New iMac or not?

Jeremy Bender · Post by **Jeremy Bender** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 4:27 pm

I have been considering getting a new model iMac to run Ableton Live and connect to my Kronos which will then act as my audio soundcard and be the hub of my set up.

I tried our existing home office 2010 iMac yesterday with the Kronos and it works brilliantly and was very easy to get set up with Ableton, the Push, the Kronos and even my Moog coming through into the software and with excellent sound quality.

I welcome any views on whether the purchase of the new iMac with some of the current audio issues is a good move at the present time. I went to my local Apple store at lunchtime today and a helpful chap working there knew all about the audio issues some are having with the latest machines (he is an ex music store guy). HIS VIEW WAS TO WAIT A BIT. The latest iMacs are all coming with Mavericks as standard now. There also seems to be a beta upgrade which may solve it based on some earlier reports but it may be patchy

Whilst I have seen lots of posts in the Apple forums about specific audio interface issues there has not been much about how the Korg Kronos fares with the new iMacs - are there any views or practical experiences from the community here please?

One simple option may be to move the old mac to my music room but it also has lots of stuff we need to keep in the office and a convenient built in disc drive...but that is an option.

thanks in advance for any views

splinters · Post by **splinters** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:00 pm

Not new but my late 2011 macbook running Maverick is fine, no issues at all.

BobTheDog · Post by **BobTheDog** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:51 pm

Theres another guy on this forum who is having problems with a new iMac and the Kronos usb.

Might be worth waiting for the next mavericks update.

Look here http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... t=imac+usb

pedro5 · Post by **pedro5** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:06 pm

I'm pedro5,one of the posters on the the link BobTheDog kindly refered you to.

I would also advice you to wait a little longer before getting the new imac,especially for music use with the Kronos.
My own unit is currently being repaired for the keyboard problem and possibly the usb as well,(when used with the new imac).
We're not sure where the real problem is....either with the imac or the Kronos,despite several attempts with various settings.

When recording via the Kronos usb into the imac,it seems as if there's a sort of "feedback" which overloads the daw input,somehow.
I have been successful with an alternative usb interface.....but,having additional problems when set up as an aggregate device.(It works for a while,but then losses its settings...???).
The current imac audio settings are a bit different to previous models and behaves in strange ways sometimes....

I did have an older model imac and the Kronos usb worked just fine,providing clear and a healthy output etc.
I would really like to return to that route.

Shall find out if the Kronos had a fault or not upon its return,I shall then know which path to take regarding finding a solution.
Going by recent reports,it'll probably be the imac's fault.....

The new imac is a good overall computer and will be suitable for audio etc.....when it works properly...

Good Luck.

Best Wishes.

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:06 am

I was hi king of an imac myself but when I configure it it is about 600$ cheaper then a Mac Pro I would configure. Apples to oranges comparison because they are not similar in configuration and of course the Mac Pro has no monitor. I have decided I wait a bit longer for the pro and initially connect it to a led tv I have available to use. Just a thought.

danmusician · Post by **danmusician** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:47 am

Bertotti wrote:I was hi king of an imac myself but when I configure it it is about 600$ cheaper then a Mac Pro I would configure. Apples to oranges comparison because they are not similar in configuration and of course the Mac Pro has no monitor. I have decided I wait a bit longer for the pro and initially connect it to a led tv I have available to use. Just a thought.

I'm curious about how you're configuring an iMac vs a Mac Pro, given that the Pro starts at $2999.00. What configuration are you putting together that is only $600 between the two?

