Suggestions For Cpu Setup

[CANINE704]

I KNOW YOU GUYS GET THOUSANDS OF THESE....... BUT IM TRYING TO EXPAND MY HOME STUDIO TO INCLUDE MY CPU..I HAVE A DRUM MACHINE IM HAPPY WITH, A GREAT MACKIE MIXER, A DECENT KEYBOARD WHICH I ONLY USE FOR THE SOUNDS,A JV 1010 SOUND MODULE,A NICE AKAI SAMPLER,AND 2 BOSS DR-5'S THAT I AM IN LOVE WITH ...HERES THE QUESTION..I HAVE A REASONABLY POWERFUL CPU(CD-R DRIVE,1000MHZ(1GHZ) PENTIUM 3,128 MB RAM, 20 GB 4M ULTRA HARD DRIVE) I HAVE A SOUNDBLASTER AUDIOPCI CARD IS THIS A GOOD CARD? DO I HAVE TO OPEN MY TOWER TO ACESS MY MIDI /ANALOG LINES? WHAT SOFTWARE WOULD YOU RECOMMEND? I WANT SOMTHING THAT CAN TAKE THE STUFF IVE DONE WITH MY EXTERNAL EQUIPMENT AND TIGHTEN IT UP WITH MY CPU (IE.. EDIT,TWEAK,COMPRESS YOU KNOW ALL THOSE THINGS MAYBE SOME SEQUENCING) I AM NOT BILL GATES FINANCIALLY,OR WHEN IT COMES TO CPU LITERACY IM A WORKING GUY SO MY BUDGET IS MAYBE $300-400 RANGE ON SOFTWARE AND THE SAME WITH AND ADAPTERS AND SUCH.. I KNOW THERE ARE SOME REALLY SMART GUYS HERE ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED MAYBE EVEN SOME CORRESPONDENCE THANKS GUYS!!!!!

[AlChuck]

FIRST OFF, WHEN YOU USE ALL CAPS IT COMES OFF LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING! NOT TO MENTION IT"S VERY HARD TO READ!

OK then...

I HAVE A SOUNDBLASTER AUDIOPCI CARD IS THIS A GOOD CARD?

It's certainly good enough for a start. You can get very good results with it. (OK, my flame suit is on.)

DO I HAVE TO OPEN MY TOWER TO ACESS MY MIDI /ANALOG LINES?

No, not at all, they're in the backplane of the SoundBlaster. You will need an adapter that connects to the game port so you can plug MIDI cables in to the MIDI interface; perhaps you already have it. If not it's about $20.

[b] WHAT SOFTWARE WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

Hard to do that. You really need to consider all the stuff you want to do and how important those things are. All recording/sequencing software does most of what you might want, though all do it a bit differently. Some don't do MIDI very deeply; some have support for digital audio loops; etc. It's mostly a matter of taste. You can usually get demos of almost everything so you can try a few. Or read a lot of reviews of everything and see which one sounds the most like what you want to do.

[BobHaymond]

My first reading [with eyes as old as I am] said 3,128 Mb RAM--Man! This cat does have a powerful system.

[SPINSTERWUN]

First of all, CANINE704, welcome to this site.

DEFINITELY, turn off your CAPS LOCK, because like AlChuck said it's equivalent to SHOUTING.

The SB soundcard should do the trick for you at first (considering you are new to the "home recording" thing), or at least until you figure out what other type of soundcard you'd need/like.

Most of the recording software companies have demo versions of their products. I'll list a few of them (I'm sure that other members will provide you with some more links).

Sonar XL, Cakewalk 9, Fruity Loops Pro Version 3...

http://www.cakewalk.com

Vegas Audio, Vegas Video, Sound Forge 5.0...

http://www.sonicfoundry.com

For ReBirth, ReCycle, ReWire, or Reason...

http://www.propellerheads.se/index.php3

For Protools for PC Version 2

http://www.digidesign.com

For some Freeware/Shareware...

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm

For some added reading on various recording topics and info...

http://www.studiocovers.com/articles.htm

For a small glossary of terms...

http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~dkrantz/glossary.html

I hope that some of this information can be helpful for you.

peace...

spin