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  3. Seeking advice on purchace and setup

  • Seeking advice on purchace and setup

    M
    M
    Please forgive my relative ignorance on these matters, but I guess you have to start somewhere... I am thinking of purchasing Opus 1 to use in composing (hopefully for media). My musical knowledge isn't exactly complimented by a wealth of computer savvy so bear with me.
    I am running Logic 7.1 on a single 1.8 Ghz G5 with 512 MB ram using OSX 10.3.8 My questions are A) Is it realistic to use and store Opus in this system (or will I have to increase memory and/or purchase another HD external or internal)?
    I realize as my projects, libraries grow, such things will be inevitable but I am on a really tight budget and am anxious to get going.
    B) Opus seems attractive for its comprehensive content and value, but i am still seeking assurance on its usability for mere mortals like me who are not likely to be mistaken for a computer genius. Also any comments on the versatility or application of the instrument groups by themselves (or out of the full orchestral setting would be helpful.

    Thanks in advance
  • P
    P
    last edited
    last edited

    @meangreen said:

    I am running Logic 7.1 on a single 1.8 Ghz G5 with 512 MB ram using OSX 10.3.8 My questions are A) Is it realistic to use and store Opus in this system (or will I have to increase memory and/or purchase another HD external or internal)?
    I realize as my projects, libraries grow, such things will be inevitable but I am on a really tight budget and am anxious to get going.
    B) Opus seems attractive for its comprehensive content and value, but i am still seeking assurance on its usability for mere mortals like me who are not likely to be mistaken for a computer genius.
    Thanks in advance



    I'm not too sure about the merits of Logic 7 at this stage. How many hard drives is there in your G5 - two 250 gigs would be a good start.

    What you will definitely want to do is, upgrade your ram - 512 megs of ram is a waste of time to be honest. Get it up to 4 gigs if you can. Try www.crucial.com

    Opus 1 will be a very good starting point and you will have great fun.
  • P
    P
    I don't know much about Macs, but I could imagine you'd need more RAM earlier than a new HD if you got a 7200rpm internal drive. Perhaps the more computer savvy can help you there. As far as your concerns about Opus 1 - it's a great tool, for me an many others. Do a search in the composition area of the forum, especially what Jay Bacal did with it. There are quite a few examples, and I guess you heard the official demo by Maarten Sprujit already.

    PolarBear
  • M
    M
    My wife has the same system as you and I imagine a 1.8 will be fine for your purposes. Ram is key as has been noted already. When I first started with VSL, I was using a dual 1 gig G4 which is roughly equivalent and the only place I really hit the wall was in using cpu intensive plugins like altiverb or reaktor. I'd say go for it and have a ball. The samples will more than get it done for you.
  • M
    M
    Thanks for the advice. I think the plan is to double my ram (at least for now) and possibly add another internal HD, 250 GB (the one I have now is 160 GB) where I can store the Opus samples and others as I get them.
    Any suggestions about brands/models of hard drives would be much appreciated.
    Unfortunately upgrading my comp will postpone me buying Opus1 but I am impressed by the demos and am excited to ditch my exs24 strings and horns sometime in the not too distant future.
    Once again, thanks for your replies.
  • P
    P
    So far I had no problems with my Seagates ATAs and SATAs and they're fairly quiet. I had problems with IBM/Hitachi. I think the all other brands also provide valueable hardware. If you got a 160GB drive and can free the 35GB on it for Opus 1 you might consider purchasing the harddrive later, because that way you will loose less money (the harddrive prices going down constantly before you even bought Opus 1) - and you can start very soon! However a second harddrive has to be planned if you want to use more sample libraries on your computer.

    Hope this helps,
    PolarBear