COmputer setup

songsj

Member
I just bought a new computer and am looking at using it for a mixing work station. Here is what I have:

Gateway with a P4 3.0G 630 processor
1 gig ram
Windows XP Media center OS
TV tuner Installed
cd rom and a dual layer cd dvd combo drive.
Audigy 2 ZS sound card [ I know, I did not know any better ].
17" flat panel monitor.

I'm looking at Sonor 4 Producer or Vegas 6 software

Which is best for mixing, I need a lot of compressors, gates, eqs, etc for many channels, as well as the ability to fix small mistakes[ like a snare drum beat that is slightly off in one measure ] I will be tracking at least 24 tracks on a Tascam 2488 and importing them to PC for mixing.

Also will the Audigy 2 Zs be okay for now as long as I'm only mixing and not recording with the PC?
 
The Audigy will be OK for importing 2 tracks at a time.

Not sure about the quality of those AD converters though.

Have a think about getting a better soundcard. For about $90 an audiophile 2496 will give you a better result. Or you might want to get a 4 or 8 input card.

Don't know about Vegas, but Sonar is a top product.
They're all pretty good in that price range
 
Does your tascam have a digital out? Id use the digital out for importing. and a card with digiatl in.
 
I planned on exporting mono .wav files from the 2488 either through the USB port or CDR's. I'd really like to know how many compressors, gates etc the programs have, I do live drums [ 8 mics ] so I need a lot of individual compressors and gates as well as reverbs and eqing. The specs. don't really address this. I might be missing something here but I need to know if I can apply different gate and compressor settings to many different channels or I will be throwing my money away. Any thoughts on this?
 
songsj said:
I might be missing something here but I need to know if I can apply different gate and compressor settings to many different channels or I will be throwing my money away.
Well...you started out talking about software packages and now it seems like you've wandered somewhere else.

Do you already own the Tascam? Or are you just considering buying it?

Do you have the $ to put into software AND a hardware unit? Or would you be happier with one or the other?
 
songsj said:
I planned on exporting mono .wav files from the 2488 either through the USB port or CDR's. I'd really like to know how many compressors, gates etc the programs have, I do live drums [ 8 mics ] so I need a lot of individual compressors and gates as well as reverbs and eqing. The specs. don't really address this. I might be missing something here but I need to know if I can apply different gate and compressor settings to many different channels or I will be throwing my money away. Any thoughts on this?

There's no limit on the number of compressors or effects you can run in Sonar. You can insert as many as you like in each track, and you can run as many tracks as your cpu will allow.

The bottleneck is how fast your cpu is
 
Sorry for the confusion, I do already own the 2488 and plan on tracking on it,
Then doing my final mixes on the PC, The 2488 holds 24 tracks, 24bit/44.1k.
I planned on exporting 24 bit .wav files to the pc. My hope is that they will import seamlessly right into whichever software program I buy, and I can go from there. Hopefully I will also be able to do an additional 22 tracks on the 2488 [ keeping ] a rough 2 track mix of the original song to play along with
and export/import them in the same manner. Hopefully they will line up
[ or I will be able to get them to line up in the software program for a total of 46 tracks [ 48 minus the 2 tracks I kept to play along with. Is this doable??
Thanks
 
Sure it's doable. Just zoom in to the smallest resolution which should be a single sample and line 'em up. It'll probably take 15 minutes.

But do you REALLY need 46 tracks? Are you going to have others working on your songs or will it just be you?

And if you have a choice I would go for Sonar over Vegas 6 any old day...
 
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