I have read some great articles on Low End
Mac detailing the ways that older Macs can still be used
successfully for less intense tasks like word processing and email.
Aside from how crazy it is to use an old Mac for certain tasks, I
haven't seen much written about higher end multimedia computing on
really old Macs.
I guess I must be crazy for using a IIci for video editing, but it works
unusually well for me. Gasp! Yes, I said video editing and IIci in the
same sentence.
I am, like many Low End Mac readers, addicted to old Macs. I am also
a musician with a degree in audio engineering. In college, I got the
chance to use Macs for multimedia applications every day. We were
running Digidesign Pro Tools on Power
Macs.
After college, I had my first brush with audio editing on older
Macs. At the recording studio where I did an internship, they had a
IIfx running Pro Tools. This was
a commercial studio with a great reputation, and they were using a IIfx
for digital audio editing. That was in 1997.
It would be 2001 before I got my first Mac and really began to
appreciate the power and reliability of that IIfx.
I bought a Windows PC in 1999 and struggled with it for a few years.
I never could get it to record audio without causing pops, clicks, or
other annoying anomalies.
Around this time, I found a SuperMac Spigot to Tape NuBus video
capture card on
eBay for $10. It was still sealed in it's original box
with all the original documentation and software.
I had always wanted to edit video in addition to my work with audio.
Now I just needed a NuBus Mac to use it. I originally wanted a IIfx,
but decided against it because the memory is expensive and hard to
find. A week's worth of searching eBay yielded a working IIci with 20
MB RAM and a 500 MB hard drive for $9.99.
It was only then that I realized that the IIci had no built in sound
input for capturing audio. I purchased a PAS 16 NuBus card with the
break out box for $80. It was more than I really wanted to spend on the
entire setup, but I was already caught up in my project and made the
purchase anyway.
I replaced the IIci's 500 MB system drive with a 4 GB Fujitsu
model and replaced the RAM to max it out at 128 MB. I then tested the
system and discovered I was going to need more power to capture
video at full 30 frames per second. I soon purchased a DayStar 50 MHz
accelerator for $15 that allowed me to capture full motion video
without any problems.
I figured that I was already in too deep by this time and purchased
a SuperMac Spectrum/24 Series
III to replace the internal video. Adaptec Toast 3.5.1 and a Lacie
8x CD-R allowed me to take my finished movies to my Power Mac or
PC.
Of course, I could also print back to video, something most newer
FireWire systems can't do without alot of hassle. The IIci has never
crashed while editing, printing, or converting video. It sometimes
takes a day or two to finish processing for final video output, but I
have several other machines that I use when it's tied up crunching my
video files.
Now I have decided to start using that expensive sound card for
audio mastering work and give up on home recording on the PC. Good 68k
audio software is hard to come by, but an upgrade to System 7.6.1
should allow me to use Opcode System's Studio Vision (the Fat version).
I also have Macromedia Sound Edit 16 that I have been experimenting
with for less critical audio work.
So far, the PAS 16/IIci combination sounds a lot better than my PC's
audio hardware, and the machine is more stable. No more losing final
mixes when the PC crashes trying to mix 8 or more audio tracks down to
stereo. Any suggestions for good audio software that will work with PAS
16 and System 7.5.5 can be emailed to
.
I may move the Spigot card to a NuBus Power Mac one day soon, but I
think the IIci will always be good for audio editing provided I find
enough software that works. My IIci proves that multimedia on older
Macs is very reliable, even if it is sometimes slow.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
