Dream Machine: Pro Audio 9 Requirements?

N

nommad

New member
Emeric, thanks for the info. Yes, that was a great post on the other board by Slack - although the discussion got a bit over my head & technical. I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible! The 2 hard drive issue is the one thing that I can't seem to decide on. I'm curious - is a windows reinstall something you do regularly? I have had a pc for 4 years, and I don't think I've ever done it - am I missing out on something?
Also, the Microboards CD Burner is a CD burning solution put together by Sonic Foundry. It includes an 8X burner by Microboards, SCSI Card, Soundforge XP & CD Architect by Sonic Foundry all in one box.
Will I see that big a difference between a P3 500 & 650? Where will I feel it - in the effects or # of tracks? ~ Michael

~ Michael
 
Hello. Could anyone offer any solid advice on what the REALISTIC requirements are to run 12 - 16 tracks of rock solid audio w/ plenty of effects using Pro Audio 9? Is anyone having luck with single hard drive systems - or is 2 hard drives the only way to achieve that many tracks? I will list the system I'm thinking about building, and would REALLY appreciate any ideas or suggestions. I don't need the baddest machine out there, but I do need it to easily handle my 12 - 16 track projects. Thanks! ~ Michael

1. 500 MHz Pentium 3
2. ABIT BF6 Motherboard w/ onboard ATA 66
3. 128 MB 100 MHz RAM
4. 20.4 GB Maxtor DiamondMax UDMA 7,200 RPM
5. 48X CD-ROM - IDE
6. 16 MB ATI Xpert Graphics Card
7. Modem, Keyboard, Mouse, Win 98 SE
8. SoundBlaster Live! Platinum
9. M-Audio Delta 66
10. Microboards CD Factory 2000 external SCSI Burner w/ SCSI Card
 
My 2 Cents:

1. For $50 more you could get a PIII 650 FCPGA and convertor card.
2. Good idea sticking with the intel 440BX chipset. By onboard ATA 66 you mean integrated into the motherboard? The BF6 does not have ATA 66 built-in. You would need a ATA/66 Card. But it aint no big deal at this stage anyway.
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - sound fine to me.
10. Never heard of Microboards. Is this something top end, or just obscure? Yamaha make some very good external SCSI burners.

Good Luck
 
I think Slack already gave you the low down on 2 drives.

I use 2 mainly for seperation and organization. I don't know that there would be a significant performance difference, but I do know that over time, Windows bogs down, so having your audio data on a seperate physical drive makes it nicer when doing the ritual windows reinstall. I suppose you could do the same thing with partitioning on 1 drive, but then you are taking a small performance hit.

Also, I use removable hard drive brackets. These are very handy and cheap. I look at the second drive like I would a reel of tape. When the drive is full of audio data, I take it out and store it away. Pop in a new blank drive.

I know this could get expensive, but actually quite cheaper than the tape I use to buy.
 
I don't reinstall that often, especially using a dual boot setup. This keeps my recording software on one seperate installation of 98 lite, and my internet, games etc.. on the other.

But. If you do need to reinstall, it's easier just to format the drive and start from scratch. Something you don't want to do if you have audio data on there that hasn't been backed (of course it SHOULD always be backed up, but sometimes people get lazy - myself especially :) )

A faster processor will increase the number of plugin's/effects you can use at a time. Definetly worth the $50 +/- or so.

As for the burner deal, sounds alright to me. But I would price out the software, the exact scsi card they are using and a yamaha burner to make sure you are really getting a deal.
 
Nommad, you read my mind.

I just bought a similar setup.
1. 566 Celeron II (Clocks to 850MHz no problem and saved $100. Same core as the PIII. Just as fast for Audio but may not get the graphics performance of a true PIII.
2. SOYO 6BA+IV w/onboard ATA 66 - More for less and has the BX chipset
3. 128 MB 100 MHz RAM - Ditto
4. 20.4 GB Maxtor DiamondMax UDMA 7,200 RPM - Ditto again.
5. 48X CD-ROM - Have the external SCSI burner so opted not to add this - yet!
6. 16 MB ATI Xpert Graphics Card - I used the ATI TURBO PCI
7. Modem, Keyboard, Mouse, Win 98 SE - I'm on DSL so I skipped the modem.
8. Here we differ, Roland Sound Canvas Soundcard.
9. I chose the Dman PCI AD/DA sound card which is clean but not as fast as the Delta 66. Only 2 in 2 out. The 66 is 4 in 4 out which would be better.
10. External Yamaha SCSI Burner w/SCSI Card

Up to 24 tracks, with the following plug-ins -EQ on 8 tracks, reverb on 4, compression on 1. This is my biggest push to date.

Life is good. Loving this Audio Thing...
 
Middleman, Excellent. That's great that you are getting 24 tracks - that bodes well for the possibilities of a single drive setup. Do you think that on projects where you use less tracks, like 12 or so, you would be able to use more effects on each track - or is that a seperate issue? Also, are you recording at 16 or 24 bit?
~ Michael
 
Me: PII 400, 96M Ram, single WD 7200RPM HD.

On my system, I tend to hit the wall (dropouts) only when I'm loaded with effects. I believe I can get at least 24 tracks with no effects. But I usually crap out at 16 or so with a lot of effects. I've heard a lot of "the HD is your bottleneck" comments, but it's always CPU/RAM for me.

"Plenty of effects" is hard to quantify ;). It depends on the type of effect (reverb takes a lot of CPU, EQ isn't so bad), how efficient it was written, and how hard you drive the effect.

Here's the low-down on one particular project I have in CPA9:

* 15 tracks that run most of the song (9 mono, 3 stereo)
* 6 incidental tracks in parts of the song (3 stereo)
* 11 EQs and 12 compressors as track effects
* A reverb and a delay as buss effects
 
Sorry for the delay in answering but I tried to go from 33 to 66 on my drives this weekend and everything kept crashing. Just got back up today. Turns out that I was running 66 speed on an older 33 only drive that just could not keep up. I was suprised that it even worked at all. Anyway, after numerous lock ups I figured it out. Guess I'll need to get a faster drive.

Regarding tracks, I currently have one song with 16 tracks, EQ on all except one, reverb on 8, compression on 3. No choking at all.

This is at 16 bits. The Dman PCI I have had for a couple of years and is older technology. I have not run any 24 bit stuff and won't until my birthday comes along and I get a 24 bit card.

That's all for now.
 
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