3 questions on choosing a PC for audio recording

5

56banjo

New member
Hi there,
1) Does anyone have experience of inta-audio.com (Uk based). If so have you been satisfied with quality and after sales support? Or can anyone recommend any other UK suppliers of specialist music pcs?

2) Can anyone help with requirements for good quality music pc;
I will be recording solo instruments and superimposing and mixing about 8 tracks, and also occasionally using samples to mix up to 24-30 tracks. I don't want to go over the top with the spec, but at the same time want to future proof to an extent. I'm assuming I need a specialist music pc for reasons of quietness of system, and stability of system as well as plenty of power not to get dropouts etc - any and all thoughts anyone can offer would be much appreciated.

3)Finally, I am keen not to have internet connection as this appears to be recommended to protect against viruses etc, but what I don't know is how do you then manage things like microsoft updates, registering products on elicencer and maybe getting software fixes? I'm wondering how people manage this?

Thanks for looking and hope you can help!
 
56banjo said:
Hi there,
1) Does anyone have experience of inta-audio.com (Uk based). If so have you been satisfied with quality and after sales support? Or can anyone recommend any other UK suppliers of specialist music pcs?

2) Can anyone help with requirements for good quality music pc;
I will be recording solo instruments and superimposing and mixing about 8 tracks, and also occasionally using samples to mix up to 24-30 tracks. I don't want to go over the top with the spec, but at the same time want to future proof to an extent. I'm assuming I need a specialist music pc for reasons of quietness of system, and stability of system as well as plenty of power not to get dropouts etc - any and all thoughts anyone can offer would be much appreciated.

3)Finally, I am keen not to have internet connection as this appears to be recommended to protect against viruses etc, but what I don't know is how do you then manage things like microsoft updates, registering products on elicencer and maybe getting software fixes? I'm wondering how people manage this?

Thanks for looking and hope you can help!
Click to expand...

I'm on the west coast of The Great Satan so this is a relatively worthless response.

I've built hundreds of PCs and consider 'custom music PC's to be a waste of money. Any desktop PC is just an amalgation of interchangeable parts and the only attribute remotely unique to a DAW is that (ideally) it's quiet. Any PC needs to be cooled to the greatest extent possible and this is usually at odds with keeping the PC quiet.

Large slow fans are preferable to small fast fans, SSDs (solid state disk) is preferable to HDD, and there are VERY quiet power supplies available. Auralex foam lined cases are more gimmick then anything else though if you get a rack mounted case and stick in a Auralex lined enclosure that has some value. Lots of people will advise a separate disk for music but if you're using a SSD it's not terribly important. Sure as heck I wouldn't bother with Glyph or any premium brand HDD/SSD marketed to 'musicians'.

Don't freak over processors, pretty much everything out there is more then powerful enough. You can never have too much memory since bloatware seems to the order of the day anymore and you'll need it if you go plugin crazy.

Luck.
 
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56banjo said:
Hi there,
1) Does anyone have experience of inta-audio.com (Uk based). If so have you been satisfied with quality and after sales support? Or can anyone recommend any other UK suppliers of specialist music pcs?
Click to expand...
Like wheelema said - "specialist music pc" is a gimmick, and often a very expensive one.

56banjo said:
2) Can anyone help with requirements for good quality music pc;
I will be recording solo instruments and superimposing and mixing about 8 tracks, and also occasionally using samples to mix up to 24-30 tracks. I don't want to go over the top with the spec, but at the same time want to future proof to an extent. I'm assuming I need a specialist music pc for reasons of quietness of system, and stability of system as well as plenty of power not to get dropouts etc - any and all thoughts anyone can offer would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

The slowest parts you can even buy new right now will handle a mind-boggling number of tracks (like... start adding zeroes on to the numbers you wrote there). Audio work is a very non-system-intensive process, compared to what computers today can do. Video processing, rendering cgi stuff, and playing video games make audio work look like something done on an abacus. No, really... I've crunched numbers for people before in this forum to demonstrate that, search for old posts if you want to see hard numbers.

56banjo said:
3)Finally, I am keen not to have internet connection as this appears to be recommended to protect against viruses etc, but what I don't know is how do you then manage things like microsoft updates, registering products on elicencer and maybe getting software fixes? I'm wondering how people manage this?
Click to expand...

People who suggest things like this waste a lot of time using tinfoil-hats and extra computers (sometimes running Linux and/or virtual machines) as middle-men. People who know that malicious code has to be executed* just don't let malicious code execute. We have much easier, less stressful experiences with our computers. Self-control > paranoia.

* Once upon a time if you plugged an unpatched PC running Windows straight into a modem with no kind of firewall in the middle, there were exploits for services that Microsoft had turned on by default for some reason that actually did pose a real problem... So don't install Windows 95 on your computer, and at least put it behind a cheap router with a firewall built into it (all those cheap routers have one). Then disable scripts in your browser, and the only way to make your machine run malicious code is to explicitly tell it to do so...so don't do that either :p.
 
