what specs for 24 track recording

S

sniixer

New member
:rolleyes: Hi

I'm planning to build a PC for the purpose of recording live-concerts and editing audio. For this I have alot of questions because I'm not a computer-wizard, but luckily I have a friend who will help me build it.
I would like a computer that is able to record 24 tracks simultaneously, at 24bit/48 khz, or 12 tracks at 24bit/96 khz. (the same as Alesis HD24) I dont want to be too concerned that the PC is going to crash, but I know i'll never be 100% sure..
What specifications is required for a computer to do this? I would also be glad if somebody has a link to a site where this is discussed, I'm sure im not the first person asking this question.
My friend and I suggested that we buy:

a 2u rack-mountable case from Chieftec,

Prosessor: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.4GHz Socket 754,512KB, BOXED with fan

Hardisk: Samsung SpinPoint P120 200GB IDE ATA/133 8MB 7200RPM
256 mb graphic-card
15" screen
Bitspower Fan Socket A/478/775/754/940, (12-24db)

Does this seem to be a good setup, or will it lead into trouble? I appreciate any advice.
I plan to use a RME HDSP9652 soundcard, and for converters and preamps I'll use 3 adat-preamps with 24 channels. Everything will be put into a 19" rack.
Regards, Sniixer
 
Sounds good, but I'd use a 4U case to help avoid heat build-up and get two hard drives (one for OS and programs - the second for audio data).
 
I would get a bigger monitor than 15"! 17" would be minimum for most DAW applications nowadays. My 17" running at 1152x864 still makes Sonar (especially version 4) look crowded. Also you don't need a big super duper graphics card unless you are planning to play games on it as well. 64mb GeForce 4 works fine.

The main thing you want is CPU power, which you've got and also plenty of RAM. Other than that, what crankz said, get two hard drives and a 4U case.
 
Nice choice on the soundcard.

If you do the calculations, you only really need around 5 megabytes a second of data transfer for 24 tracks for 24/44. Almost anything can do this. Samsung hard drives aren't bad, but they're definitely not top-of-the-line performance. You probably could get your desired performance out of it, but I personally would want more room for performance fluctuation. I'd look at high-end Western Digitals, Hitachis, and Seagates. And I'd also definitely look at making a RAID array for even more speed assurances and data redundancy.

Hard drives are cheap these days. Don't skimp on that.
 
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