How can I revert to Snow Leopard from Mountain Lion on a 2013 iMac?

I have a brand new 27" 2.9Ghz iMac, bought a few days ago, equipped with Mountain Lion. I'm using it for recording, and at the time, my recording software and hardware are incompatible. On Snow Leopard, however, it all runs flawlessly. I know I can't simply revert to Snow Leopard, as there is some sort of firmware that blocks these types of downgrades. Can I partition the internal hardrive and install Snow Leopard and boot from that partition? I have no real use for Mt. Lion for the time being, so I wouldn't need to boot them both simultaneously or even go back and forth. I just want Snow Leopard...any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
You have different problems with a Late 2012 iMac and Snow Leopard:
1. The firmware doesn't allow you to run it.
2. Snow Leopard isn't compatible because it hasn't got the drivers for the hardware of the iMac. Furthermore, you can only run OS X 10.8.1, 10.8.2 or 10.8.3 on a Late 2012 iMac at the moment, because older versions haven't got the drivers it needs.
3. It's illegal.
As you can see, you can't run Snow Leopard natively. If this is a requirement, I suggest you to return your iMac and search a Mid 2011 iMac with Snow Leopard (there are some Mid 2011 iMacs that came with Snow Leopard, although most of them came with OS X Lion). If you don't find anything, buy a Mid 2010 iMac.
Another possibility is to buy Snow Leopard Server and install it on a virtual machine, but I doubt it's legal

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    hi,
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                                  [click on image to enlarge]
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    Léonie

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