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Hi everyone

I am just about to start using Protools, having already played around with Garageband in the past. I was going to buy an Imac but then I read that Leopard is not compatible with the latest Protools. So I would have to find a Mac with Tiger and that´s not possible in my situation.

Therefore I am thinking seriously about buying a PC and running it with M-Powered Protools and my M-Audio Firewire Solo as the interface.

Does anyone have any experience with this combination?

Also, I have a bunch of files (drums, bass, piano etc) which I recorded in a couple of studios on Macs (Protools 7). These files are stored on my external hard drive. I want to add guitars, vocals etc to them using the new setup. Can anyone advise me as to whether these files will be compatible on my new Protools/PC combination? Or will there be problems adding to them and using them in a new operating system?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thankyou in advance.

I just recently switched from PC > Macbook 2gb Memory 2.2ghz dual processor with yes, Leopard, and Pro Tools seems to work alright (except for my CPU maxing out on 4 audio tracks with no effects, and yes the buffer is at 1024, still researching this problem)... regardless, everyone I know who has been running PT LE with Leopard really hasn't had any problems to speak of...

Also, if you do decide to make the switch, be careful of any FAT32 (PC and Mac compatible) external hard drives you have hooked up to your Mac. I used one of these drives to move all of my data from my PC to my Mac, successfully switched it all over, and was temporarily using the drive to house my 120GB Mp3 collection, until I could get my backup drive system in place. One morning I woke up and for some reason my Macbook decided to install Spotlight (a search program... what the heck!) over all of my data, and even Geeksquad couldn't recover the data, they didn't even know why it had happened! This may or may not have anything to do with your situation, but it's traumatic to lose music. So make sure you are careful to have backups of EVERYTHING (if) you switch!

Even with the rocky switch, and I have my heart in the hacker ways of owning a PC, a Mac is far easier to run PT and work with digital audio. It's my understanding that it is still possible to do it with a PC, but it takes quite a bit more work and fine tuning than with a Mac.

I don't see how your previously recorded files would not be compatible with your new system, but I'm new, so maybe I'm missing something?

Hope some of this helped, good luck!!

- Blythe

Many thanks for your help!
I´m starting to think my idea to buy a PC will be more trouble than it´s worth. Protools LE and HD are compatible with Leopard but, as far as I know, Protools M-Powered isn´t yet. I already have the M-Audio Firewire Solo (basic hardware) to go with M-Powered. If you have a moment to answer one more question - what is the minimum hardware/interface needed for Protools LE?

Thankyou again ... and my condolences for the loss of all your music.

Anything from the MBox family:
http://digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=104&langid=51&itemid=23596

I have both PC and a Mac.
I run ProTools 7.4 LE on a quad core 2.4GHz Intel PC with 4Gb of memory and it runs like a dream under XP (don't go Vista!!).
I also have an iMac Intel Core Duo with Logic Studio - again runs like a dream but I understand ProTools 7.4 MAY run under Leopard but Digidesign are saying anything lower you will have problems and is not supported.
Really not interested in PC/Mac comparison - get a system that works and you like and stick with it.

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

I guess the question now is: do I get Leopard with PT LE, or for a more realistic price, XP with M-Powered?

In either scenario I´d like to use my M-Audio Firewire Solo as the hardware.

in other words...

Would XP with PT M-Powered and a Firewire Solo be a good combination? Or would I encounter lots of technical problems and go half crazy trying to fix them?