Using Live Instrument (Guitar) : What Horsepower do I need?

Question

Hey all-
I currently use my guitars with GB2 through a firebox firewire connection and there's a definitely noticable lag (albeit slight) when compared to playing analog through my amps - in other words, a couple of miliseconds between strummed chord and sound output. This is because i am trying to do all of this through a 1.67 g4 powerbook with 2G RAM, which i am assuming is not enough horsepower. The problem is, not surprisingly, exacerbated by adding additional effects to the instrument track.
If i want to dedicate a machine to recording through GB2 or Logic Express, would a 2.1 G5 iMac be enough horsepower to eliminate this slight lag, or is that something that is going to require a PowerMac?
I'm also wondering what others are experiencing when playing through GB2 using their guitars and software effects (e.g., delay, etc.) and how their processor speeds affects the performance of LogicExp7/GB2.
Thanks all!

Answer 1

Many of these devices have a switch named something like "Direct Monitoring", at least that is what is on my Tascam US-122. With that switch engaged, you hear your sound directly from the device, without any signal (in the headphones) coming from the computer, except for the tracks already recorded. That takes all latency out of the picture. The downside, is that if you are using the GB amp sims, then you won't hear them, or any effects. But they don't get recorded anyway. However, for me, I'd need to hear at least the amp sims to get the right feel for my guitar. For this reason, among other reasons, I mic my amp, rather than use the amp sims in GB, and get no latency at all.