Thanks very much guys, you may have saved me a lot of cash and time:)
What do you think about the specialist claims about a very stable system, do I need to look out for especially stable motherboard, or is that just hype too?
 
Well... consider this: Foxxconn makes almost every motherboard for everything in the world that has a motherboard. All Apple devices and computers, all major OEM PC manufacturers, all video game console, a lot of cellphones... all their motherboards are built in the same Foxxconn factories. Same laborers, same Q/A department. Same shit. All the other small companies (like Asus, Gigabyte, etc) that sell motherboards to system builders are just as reliable, if not more so than Foxxconn, so... basically.. the answer is yes, that's just hype, too. As long as you don't let them overheat - modern computer components are all so reliable that a comparison between them on that merit is pointless.
 
Scan.co.uk, buy your parts separate and put them together yourself. Great prices there. They also have some ready built "music" PCs too, but as everyone says, just a gimmick. Build it yourself, you'll save money and having to put useless parts inside. If you don't know how to put a PC together, they will put it togetehr for you for a small price too.

If it it just for music, the only updates you'll really need are the ones for your DAW and audio interface and whatnot. you could download updates from another computer to an external hard drive, or you could just connect to the internet every now and then to get the updates. Make sure you have yourself Windows Security Essentials installed, and you shouldn't have any problems with viruses sneaking in. It's really much simpler than bending over backwards.

All you need to look for in a motherboard is that it allows your CPU to fit in it and that you have the correct type of RAM too. Some come with their own features and such, but all will do the job you need.

3 hard drives for OS/programmes, Plugins/samples, and Audio recordings is your best bet, though 2 can manage. 1 won't get you far. Especially with that many tracks you want to be using.
 
56banjo said:
Hi there,
3)Finally, I am keen not to have internet connection as this appears to be recommended to protect against viruses etc, but what I don't know is how do you then manage things like microsoft updates, registering products on elicencer and maybe getting software fixes? I'm wondering how people manage this?

Thanks for looking and hope you can help!
Click to expand...

I run a completely separate machine to run my DAW and plug a network cable into it once a week to do all my updates. The rest of the time it has no access to the net at all.
 
TyphoidHippo said:
Can you guys not order from Newegg?
Click to expand...

I'm sure we could, but it'd cost us a good amount on shipping. But be there is no actual Newegg in the UK, no. We do have similar sites though.
Scan being one of the best for computer parts. Certainly the most reliable I've come across. CCL is fairly good for computer stuff too. Often has some great price reductions for low stock and clearance items, but in general can cost a little more than Scan, and doesn't come with the great installation insurance that Scan gives. [break something whilst installing it, they'll send out a completely new one, for a very small fee on checkout]. By very small fee, I think for my £700, it would have cost me £20 for the installation insurance.
 
It's not that you don't have an internet connection, it's that you don't use your audio pc for general browsing. You have the connection for the updates as required, but you move to your other PC when hunting down midget pron and those other sick little habits you'd rather not tell us about...:D
 
Armistice said:
It's not that you don't have an internet connection, it's that you don't use your audio pc for general browsing. You have the connection for the updates as required, but you move to your other PC when hunting down midget pron and those other sick little habits you'd rather not tell us about...:D
Click to expand...

Sorry, think that was my computer. =P
 
Haha, nice one! I got an advice for you.

Build yourself a pc, it's plenty of tutorials on the internet, you can customize your own setup and upgrade as soon as you want (without buying a totally new pre-built pc). It doesn't have to be that expensive (I bought my computer for 16 months ago and paid 1600-1800 British Punds (almost 2650 american dollars), but yes, I do have an expensive computer (because I live in Norway and the PC's are expensive from hell!) but you don't have to pay that much. I use my pc for everything, and if you only want it for audio production and not gaming/video rendering your gpu(Graphic card) will only be there to view the picture on your monitor (DO NOT buy a motherboard with built in GPU (it will use your CPU and slow down the CPU). Go for an expensive AMD or a normal priced Intel. You should buy some nice cooling as well, to use it on lower settings and thereby lower the noise. You should buy a motherboard with built in FireWire or add an extension card/controller with FW.

You should want 4-12GB Ram, you could always upgrade this and it's not that expensive. Invest in a nice cabinet and a good PSU with low noise. There you have it.

Btw, if you just searching the internet on legit sites for register hardware and do driver updates, you just can download a free antivirus and quit the process everytime you're going to use your pc for audio. It isn't really that much of a threat, unless you have no idea of what you are doing on the internet. Just be skeptical and do not download suspicius things, and under no circumstances open something downloaded from internet unless you are 100% sure that it's original software etc. Search around the web for web security. Then you'll manage everything great! Good luck!
 
Thanks guys for taking the time to put your thoughts down about this, you've given me plenty to think about.:)
 
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