Upgrade computer OR buy a mixer?

[aznwonderboy]

THE DESIRE: I want to mess around with the highs, mids, and lows for a vocal track to achieve the smoothness that appears in professional track.

{By smoothness, I mean that the vocal track should not stand out from the mix due to too high volume, too much highs, too much mids, etc...}

THE PROBLEM: I am currently using CEP 2.1 "Graphic Equalizer" to do this. However, everytime I mess around with one slider while the song is playing, it takes about 5 seconds for it to take effect and the whole vocal track would fall out of sync with the background music track. So, I keep having to stop the track, and click on the play button again for it to be back in sync. This wastes too much time.

THE QUESTION: Should I upgrade the RAM in my computer or buy a mixer to do this (something under $50 bucks like the 2-channel Behringer) ?

THE PC:
P4 Windows XP Pro 1.8 Ghz
512MB DDR RAM
Echo Mia Sound Card for recording
Onboard sound card for playback (Avance AC97 Audio)

[MaxB]

Buy a mixer... You can tweak your knobs in a snap with an external mixer! There's no need to click, double click... you know.

MaxB

[chrisharris]

I vote for upgrading...every piece of outboard gear you use that doesn't ADD to the quality of the sound is just one more noise source in the chain. Plus, the EQ on cheap mixers is...well, cheap EQ, and it's going to insert phase shifts...(all EQ does, but this is an instance where cheaper is worse...er., lol...

oh, and use the parametric EQ. Unlike the graphic EQ, it's instantaneous, and it's a lot more versatile...you can make the cuts as wide or narrow as you want by just changing the "Q" on the right hand side, and you can sweep to find out where the sweet spots and the nasties are. When I first started using CEP, I went to the graphic EQ because it LOOKED familiar, but that big picture (the graphic) hogs resources - It's actually not taking time to change the sound, it's taking time to change the freaking picture, lol - just take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the parametric and you'll never go back.

[djbleach]

I agree w/ chrisharris...
I have a behringer ub802 mixer, but it's mostly just a source of power for my condernser mic. The equalizer doesn't really cut it for an equalizer on the mixer, but you could just get an inexpensive external equalizer if it's messin up ur computer that bad. But chances are, if the eq on cool edit is hurtin ur comp's resources, other things in the future will as well (like workin in the multitrack or previewing a transformation). It wouldn't hurt to upgrade the cpu to about 2 gig's. Whatever floats ur boat tho.