If I wanted to start recording at home as a hobbyist, what would you personally recommend?

Quote from Freisegler

I'm just concerned whether or not my iMac will run it

How old is your iMac and what OSX are you running?

@Freisegler
Look here: http://www.apple.com/de/logic-pro/specs/

Perhaps add some more RAM if possible but actually 8 is plenty. (I run 16 GB on my MacBook Pro)

I would recommend upgrading your hard drive to SSD. Check out OtherWorldComputing (OWC) for a kit and video on how to do it yourself. It's a snap. Your RAM is probably maxed out at 8GB with Dual Core.

But the SSD will speed things up dramatically. You are still limited with CPU, but if you learn to freeze your tracks with plugins, bounce in place, or bounce down, you will be easily able, come mix time, to handle a bunch (8-16) of STUB tracks and maybe just use an overall plugin on a bus for Reverbs (typically 2-3 busses) and a Comp on the Master with a decent EQ for some high end or punch.

Its all about CPU management.

Of course you will have nothing else running and when you do this, start from a fresh reboot, and make sure you don't have a lot of startup services running (i.e. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc)

You will thank me for the SSD upgrade tho. Startup in 10-20 seconds. I typically record on a mid-2011 iMac but I typically use my mid-2009 Macbook Pro for mixes. You're CPU is a bit faster than mine which is 2.53Hz.

DAWs
You can demo many DAWs but Logic Pro X (LPX) doesn't allow that.
So your best bet is to play with Garage Band and you'll know what to expect with Logic (except Logic is vastly more capable)

As to CPU usage & Price, Reaper is lean and $60 and very stable. More stable than Logic in my experience (you'd expect Logic to work flawlessly with Mac but the fact is, it doesn't, and Apple programmers frankly suck, which is becoming more evident if you see how easily their security can be cracked, or heck, if you've ever used iTunes, Finder, etc, etc.)

I found Reaper the easiest on editing and choosing tracks for inputs, but it's gotten very detailed and cumbersome.
Logic is very well laid out. I've recently started using Studio One 3 and like it a lot too. More stable than LPX.

But no DAW is perfect. You will always like some things on one better than others. If you ever expect to port to PC, then LPX is out. Otherwise it's a safe bet for upwards capability with any new OS X.

Btw, If you don't have drumming software, LPX is a steal for it's Drummer.

i'd just suggest going for a USB interface as opposed to firewire. Firewire seems to be a standard that may not be around for ever, and USB means you can plug into virtually any computer and use your interface. With USB 2 and 3, bandwidth concerns are also a thing of the past. I have a firewire interface, and I remember the headaches I used to have trying to get a firewire card with the right chipset and other compatibility issues.

For Mac only, Firewire is ok, but for portability to PC, yeah, it depends and USB 2.0 or 3.0 is superior.

In fact I would prefer USB to Thunderbolt because it's overkill and that port would be better served for something that needs it like a monitor or breakout box for more USBs. It's like hooking up your water balloon to a fire hydrant.

What's a W.H.Y., Freisegler?

I agree with db about TB's being overkill.

It goes even further than that: USB 2.0 is all you need. MOTU's managed to at least double the until-now limit of 24 (or was it 32?) simultaneous I/O channels over USB 2.0. Currently you can have 64 active in both directions (128 channels total) at the same time at 44 / 48kHz.

@Freisegler - I have a mid-2010 iMac 2.8 GHz i5 with 16 GB RAM and I a variety of DAW's, including Logic Pro X, with very few issues. For the price, Logic Pro X is a steal. It comes with tons of virtual instruments, the stock plugins are top quality, and the interface is extremely easy to learn.

I'm also having success with Studio One 3 Professional. It's stable, supports VST (so lots of great free plugins out there) and has some innovative features that make working with it a breeze.

Hi i thought i would jump in and second Reason as a daw.. I have used both Reaper and Reason and lately just Reason because of its user friendlyness. I record all of the band when we are rehearsing and its just so easy laying on a synthtrack if you want that.
As Reason vs other daws i like that you dont have to mess around with plugins. The downside is that you dont get the superior drum kit sound out of it. Could be that you can find some extentions to reason, but we use analog drums so i havent searched for it.

I have seen reason bundeled with the balance audio interface for a good price.
And as said previously in another post here, go for a usb audio interface due to futureproofing.

Just got off the phone with Ingolf and he agree that getting something like this would be best to start off with:

[Blocked Image: http://reel2reeltexas.com/AmplicorpMagnemite06.jpg]

Quote from Freisegler

So It looks like you guys are both from the "hand-cranked" corner... :D... to each his own!!!

Hi, i used a tascam mkII for a year and have changed to a steinberg ur 242 last month. Big difference!
I also bought a pair of the new rokits krk g3, which are great for the price.
The steinberg interface includes cubase 8 as a light version which is enough for me to record tracks. I run it with win7 64 bit but i think its also downloadeable for
mac.

This gear costs prox.600€ and it works perfectely for me.

Gruß
Frank

Of course I was joking about the phone call.

I have always desired a reel-to-reel but every time I read about one it seemed to be a rabbit hole of maintenance and engineering to smaller tape recorders.
Then after going to Digital recorder it was even easier.

I just couldn't resist with picture because of the handle. That thing looks like it could start a car.

I should mention that I made the switch to a Mac about a year ago. The new Macs don't have a firewire interface and I had to get a Thunderbolt to firewire cable to hook up to my RME. The kicker was that when I tried a regular firewire 800 cable to make the connection, I was SOL and spent many an anxious moment wondering whether my expensive interface was redundant.

I then used a FW800 to 400 cable and it worked like a charm. So do be prepared for all kinds of odd situations.

I've read about a lot of problems people had with their firewire interfaces and their Macs, because Apple apparently changed the chips in them. You need a Texas Instruments firewire chip in a best possible situation for firewire connectivity, those are usually more stable than stuff like Via or whatnot. Other chips may function, but you'll notice things like higher latency, etc.

In the end, firewire is on the way out: I think Apple even stated that they would no longer be developing their firewire code. There are lots of people who have also stated that their firewire interface stopped working after some Apple update or the other.

Trust me, firewire is more of a liability at this juncture. USB is likely to be a standard that will survive, so I would suggest a USB interface in the interest of longevity and future compatibility.

Again, I use a firewire interface just fine. But if it ever dies on me (please God, don't let it die on me), I would go with a USB solution, just to avoid some of the situations I've run into. Even RME nowadays makes their interfaces with both USB and firewire.