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Old 12-11-2017, 09:50 AM   #10
serr
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by needtopractice View Post
It is the home laptop. Maybe I'll try it out with a Scarlett 2 be channel interface. See how she goes.
Out of curiosity, what are the modern specs for a home recording computer?
What kind of recording?

Just a few tracks at a time for overdub style recording?
Recording a band with 18 or so tracks?

- You're fine so far.

Performing live through MIDI plugins?
Or even using some of the modern big MIDI synth plugins for pre-recorded MIDI?

- You'll be limited depending on the plugin.

Running live sound for a live stage?
Running 200 - 300 track studio mixes?
Running full MIDI constructed mixes with multiple synth/sampler plugins?

- Probably not.

A 2GHz Macbook from 2007 with a SSD installed would run circles around that new lighter weight Macbook. (Under $200 used.) Late 2008 and 2009 machines are a lot of bang for the buck. ($300 - $400 range.) The mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro is still their flagship 'pro' model. (Goes for around $1000 used.) These are also all easy to mod or repair. I recommend avoiding the early and late 2011 15" machines. (The extended warranty Apple offered after they sued the GPU maker is now over. And now we have bootleg chips from suspect repairs and everything on the used market. Stick a fork in this one unfortunately.)


If you already have the small Macbook, try it! If it does everything you want, just ignore my ramblings. It's still nice hardware. It just seems like a kind of weird in-between generation that awkwardly combines disposable with too expensive and ends up with a pretty low bang for the buck.

Last edited by serr; 12-11-2017 at 09:55 AM.
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