Easy DAW for old Mac?

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Bo Deadly

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So I just recorded a bunch of stuff to my Tascam 234 cassette recorder and now I want to transfer it to the computer and make a "song" or two out of it.

What software would you recommend for recording from the Tascam to a MOTU Traveler mk3 connected to a 2009 Mac mini running OSX 10.8.5?

Specifically I want to record 4 channels simultaneously. This should give me 4 tracks each ~15 min (then I need to record same 4 tracks again w/ DBX on giving me total 8 tracks in the same project). Then I will want to do basic navigation and editing to piece together the best clips and make some kind of aac file or so on.

I have zero (0) experience with recording to the computer. Ideas?

Will Pro Tools First run on an old Mac?
 
REAPER runs very well on older hardware and is only 60$, with a 60 day full functional demo. It will require some configging.

Garageband is free, easy, but not the best tool if it's only recording. It's more about creating music from midi and samples.

Audacity is free and suits your needs best, I think.

Protools First is a bit of a lockin. Very limited export functions, although these probably will be enough for your needs.

And how old is "old"? Like a G5 from 2005, or more like an Intel from 2010?
 
cyrano said:
REAPER runs very well on older hardware and is only 60$, with a 60 day full functional demo. It will require some configging.

Garageband is free, easy, but not the best tool if it's only recording. It's more about creating music from midi and samples.

Audacity is free and suits your needs best, I think.

Protools First is a bit of a lockin. Very limited export functions, although these probably will be enough for your needs.

And how old is "old"? Like a G5 from 2005, or more like an Intel from 2010?
Its a 2009 Mac Mini with Intel Core 2 Duo but I recently revitalized it with a solid state drive and OSX 10.8.

Unfortunately Pro Tools First will not run on 10.8 and I'm weary about upgrading the OS further. Maybe an old version of Pro Tools on Ebay for $100 would be a good match? What version?

I tried Audacity and recorded fine. But the UI is not inspiring and it has a tendency to become unresponsive.

I'll check out REAPER.

I think I might need to just break down and get a new Mac. Then I suppose my options probably get better.
 
Is there some reason you DON'T want to use GarageBand or Logic? GB can be a pain if you actually need advanced functions but it's dead simple. Logic is cheaper than PT or Reaper if you already have the Mac. No DAW is going to struggle running on a 2009 minimac. They're really light software these days. Just max out your RAM and be careful about how many processor threads you use for your buffer size
 
squarewave said:
What software would you recommend for recording from the Tascam to a MOTU Traveler mk3 connected to a 2009 Mac mini running OSX 10.8.5?

Hello

Your MOTU hardware should come with free AudioDesk ! it's a DigitalPerformer light (without midi)
Should do the job you need without trouble, with advantage of dedicated motu hardware handling  ;)

Best
Zam
 
I just upgraded the OS to El Capitan 10.11.6 and so far it seems to be working quite well. A solid state drive really extends the life of a machine boy!

Is there a "standard" multi-track audio project format? If I wanted to send a bunch of tracks to someone for importing into whatever DAW, how would you do it? Just a zip of 16bit 48kHz PCM .wav files or what?

What software can work with such projects? I do want to be able to export and import tracks without being locked in. So does that rule out Pro Tools First?
 
Import and export the files as 24bit 48k wav files all starting at time 0:00, then you can trade back and forth with any daws.

I would start with the free download of reaper and see if that works for you. Other common mac programs are pro tools, logic, and digital performer.
 
Audacity  2.1.1 - is a totally free open source software option and I find it works well.  You also need to download and install Soundflower 2(2Channel).

Initial setup is a little bit klutzy at first, but once you are past that it is very straitforward. What ever you decide to use there will be some learning curve.  This was minor for me.

My hardware is a MacBook Pro (mid 2010) 8GB memory with OSX 10.12. With your SSD drive it should run fast. 

Editing is easy with most basic plugins available;  and, you can work with WAV files, then export to ITUNES the converted the final product tracks to ACC format in ITUNES.  I do this all the time. It turns out well.
 
Performance wise, REAPER is the one to beat...

However, if you rely heavily on midi and VSTi's, Logic and Cubase are the ones to look at.

REAPER even does video, these days, which makes Youtube just a bit easier to live with, if you upload music to YT.

You don't really need SoundFlower. I'd avoid it, because it's no longer maintained. It can be handy to record internal audio (from YouTube, fi.). But then, Audio Hijack Pro from Rogue  Amoeba is better, even if it costs a few dollars.

Stay away from Sierra until Apple has ironed out the problems. Too many audio setups seem to bring trouble for some. I was hoping 10.12.5 would do it, but that was mainly a security fix...

Recording doesn't need much. I record 16 channels 48 kHz/24 bit on a G4 from time to time. I record with Boom recorder, which only does recording, not even playback of previously recorded tracks.  It does 128 channels over MADI, if needed. :D
See:
http://www.vosgames.nl/products/BoomRecorder/
The free version does 2 channels.

There's only one uncompressed multi-channel file format in use AFAIK. It's Broadcast Wav, or bwav. Boom recorder supports it, REAPER supports it and that's all I need.

Multi channel support amongst DAW's is not very well standardized. Channel order does differ, fi, which is a bit of a pita when dealing with ambisonic recordings, fi.
 
squarewave said:
I just upgraded the OS to El Capitan 10.11.6 and so far it seems to be working quite well. A solid state drive really extends the life of a machine boy!

Is there a "standard" multi-track audio project format? If I wanted to send a bunch of tracks to someone for importing into whatever DAW, how would you do it? Just a zip of 16bit 48kHz PCM .wav files or what?

What software can work with such projects? I do want to be able to export and import tracks without being locked in. So does that rule out Pro Tools First?

Your problem is not your MAC, the problem is that you are using OS made for newer machines.

So installing  El Capitan was a big mistake and you are actually reducing the performance of your computer.

You should be using Snow Leppard or Lion, and then you could use Protools 9 ou Protools 10.
And I guarantee you that your MAC will have a good performance.

Anyway like everyone said there's a lot of possibilities in terms of DAWs.

If you have a 2009 computer and want to take the best out of it, use OS from 2009 to 2011
use a DAW version for that OS 
 
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