Jumping to an Apple setup - advice needed

[sdauditorium]

The older Windows-based PC that we used to run on our sound side finally died lately, and as I was prioritizing needs for the rest of our budget year and checking with those in our business office, I found out we have a decent bit of funding left. Therefore, as we're getting more and more requests for projection/video playback, sound cue things, I'd like to make the jump to an Apple along with QLab and appropriate audio interface.

I'm tech savvy, but Apple-spec'ed systems are a bit out of my element. I emailed QLab for the educational pricing, so I'm good there. But I'd really like to know what folks suggest for both the Mac and audio/video interface going from it into our systems.

For a bit of background: normal community performing-arts facility attached to a public school with mid-sized venue (around 600 seating). Do traditional assortment of concerts, assemblies, musicals, pageants, outside-contracted music groups, etc. Current console is LS9-32.

 

[JohnD]

It might be worth your time to give a call to:
http://www.sweetwater.com/
They are a well respected and knowledgeable company and carry many product lines which fit your criteria.

 

[rsmentele]

http://www.fullcompass.com/

They will ship to you same day and arrive next day.

They are also Apple Dealers. They have a couple guys there specifically for integrating mac into audio systems.

 

[Footer]

The audio side of things is easy... anything current will be able to do what you want unless you want to record 32 or more tracks.

The real question is... what kind of video stuff are you doing? Whats resolution are your projectors?

 

[carproelsofly]

In addition to the great replies, and previous posts here on CB, there is also a Google group and a wiki which can help as you're setting up.

HTH,
Jen

 

[themuzicman]

As far as sfx goes - get the basic Mac mini, it's what every show in NYC uses as a Qlab computer. If you have the budget get any RME interface you can, otherwise look at Focusrite Scarlett stuff.

As far as video goes, how many projector/surfaces do you need? A Mac Mini will give you 2 outputs at most (1 local, 1 actual) but you can start getting various devices to add more (Matrox, Datapath, and Black Magic all make devices for this purpose) otherwise a Mac Pro rig is suitable for many more outputs and has the processing power to render video fast.

 

[sdauditorium]

Thanks for the vendor links; I'm already familiar with both and seeing as I'm in Wisconsin, Full Compass is our primary supplier for most things. We'd probably just be fine with a Mac Mini. At this point, it's only one projector, but it would be nice to have the built-in future capacity if needed (2-3 at the very most). I was looking at some Focusrite stuff as well.

 

[NickVon]

I've been very happy with Focusrite. We have a Saffire Pro40 in our theater space that works great.

Things to remember about macs. Adapters ADAPTERS Adapters!
Seriously adapters. You're going to spend 120$ on them. and you will need them. (more on this in a sec.)

Most audio interfaces will be Firewire 800. New Mac Mini's, Mac Pros, and Macbooks will have "THUNDERBOLT" which requires a Thunderbolt to FW800 adapters. A Few manufactures distribute there hardware with Thunderbolt now, but still very few.

Video adapters, Get Thunderbolt (/Displayport) to everything. (VGA, DVI, HDMI)(USB 3.0), and if you're looking for connectors for mulitiple projectors get two of each, or encase you loose one, or it walks away.

Turning System sounds off isn't obvious (at least it wasn't for me) but i found some Terminal commands that did it for me. Something you defiantly want to do though.

Stay away from the Wireless Mac Mouse(Magic Mouse?), I think most users will prefer a simple 2 button 1 wheel mouse for most usage. The Magic mouse uses batteries and isn't particular frugal with them from what I can tell.

At this point there is no reason not to update to the the Maco OSX Yosemite. Qlab runs fine in it and the multiple desktops I like for being able to prep full screen video or webpages, before hand.

Additional great "apps" or software:
HandBrake = video converter software
MAX - form http://sbooth.org/Max/ (audio converter software, i haven't tried it yet, but it looks good, and have it on my laptop to try out soon.)
Spectacles = Emulates the Windows + Arrow keys function from windows in to the MAC OS, great for quickly moving windows between a primary screen and a "presentation screen"

 

[Footer]

Things to remember about macs. Adapters ADAPTERS Adapters!
Seriously adapters. You're going to spend 120$ on them. and you will need them. (more on this in a sec.)

Most audio interfaces will be Firewire 800. New Mac Mini's, Mac Pros, and Macbooks will have "THUNDERBOLT" which requires a Thunderbolt to FW800 adapters. A Few manufactures distribute there hardware with Thunderbolt now, but still very few.

Video adapters, Get Thunderbolt (/Displayport) to everything. (VGA, DVI, HDMI)(USB 3.0), and if you're looking for connectors for mulitiple projectors get two of each, or encase you loose one, or it walks away.

...and Apple just released another adapter that every client will soon not have when needed! Now we need USB type C adapters to everything... plus we now need USB type C to standard USB. This is wonderful. We'll also need some type of weird port dock if we want to dare to charge the thing and get a video signal.

