OT: Audio interface recomendations

[max valentino <ekstasis1@hotmail.com>]

This list is a virtual well of knowledge on all things regarding music 
production.  As so, I was hoping some of you who are a bit more learned 
than I could help me out with some recommendations. And forgive my use of 
the bandwidth for something non-loop-specific.

I recently landed a soundtrack work.  No big Hollywood movies, but a few 
things for CBS and the Discovery Networks.  My home studio has been 
centered around a PC running Nuendo  and a M-Audio Delta 1010 interface.  
I have had no probs with this until recently when something went haywire 
and I have had to do a re-build. A big hassle and a time consuming 
process.  And, one I did not really want to do as I was looking at moving 
to a Mac/ProTools system.  Here’s the thing: for the ST work my tracks 
would often be combined with others (as is a common case with current 
scoring techniques).  There were some “whispers” about not having my stuff 
in Protools (altho Nuendo is a very good program which I have used for 
several years…). PT has become an industry standard, and it is much easier 
for the engineers to work with a common platform.  In this biz, I might 
add, that even a minor consumption of time (converting Nuendo tracks to 
PT) can cost one the gig as certainly there are other composers working 
exclusively in PT.

Anyway, I have been looking at the more affordable PT setups.  I don’t 
need a PT HD system for my personal needs…and since even the PT LE 
versions are compatible with HD systems…well my “issues” with the 
production engineers is simplified.
I have very good outboard analog front end stuff (Manley, Chandler Ltd, 
UA), don’t need too use a bunch of plugins (tho  I admit it is nice to 
have should the need arise…) and don’t need to track multiple inputs.

I was recently given an iMAc  G3 which I hoped I could use for this…since 
it was already wiped, and came with an xtra drive and cd writer.  Problem 
is, it is OS 9.1 and from I can discern the newest M-Box versions, and 
even the M-Box Mini can only run on OS X or Windows Xp (and I have heard 
nightmares about running audio on Xp…frankly I have grown tired of 
Windows….).  

I realize the g3 processor is slower (but then so am I…)but it should be 
sufficient as I plan to only run the PT LE on it.

So, my question is does anyone know of a PT interface (with LE edition) 
which can run on a iMac G3? Or do I need to pull the trigger on another 
computer (I have really spent far too much on studio gear already this 
year, so the budget may be shot there…).

Any suggestions?  Any help is appreciated…..

Max



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