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:32 am

Like I said not an apple to apple comparison more an apple to oranges. I make a couple assumptions. The big one is that the quad core of the mac pro will function at a higher level then the quadi7 of the iMac.
iMac is, 3.5 quad I7, 32g gig ram 1t flash storage, 3799.
mac pro, 3.5 xeon quad core, 32 gig ram, 1t flash storage. I also assume that the ram in the mac pro is faster then the ram in the iMac but I could be mistaken. total for mac pro 4299. which is actually a 500$ diff.
I haven't decided if I would like one of the two better video cards. I do a lot of photography but haven't seen if an upgrade would be warranted. Anywho the iMac is all self contained with a beautiful display. I would remember this as the mac pro will need a display. My thought is I can connect to the hotel tv's almost all are lcd that I go to now and at home I have a 1080p led so I would use it, for the time being.

I can not say if that is the better option for you guys just something I was kicking around. The iMac is a bit more of a closed system, and I just like the mac pro upgraded specs. And I do not know if all that ram is needed but every computer that I have used with more ram has worked much better for me. Especially with aperture, I have not had any freezes now with the newer 16 gig of ram in my rMBP. Maybe this isn't needed for music. Trying to record music is new to me.

Edit to add I started with a 27"iMac.

Zeno_M · Post by **Zeno_M** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:05 pm

Hi Jeremy,

I'am the other guy (apart from pedro5) who is having trouble with connecting the Kronos to the 2013 iMac. So far I could not establish a working USB-connection between the two. I was able to circumvent the problem by buying an additional USB audio interface and using the thunderbolt connection of the iMac via adapters. It seems to work, but obviously it's not ideal. So my advice would be to wait and look whether the upcoming 10.9.2. update really fixes everything.

Best regards.

mcanic · Post by **mcanic** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:26 pm

I bought my iMac in feb 2012. I am running OSX Mavericks and usb mode works perfectly with my Kronos 88 (not the Kronos X model by the way) and Logic Pro X.
I own the Kronos since september last year, running OS 2.0.6, and last week I updated to version 2.1.1, also running fine.

Jeremy Bender · Post by **Jeremy Bender** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:33 pm

Thanks for the views so far folks.

There also seem to be some views that the USB 3 portion the new Macs may be part of the issue...

pedro5 · Post by **pedro5** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:56 pm

The usb 3 could well be related to some problems...I did read somewhere it's better to use older usb stuff via a hub...but I do use usb 2 gear directly as well and all work fine.
(The exception being the Kronos,of course).

As said,the older imac/Kronos usb audio/midi also worked ok....it's the late 2013 (onwards) i5 imacs combination that seem to have problems....regardles of which o/s being used,ie-mountain lion or mavericks.
My current imac won't allow a lion installation,so I can't try that one.....

(Probably wouldn't make much difference anyway).

Best Wishes.

djcactus · Post by **djcactus** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:55 am

Not even necessarily kronos related but I use a macbook pro running ableton and with my firewire interface i have been able to effectively use Live as an effects processor in real time as well as fulfill my sequencing needs. Live has been the best thing in my recording studio in ages, i loved protools 9 and 10 but it just hasnt been as inspiring as Live 9.

If only i could fork out the cash for a kronos right now, I would love getting the most out of those I/O options.

edit: http://buyersguide.macrumors.com good mac advice, if you are going to shell out the cash you might as well do it at the "right" time and get the most out of your money

pedro5 · Post by **pedro5** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:48 pm

Apparently,there's no problem using an interface with the new imac,be it firewire or usb.
However, there is a problem with the Kronos and the imac using the usb link directly.

The only inputs the new imacs have are usb3 and thunderbolt,they no longer have direct audio, spdif nor firewire ports.

Zeno_M · Post by **Zeno_M** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:41 am

Just to give a quick update on this:

The 10.9.2. OS update hasn't resolved the issue.

Yesterday when Kronos was playing back midi signals to the Imac in order to bounce them to audio the distortion reoccured right in the middle of the song without me doing anything!

After waiting 10 minutes and restarting logic twice I was able to record the 3-minutes-song with just two little cracklings.

If you like, listen to my song in the "latest stuff" section, any feedback would be appreciated. http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... &start=495

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 1:22 pm

It never ceases to amaze me how much more Apple manages to convince people to pay for their problem free machines.