Edit: Adapter is 80 bucks!
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...48184e75ac26e0de9d5547feb135d348f00e4570434ba

and...
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...48184e75ac26e0de9d5547feb135d348f00e4570434ba

 

[sdauditorium]

Ended up going with a Mac Mini MGEN2LL/A, 2 Asus 21.5" monitors and both the QLab Basic Audio and Video Licenses. Pretty excited to get that setup later this week or next week.

 

[KBToys82]

So does this mean Mac's are getting rid of Thunderbolt if it doesn't have a port on the new MacBook, or is the new MacBook really a MacBook Air without calling it the Air?

 

[chausman]

So does this mean Mac's are getting rid of Thunderbolt if it doesn't have a port on the new MacBook, or is the new MacBook really a MacBook Air without calling it the Air?

Air without the label. They also updated the Air line with a spec bump and an updated 13" Retina MBP. Both with Thunderbolt 2.

 

[KBToys82]

Oh, so now 3 different MacBooks. Interesting.

 

[Footer]

Air without the label. They also updated the Air line with a spec bump and an updated 13" Retina MBP. Both with Thunderbolt 2.

Really surprised they did not throw the USB-C on those. I'm going to be really interested to see how this works out going forward. I'm also going to be interested to see how much longer they keep putting out machines that have ports on them at all. For whatever reason apple has always hated ports on their machines. This with the dropping of final cut pro and aperture is pretty much putting a knife in the "pro's" back. The film and video guys are already jumping ship to windows, would not surprise me if Q-Lab is forced to come over in the future. Apple really does not care about the pro market, they want the mass consumer.

 

[Senorfish]

Pickup one (or two) high quality external harddrives. Like this Gtech: http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-drive-usb

The Mac Mini should only run the software. Then show content audio and video files should only be placed on an external harddrive. This will free up each harddrive to focus on it's specific task... one does software (the mini), the other plays files (the g-tech). It will keep your mini running as fast as the day you bought it by keeping the harddrive clean and dedicated to programs only.

Some of the basic necessary criteria for a professional external harddrive is that it must be 7200rpms. Normal 5400rpm hard drives cannot read audio and video files quick enough to be reliable for show stuff. The second criteria is that it is must match the connectivity options that you have on your computer (at least one of them). USB 3.0, thunderbolt, Esata, and firewire800 are all fast options.

If you're doing very high profile events where a harddrive crash and loss of content would be the end of the world, then you need to run two external harddrives setup as a RAID pair, where each has an mirror image of the same show files just to cover for the rainy day when one harddrive decides to quit.

And don't place anything on the desktop!! It's amazing how many pros have junk all over their desktop and then complain that the computer is too slow!

 

[robartsd]

Pickup one (or two) high quality external harddrives. Like this Gtech: http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-drive-usb

The Mac Mini should only run the software. Then show content audio and video files should only be placed on an external harddrive. This will free up each harddrive to focus on it's specific task... one does software (the mini), the other plays files (the g-tech). It will keep your mini running as fast as the day you bought it by keeping the harddrive clean and dedicated to programs only.
…
And don't place anything on the desktop!! It's amazing how many pros have junk all over their desktop and then complain that the computer is too slow!

Mac OS X defaults to using a swap file on the startup volume - a function that is particularly sensitive to being on a volume that has little defragmented free space. Remember that the default location of your "home" folder (includes the desktop) is also on the startup volume.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

One side note: as of today, the most recent release of Audacity (2.06) (commonly used with QLab) is not supported on Yosemite. 2.10 is supposed to clean up the problems, but it's not quite out yet.

You can use 2.06, but it may lock up on you occasionally, or die leaving a lock file which you'll have to clean up manually.

 

[Doug Peters]

I have uploaded a review spreadsheet, current as of June 2014, which I compiled prior to making my decision. It might be useful if you pick up more Macintosh gear, and maybe to others as well!

Hope this is helpful!

 

[Joshualangman]

Because someone mentioned disabling system sounds above, here's my checklist for getting a Mac ready for a show.

 

[voztimbrada]

My company runs three open ended productions in a tourist town. They are lower budget tribute shows, music focused, and the music is all tracked with live vocals. There are two separate theatre spaces at our facility, and we run Mac Mini's in both of them. We don't use Qlab, but we've pushed them pretty hard using a combination of Ableton Live, DMXis, and Resolume Arena. For audio interfaces, we use a couple of older MOTU units, and for two of our productions, we run two separate video feeds out of Resolume. We have found the Mac Mini to be a great budget solution for computer based show control. And I agree with some of the earlier posts, as long as you get your set up correct (don't let the computer sleep, turn of operational sounds, etc., keep the desktop clean) you should be able to run those puppies for years.