.  I have used another brand of portable speaker the same way which was not nearly as nice.  I am going to buy one of the Goal Zero's.  They are around $30.00 at Best Buy or Amazon.   

Kramer5150

Cool setup you have.  I also own one of the old original Kramer guitars with a Floyd.  You probably like allot of the same music as I do.   

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiruDub 

I don't want to come across as a smart ass, but I'm not sure what you mean by newer external drives not working with OSX.

 

A blank hard drive doesn't care what the OS is. (For example, I have HDs from 2004 in a eSATA RAID array as one of my non-mission critical backup drives for my 2008 MacPro running Snow Leopard).

 

Once you connect a blank external HD it to your mini, it'll simply initialize it for your current OS.

 

What year is the mini? Even the first gens (PowerMac1.42ghz) have FireWire ports, etc., so there are many external drive options available, like a quad interface (FW400, FW800, USB, eSATA)' that'll future proof you.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/

 

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MSQ7S10TB32/

 

I get all of my externals from the above shop, as well as RAM and SSDs. Great company (I'm not affiliated, just a fan).

I will not take anything you say as being a smart ass.  I can tell you know far more about this than I do and I am willing to learn.  I wanted to use a new Seagate external hard drive and the Seagate website states the new one's are compatible with OS X 10.6 and newer.  I am using an old non Intel chipped Mac Mini running OS X 10.5.8.  This old Mac Mini can not run on OS X 10.6 and newer from what I have been told and read.  I might buy a newer Intel chipped Mac Mini that operates on OS X 10.6 or newer because it would be a better computer for me overall.  

My Mac Mini is the 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 with 1 GB DDR SDRAM Running Mac OS X 10.5.8.  Probably around a 2005 or 2006 model.  I bought it used for $100.00.  Works great, but some programs I use will not run on it.     

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 

... and as for external drives, I salvage 160-200G SATA HDs from work.  These are engineering samples that are subject to drop impact and can't be sold.  But otherwise are perfectly good HDs.   So I pull them from the e-recycle bins.  I have 3-4 by now.  I case them in sabrent USB 2.0 enclosures.  The only problems I have encountered (and its a minor one at that) is when I forget which drive is setup for windows and which 3 are running mac OS.  But thats not really a problem because I don't use the PC as my music data source, and macs are read-only compatible with PC drives.

 

http://sabrent.com/category/hard-drive-enclosures/

 

I don't store any media on the mac HD.  Its all on externals.

 

Curious, does anyone run a drive through the firewire port?  Are there any advantages over USB 2.0 / 3.0 ?

Anyone using static drives?... is it worth the extra $$$ over traditional disc storage?

Now that is cool.  I do not want to store my music on the Mac hard drive either.  I want to put everything on one 500 GB or larger Seagate external hard drive with room to keep adding music to it.  I am buying new music here and there so I keep adding to the 500 + CD collection.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by pyramid6 

About the best mac you can buy is a Mac Mini.

 

What I have:

Standard Mac Mini

16 gb from other world computing

Solid state drive from other world computing

HD add on kit from ifixit

 

Cost about $850 I think.

 

You can use just about any DAC.  It has USB, Firewire, and digital out.

If you put your OS on the solid state HD you can use the whole spinning HD for media (you can have two drives with the ifixit kit).  I have 120GB solid state and 512GB spinning disk.

 

I've owned the iMac, Mac Pro, Macbook, MacBook Pro, and Macbook Air.  Unless you want something portable, the Mac Mini is the best.  You can even hook two monitors up to it.

I really like the older non Intel chipped Mac Mini I have.  I think I do need to buy the newer Intel chipped version though, just because they are more compatible with everything I do.  

I also have an old eMac which I bought for $150.00 because it had Illustrator/Photoshop/InDesign CS2 programs on it.  I have done mostly design work with Illustrator on it.  This computer works great still and is now getting very old.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 

 

Hey thanks, Yeah I have a small collection of guitars.  Japanese Kramers from the mid-80s are my favs.  The rig overall sounds good but as always there's room for improvement.  Today I added a DPDT switch to the transformer box so now I can coil tap between different impedance loads.  The Earmax sounds best with really high-Z loads in the ~2500 ohm range and the darkvoice seems to work best with lower loads in the 1000 ohm range.

 

Yeah the external drives are a NECESSITY with the macbook Pro as a music listening source and open cans.  It runs hot and its fan is NOISY... like a hair dryer.  OK thats a bit of an exaggeration in the literal sense, but its a very real problem for me because I am a quiet music listener.   Reading from the external drives, keeps the macbook very cool, fans stationary and quiet.

I have a mint condition Kramer Focus 3000D.  Supposedly the D stands for DiMarzio pickups on this model. I am a huge fan of the Japanese Kramers.  I modded a Epiphone Valve Jr tube amp to the Marshall mod and I recently bought a Blackstar HT-5 tube head used for $150.00 which actually impresses me tonally for high gain stuff (I like vintage Marshall and modded Marshall tones).  Many of the new tube amps sound just ok to me, but the Blackstar HT-5 sounds really good (sounds better than the more expensive Blackstar amps to me).  I sold all of my high wattage guitar tube amps.

The iPod Classic is going to be the reason why I am upgrading the car stereo system and home computer system to fully enjoy my music collection. I want to enjoy my music collection more due to I have a long commute and I do listen to music for eight hours a day at my job.   At home my wife is not as enthusiastic about listening to the bands I prefer to listen to.  Metallica, AC/DC, Accept, Judas Priest, Ratt, Motorhead, Great White, Jimi Hendrix, the Stones and my recent addition of several Jack White CD's.

Thanks for all of your guy's help in listing what you are using and how you are setting up your system.