Cheap Home Recording Computer

D

DanR

New member
Is it realistic to try and use a computer, such as a cheap Dell ~$400, with appropriate specs, such as 512 mb RAM for home recording? I don't plan on using MIDI. I would like to get around 24 tracks (guitars, bass, drums, vocals). I only have about $1000 to spend on a computer, interface and software. There's a lot of stand alone recorders in that price range, but it seems as though computer recording is more flexible. I'm just stuck at a particular price point. I am also wondering if I could get one built specifically for recording (I'm not saavy enough to build my own, though) but I don't think I could get it done cheaply enough. I've seen DAW computers on the web in the $800-$1000 price range.

Also, is it absolutey essential to have 2 hard drives if my particular recording requirements are not that taxing?

DanR
 
The cheaper Dells are handicapped (usually) by not having empty PCI slots which means you are limited to USB audio interfaces, or firewire if provided on the computator.

No, it's not essential to have 2 hard drives but it sure it nice. That way you can dedicate one to audio and one to everything else...
 
Look for a good independent little computer store that builds their own systems. Get a system with nothing on it 'cept Windows, 1 GB RAM, 2 HDDs 40 and 80 GB (one for OS, one for music), and a CDRW.
 
Here's what I came up with. It's a little more than a doorbuster Dell, but you're not going to get a DL DVD-R/W, 1gig of RAM, and 2 hard drives from them, for $400. Plus, the following machine has separate AGP, not the shared crap that the Dell has.

Antec 2600AMB $64.50
Asus A7V880 $67.50
Athlon 2800+ $100.99
Corsair 1gig (512x2) $92.00
Hitachi 80gig SATA $59.50
Hitachi 80gig SATA $59.50
NEC 3520a $61.50
WinXP Home $92.95
Rosewill Radeon 9200SE $29.99


$628.43
 
Thanks a lot for the advice, guys! I have seen an article or two on building your own computer and I guess it doesn't look TOO difficult. I might explore that further if I can't find a builder to assemble a computer in my price range.

RobertN - Post that site when you can, thanks. There was a magazine (I forget which one) article about 2 years ago with a cover story on building your own DAW computer for about $400. The price may be outdated now, but as the concept is still valid, I'd like to get a hold of a copy. Does anyone remember which magazine that was so I could try and scare up a copy?

Polaris20 - Are those components for a DIY build? Are those prices from one particular source or just the best prices individually? I suppose I could research prices myself as you so kindly provided model numbers. Thanks!

Ssscientist - The PCI issue is something I hadn't thought of. I just assumed (oh-oh) that there would be one. Thanks for pointing that out.

DanR
 
First of all, I don't like or usually recommend Dell. However, $400 is not a lot of money for a good rig unless you check out Dell's outlet. They usually refresh their inventory every hour or less.

If you're lucky, you could pick up something along these lines:

P4 3.0 or more w/HT
512-1gig DDR2 ram
PCI-E graphics card
160gig HDD
DVD/CD Burner
and some.

These systems could go as low as $300 when you shop at the best times (usually around 12am-4am when the rest of the US is sleeping).
 
RobertN said:
I post you a link to a site for building your own daw computer.
Click to expand...

Hey RobertN,

Do you have that link? I would be very interested to see it.

Thanks,

DanR
 
I bought my computer used off of craigslist.org for $70. If you havent heard about craigslist, its basicly an online classified forum.

the system included:

1 gig athalon processor
2 40gig hard drives
512mb ram
dvd rom
cd burner

I also got a 19" monitor from the seller for $40.

Not the best computer, but its a good cheap temporary solution, which I can upgrade parts to as I come into more money.

the only thing is that the processor fan was dead so that cost me an extra $20, and the case did not work either, which was fine because I wanted to have a rackmount case. The rackmount case cost me $240, kind of funny that the case cost over 3x as much as the computer.

I would suggest hunting through craigslist if you want to get the cheapest computer possible. The only reason I got the computer really cheap in this case is because some work had to be done to it. If you have never built a computer on your own I would suggest doing that as well. Putting it together is rather easy, although selecting the right parts is a little bit more difficult. It might take a bit of work and research to get the right parts for the system, and keeping up with technology. But this is the best way to learn about your system and fix any future issues that you may have. A good place to learn some nitty gritty computer hardware details is www.anandtech.com. It may be a little over your head at times, but they have a lot of information about the latest technologies.

I'm rambling at this point so Im going to stop talking now.
 
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