Nord User Forum

Hey! I am in the middle of a decision here: I consider to sell my Macbook Pro 15'', and buy an Alesis iO iPad dock and an iPad (2nd iPad).

Should I do this, or should i keep my Mac? If i should keep my Mac, do you have any programs to recommend to me? I don't think I really need it, but it might get handy

Difficult question, as there's not nearly enough information to base a decent suggestion on.

Anyway, how old is that Macbook? Would it be able to run OSX Lion (10.7) or newer (means 64-bit Intel processor)? If you want to use it for making music (not necessarily recording), Apple Mainstage might be interesting. It gets you all of the instruments included with Logic Pro (some pretty good synths, though the organs and pianos in the NS2 are likely better) and Mainstage itself, which is a program meant for setting up (fairly) flexible setups for musicians. I think it only costs about 40 euro via the Apple App Store (which is why you need 10.7 or better).

You could repurpose your Macbook solely for making music - reinstall it and keep it lean-and-clean, it should then be very stable.

Thanks for quick reply, and sorry for late answer to the reply..

The Macbook (Pro) is a late 2008 model, and was bought in the start of 2009. The RAM is upgraded to 8GB, and the HD is upgraded to a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB hybrid drive (it's a hybrid between SSD and HDD, faster than HDD, but slower than SSD).

The computer runs okay, but it gets slow sometimes. It runs OSX Mountain Lion. I intended to use it with music, but I'm a very curious person, so I started downloading many interesting programs... I have deleted the ones I don't need, but the Mac is still slow. I don't have the formatting disc, so I can't reinstall it either.

By the way - What kind of equipment would i need to use my mac with mainstage? I guess i would need some kind of sound card, but I am not experienced within this topic. (Would love to get it fairly detailed!)

Thanks!

Thomzi wrote:The Macbook (Pro) is a late 2008 model, and was bought in the start of 2009. The RAM is upgraded to 8GB, and the HD is upgraded to a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB hybrid drive (it's a hybrid between SSD and HDD, faster than HDD, but slower than SSD).

I have a 2011 model MacBook Air with 4 GB RAM, SSD and a dual-core Intel i5 (1.7 GHz I think) - it runs Ableton Live and Mainstage just fine. I wouldn't be surprised if the specs on that MacBook of yours are pretty similar or even better.

Thomzi wrote:I don't have the formatting disc, so I can't reinstall it either.

If you own Mountain Lion (same goes for Lion), you can download the installer and either burn it to a DVD or put it on an USB stick (needs about 4.5 GB of free space).

Here's a site with a description: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/ho ... tall-disk/

If you google, you'll find plenty more.

Edit: this should also work: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11273

Thomzi wrote:By the way - What kind of equipment would i need to use my mac with mainstage? I guess i would need some kind of sound card, but I am not experienced within this topic. (Would love to get it fairly detailed!)

To start, the audio output on your MacBook should work just fine. You'll also need a MIDI interface or some kind of MIDI keyboard with a USB interface (such as the Stage 2 or Electro 4, for example). A cheapy MIDI-to-USB cable (would probably cost around 10-30 euro, depending on brand and quality) should work fine; try to get one that is 'class compliant' (= doesn't need drivers), but most are these days.

Thank you very, very much!! I can't believe I got the answer i've been searching for, on this forum about keyboards! I will definitely format my mac. On most forums i've been searching on, they have just said that I cannot format without the disc, and that i would have to ask Apple for a new disc. I haven't done this because of my laziness.

One more question - My audio output is not working properly: The "hooks" that keep the mini jack inside the hole, are broken. When i plug in a headset, the sound often disappears because of bad connection. I bought a cheap USB to Minijack+mic sound card for some dollars, but due to the poor sound quality, I just threw it in the trash right away. So my question is: Do you have any suggestions in some "replacing-equipment" for audio output?

The MIDI-to-USB cable you were talking about - what is the difference between the USB cable that came with the Stage 2, and a regular MIDI-to-USB cable?

Your help is much appreciated! Thank you so much!

And one more question - what program can i use to record? I don't need an advanced program, but i'd prefer a program with lots of sounds and many tweaks!

Thanks!

I haven't used it, but I suppose Apple's Garageband would work fine. Don't know if it is free for the iPad though.

Btw. doesn't the Alesis dock come with something? You'd expect to be able to get creative with it without having to buy additional software right after unboxing it.

Okay! I got Garageband on my Mac, so I could start with that, and eventually get used to an advanced program for midi!

I'm not sure about that, but I expect it to come with something!

Thanks for all your help!

Do you recommend getting an external sound card (was thinking Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, or 2i2 http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-inter ... arlett-2i4), or just using an audio cable right to the mac, for recording? Would like to have some quality on the recording. What would you prefer? Thanks

The line-in on your Mac would work fine with equipment that's at the right level (such as a CD player), but if you send it a signal that is too loud or too soft it won't sound very good. Generally you'll get better results with an external soundcard.

I have the Focusrite 2i2 myself and back when I got it the 2i4 didn't exist yet; if it did, I might have gotten that instead. I like the 2i2; it is well-built (metal housing and the knobs feel solid) and has been working fine for me so far. There's plenty of other good interfaces out there though; for example, the Mackie Blackjack is a very similar interface, but in a different housing and with a different mic pre (microphone amplifier).

I like the fact the 2i4 adds MIDI ports, but the additional two stereo line-outs wouldn't be that useful to me. I currently run balanced cables from the output of the 2i2 to the (balanced) inputs on my KRK monitors. Before I switches to balanced connections, the cables would pick up high-frequency noise from (I think) the DVI cable of my big Dell monitor, which resulted in annoying sounds on my KRK monitors even when not playing music.