I'm hopeful that someone can help. I just obtained a G4 Power Mac tower and want to dedicate it as my audio recording/production computer as well as for web developing.

Can I upgrade/soup-up the processor?
Or will it work as is with the following configuration?

4 yrs. Old?

Power Mac G4
Mac OS X version 10.2.8
Processor: 933 MHz PowerPC G4

Machine speed 933 MHz
Bus speed 133 MHz
Number of processors 1
L2 cache size 256K
L3 cache size 2 MB
Machine Model Power Mac G4 Version 2.1

Memory Overview
DIMM0/J21 SDRAM 512 MB
DIMM1/J22 SDRAM 512 MB
DIMM2/J23 Empty

It has a CD-RW/DVD-R Drive and 2 USB (i would assume 1.0?) and 2 Firewire Ports

I have my USB Keyboard with extended mouse plugged to 1 usb and my Korg MicroKONTROL midi keyboard/controller plugged to the 2nd usb.
An M-Audio Firewire 18in 14out Audio/Midi Interface is Plugged in leaving the other FW port for my Ext. Hard Drive.

I don't know much about this g4 or Jaguar. Should I upgrade the OS to Panther or Tiger?

ANY information would be appreciated.

I also own a G5 w/10.3.9 that's dedicated to Hi-end video & photo that is located elsewhere.

Thanks,

Greg

Here are the CPU upgrades available for your system:

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=155&...upgrds=Show+Upgrades


For $330, you can about double the processor speed (1.8 Ghz). I believe it's a pretty simple operation, because the CPU is just in a socket, but I haven't upgraded a tower, so I can't say for sure.

Still, 933 Mhz will be plenty for web development, and probably OK for audio. You can add up to one more 512 MB memory stick to get to a total of 1.5 GB, and you might consider it if you deal with large audio files.

You should also move up to at least Panther if not Tiger, for the stability if nothing else.

The USB ports are 1.0, so don't plan on using them for anything other than keyboard/mouse and other low speed devices.

Tiger works great on my Dual 533/G4 and my wife's 733/G4.

The main advantage I could see would be to get a Dual processor upgrade card, if the audio application you are going to use supports Dual processors.

As Jack said get the extra RAM.

You could also consider adding faster internal SATA drives and making a RAID. This would require a PCI SATA controller card.

As with any upgrades, do the math and see if it would not just be cheaper (or close to the same cost) in the end to get a new faster Mac. I've considered upgrading my G4's processor, but I think I'll save up.

Still unsure about Panther vs. Tiger. Anyone with experience on both? This is audio production & web develope only work station. thanks

How long will you keep this machine? Will you be updating any of the apps on it? Nearly every app coming out these days requires 10.3.9 or 10.4 (Tiger). Soon, 10.3.9 will be dropped from that list, I would imagine.

Panther has been relegated to the back burner by Apple. If it will do what you want, that's great, but if you have any ideas about keeping this machine for awhile, and want to update, you'd be better off going with what's current.

Greg,

I have that same G4 tower, max ram 1.5 gig..and 3 internal hard drives.

I do DV editing with mine just fine (Sure we all would love a faster machine ). Upgrading the processor should be easy ( In my opinion). It pops off the logic board. Just be careful and static free.

What audio apps/versions are you going to be using?

I don't know yet. Any suggestions?
I want to do multitrack recording and be able to edit samples.

quote:

Originally posted by arrakian:
What audio apps/versions are you going to be using?

quote:

Originally posted by Greg Savage:
I don't know yet. Any suggestions?
I want to do multitrack recording and be able to edit samples.

quote:

Originally posted by arrakian:
What audio apps/versions are you going to be using?

First my disclaimer, I don't make Music but have friends who do.

I would work it from the other angle, research the software you need to do what you want to do and then view the system requirements.

We need more info.

Are you actually "making music" (what type, electronic, acoustic, hip hop, metal, etc) or just editing or retouching stuff for your Video production?

Multitrack as in MIDI and Sequencer based I assumed since you mentioned the Firewire Audio/Midi Interface?

Garageband is pretty full featured for just creating music from scratch and will run fine on that G4 but no MIDI.

If you are talking about Cubase or Logic, the recommendation for an OS (IT SEEMS) is usually one system back from the LATEST and GREATEST for music (in this case Panther). Usually Music software is about 1 year behind the OS upgrade curve in terms of STABLE compatibility and most musicians are from the "Not Broke, Don't Fix" school.

Also Panther is more stable and usable than Jaguar as for as the OS a whole so that would be a better upgrade. You can be the guinea pig and try Tiger, but some things may be incompatible and may not work right/well and down time and troubleshooting is lost creativity time.

Some online retailers offer OEM copies of Panther for less than the boxed $129 version from Apple or local retail. Panther OEM Install on DVD - $39.99

Just my .02$ on the Music thing...

For the web developing, I would start a new thread in Web Publishing and attack that one separately.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Art P.,

My son is a professional musician and his main studio software absolutely will NOT work with Tiger and probably won't for at least a year or two. As a matter of fact he does not even want to upgrade to Tiger because his system is stable right now and he cannot afford (its his production machine) for anything to go wrong. His motto is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Expecially realative to mission critical software.

What software does he use, Donna?

Pro Tools. But he tells me he thinks that will now run in Tiger. Tomorrow is the acid test.

I should have mentioned that he just got a new machine,so he is going to see if Protools is OK in Tiger, BUT he is leaving it alone on the previous machine where he knows it works until he is sure everything is OK. A few days ago when I spoke to him he didn't think ProTools worked under 10.4. We'll see. He's in Austin, TX.

As far as I know, ProTools works in Tiger.

A big Thank You to everyone that helped out. It's running very well!

If you want more information about Pro Tools, I'd recommend contacting Sweetwater down in Ft. Wayne, IN. There are other stores that sell it locally, but Sweetwater knows the most about the product.

Also, if you know any studios using Pro Tools, contact them. I might suggest Middle Earth Studio in Farmington. Attend one of Sweetwater's Pro Tools demo nights in Detroit when you get ready to buy it. There's always a lot of experienced users there, and they'll tell you what to be aware of. Also, Sweetwater offers a lot of practical advice on peripherals, like studio monitors. [ I've doubled Sweetwater's answers, and they were correct - buy Mackie's, unless you want something really special. Some speaker manufacturers now offer software to measure room response and shape speaker response, but Mackie isn't one of them. "Flat" speakers do no good in a "non-flat" room.]

Don't buy Pro Tools from Guitar Center if you want any support. I would NOT buy Pro Tools from the least expensive source, or the closest source to you home. You will experience problems, and you'd better have some kind of support system in place.

For other sound apps, just be careful what you buy. Sound apps seem to segregrate themselves into ONE of a couple categories. Creation tools, editing tools, and analysis tools. And never the twain shall meet. If you have favorite plugins, make sure the plugins are available for your app.

Greg:
Drop me a line sometime (weekends are good for actual talking) about all things G4 and audio recording. My whole studio (www.nightcriermusic.com) is based on two differen G4 towers - one having been upgarded with a dual processor that runs just fine in Panther and another stock dual 1.42 that runs Tiger.
Free downloads of my music (originals, covers & clients) can be found at:

http://homepage.mac.com/nightcrier

Always like talking audio shop & Macs.
Thanks for the bandwidth.
Q
nightcrier@mac.com