Hello  Carl ,All,

Jean has  very good points,especially : DEPRECIATION !!!. All you have to 
do is look at used price lists
to see what can happen.Your 4 Gs could be poop in no time.You could  get 
Korg's 1212 and Digital Performer/Deck II/etc.,etc..If you're on a 
WinTel, look up  Event electronics at  and Steinberg 
.There are possibly other options.
IMHO Paris (the DAW) is a bad idea.
If you're looking for a complete hardware setup,look at Akai's 
DR-8/DR-16.They have a good reputation and have gotten great reviews.

There is one good place to get first hand opinions on Mac DAWs ; the 
DAW-Mac list.Full of knowledgeable
people,including stdio owners and enginneers from some big time 
studios.Friendly lot too.
To subscribe to daw-mac, send the following in the body (not the subject
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See ya later Mr. Ranger, Sir,

Drew

Hello everybody!

Just to contribute my two cents...

Having recently been in the critical situation of choosing hardware, all I
can say is that, whatever it is you buy, it pays to be absolutely sure the
equipment will do just what you need/want it to do, no less (and if
possibly more). And make that NOW, not next software upgrade, hardware
extension, phase of the moon, NAMM show. This should save some frustration
further down the line. This field changes almost too fast, and we
certainly see a lot of planned obsolescence around. If your gear does for
you what you really need it to, you'll find it easier to live with the
fact that your fabulous $5,000 system is now worth $500, or that the next
wave of ultra-duper-hip-credible does double as much for half the money.

As a matter of fact, I'd be hesistant to spend a lot on an external
peripheral based hardware system, the way things look now, even if money
wasn't the main point. I'd even skeptical of buying a ProTools system
right now! Although it's true that software-based systems are just getting
to a really usable point, it sure looks like the time of mostly harware
based systems is coming to a close. General purpose computers are just so
powerful nowadays, even the point of dedicated DSP chips is sometimes
called into question, as you can see by an article by Roger Dannenberg and
a co-author in a recent Computer Music Journal.

In your place, I would seriously look into different options for software
based systems, and basically get a really good audio card for your system
for audio I/O, and software that supports it. (Ah, but this is the point)
You could end up spending much less for a really usable system, if you've
already got some basic audio gear like a clean mixer... which you're going
to need no matter what!

Pablo Silva
Coordinator, Electronic Music Laboratory
Escuela Nacional de Musica, UNAM
Mexico
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