Hello All,
I will be switching from PC to Mac soon, but I have a few questions first.

I see on the apple site (where you customize your iMac) there are no audio options.  I currently have an Audiophile 24/96 in my pc. 

1. Is that compatible in an iMac
2. What options should I look for to upgrade the iMac from a music composition standpoint?  I will obviously be maxing out the RAM.

Thanks!!

Hey Chris,

Congrats on a great WGI season last year - looking forward to see you guys again in Dayton. I can't vouche for the audio side of things, but most people I talk to seem to be happy with what comes with the Mac. As far as the RAM thing goes, if you don't mind doing it yourself, you'd end up saving a  lot of money by getting the lowest amount of RAM you can get and adding the extra yourself by purchasing from a website like [url=http://crucial.com/]Crucial[/url].  I think you'll end up spending like 1/3 as much for essentially the same thing, or something like that.

I'm sure someone will have better information with regards to the audio card/interface stuff.

Good luck with the rest of your season!

Bryan,
Thanks for the kind words!  I wish the best of luck to all groups going to Dayton again this year!

Thanks for the tip about the RAM too!

[quote author=chrisrivera link=topic=3008.msg15869#msg15869 date=1237210705]
Hello All,
I will be switching from PC to Mac soon, but I have a few questions first.

I see on the apple site (where you customize your iMac) there are no audio options.  I currently have an Audiophile 24/96 in my pc. 

1. Is that compatible in an iMac
2. What options should I look for to upgrade the iMac from a music composition standpoint?  I will obviously be maxing out the RAM.

Thanks!!
[/quote]

Chris,

The Audiophile is not compatible with the iMac.  The iMac does not allow for expansion inside the machine (except for RAM).  Your best bet for a high quality audio card is to go with an external audio interface.  M-Audio makes some high quality firewire and USB devices.  Folks have also had success with Edirol, Apogee and MOTU.

If you are interested in high quality live recordings, I recommend also getting a good pair of monitors.  The options for monitors are endless!

Gabe

Yep - an improved audio interface (USB or firewire if you're getting an iMac) and some nicer monitors would be a nice upgrade.

Fortunately though, your reason for purchasing the Audiophile on your current PC won't likely be as much of an issue on the iMac. The built-in audio card and the CoreAudio drivers on Mac typically perform much better out of the box than the typical cheap PC card out of the box.

So my advice would be to focus on just getting the mac. Don't worry about updating the audio card. Your audiophile wouldn't be applicable here since iMac's don't have PCI slots. Just use the built-in sound for now, then if you decide to upgrade to a more slick audio system later, the external solutions Gabe mentioned would be worth looking at. The new iMacs are pretty screaming so you should be pleased.

[quote author=chrisrivera link=topic=3008.msg15869#msg15869 date=1237210705]

If you are interested in high quality live recordings, I recommend also getting a good pair of monitors.  The options for monitors are endless!

Gabe
[/quote]

We just purchased 2 pairs of the M Audio AV-40 Studiophile Monitors. One for our Mac Lab and one for the Percussion rehearsal room. They are fantastic for the price!

Check 'em out here:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AV40/

Thanks everyone, I think I am all set now!

Check out the refurbished deals at the bottom of apple.com/store or ask your local store.  You can often save $200+ on a computer and still have the same warranty.

I fear I may be too late to help, but....

When I bought my refurb 24"; 3.06 gig, the 4 gig RAM upgrade was $300 on Apple's site. For about $50 I got 4 Gigs from crucial.com and installed myself. Silly.

BE AWARE....if you are an audio recording guy, there are issues with compatability between some firewire interfaces and the Luecent/Augere Firewire Chipset that comes in the iMac. (The ";Pro's"; apparently use a Texas Instruments chipset that is rock solid)  This problem is also working its way into PC's as well, so get a TI FW chipset if possible.

Example, I bought a MAudio ProjectMix that didnt do a damn thing. The Tascam FW1884 works great.

That being said, my rig with the iMac is awesome. Definitely a step up from PC world. Enjoy!

Eric