ez_willis
.
sweat. i'm not ever trying to be a dick for the sake of being a dick. i have other thoughts on the matter but i'm still have asleep and it doesn't really matter.
sweat. i'm not ever trying to be a dick for the sake of being a dick. i have other thoughts on the matter but i'm still have asleep and it doesn't really matter.
jjones1700
Learning, always learning
Just to be back on topic for a moment:
I got the new belt put on my 38, but haven't changed the meter bulbs yet. Can't locate my soldering iron at the moment. I also got the new(er) mixer cleaned up and lubed with the F5 Deoxit. I've had a productive morning.
See Cory, it's the little things that add up on the "to do" list.
...and now back to the current hijacked thread.
I got the new belt put on my 38, but haven't changed the meter bulbs yet. Can't locate my soldering iron at the moment. I also got the new(er) mixer cleaned up and lubed with the F5 Deoxit. I've had a productive morning.
See Cory, it's the little things that add up on the "to do" list....and now back to the current hijacked thread.
O
ofajen
Daddy-O Daddy-O Baby
Thomas Edison
I took the liberty of stealing the following info from Wiki answers to collect the notable steps along the way:
1) Sir Humphry Davy, an English physician, successfully passed an electric current through platinum strips in 1801. They only lasted a few minutes.
2) In 1809 Davy created what would become known as the Arc lamp.
3) In 1840 Warren de la Rue, a British scientist, placed a platinum coil in a vaccum tube. This design was efficient and the light lasted longer, but platinum was very expensive which made it impossible to be distributed on a commercial level.
4) In 1841 Frederick de Moleyns of England was given the first patent for an incandescent lamp. His design used powdered charcoal. He heated this material between two platinum wires in a vacuum bulb.
5) In 1878, Joseph Wilson Swan received a British patent for his light bulb. Swan began placing light bulbs in homes throughout England. By the early 1880s he had started his own light bulb company.
6) In October of 1879, Thomas Edison had a breakthrough. He carbonized a piece of sewing thread. Using this as a filament, he was able to produce a light bulb that burned for thirteen and a half hours. By bending the filament, he could make the lamp burn for over 100 hours. Eventually Edison invented a bulb that could glow for more than 1200 hours. He received a patent in 1880 for his light bulb. It had the same features of today's modern light bulbs: an incandescent filament in a glass bulb with a screw base.
So, while Edison and Swan are the names given the most credit, they were really just improving on the work of others over the previous 90 years or so.
Cheers,
Otto
A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
Some schoolmates of yours, perhaps?
..............
..............
D
dodgeaspen
New member
Thanks for sharing the pic. I must admit, I have seen worse but not by much.
famous beagle
Well-known member
ez_willis
.
Right, because computers are NEVER having problems!
it's all about the availability of replacement parts.
ez_willis
.
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
I'm still looking for a good replacement for Windows, MacOS and Linux.it's all about the availability of replacement parts.
And a soundcard that I can afford which doesn't crap itself in the middle of the session.
ez_willis
.
why? they're all stable as hell.
what's your budget? and how much have you spent on tape over the years?
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Windows isn't. It goes off and does other things during the recording, resulting in missing blocks. Fortunately the stuff is on tape, so it's not the entire mix that's lost, but rewinding and trying again and again and again to catch it in the right mood, and listening to the transfers to make sure they did transfer properly is just a pain in the butt.
Linux doesn't do this as much, but device support is touch-and-go and I haven't yet found a decent recording app. Usually I use Audacity or mhwavedit, or failing that, straight arecord off the command line. Ardour was like some terrible nightmare.
The macOS has its own problems, chiefly that it's tied to a low-end mac with virtually no memory or disk or way of adding audio hardware to it.
Honestly, I've got the analogue side down pat now. The only time I feel like throwing in the towel is when it comes to getting the master into the computer. That's when it all goes down the pan.
Under £300 for a 2-channel soundcard, ideally. However, if it dies after 2 years like all the others, I will be gravely displeased. What I'm doing at the moment is using a hotwired UA-5 as a front-end converter and sending it to an Asus Xonar over S/PDIF. If I have a direct electrical connection between the computer and the UA-5, you end up with the USB bus splashed all over the recording. The UA-25 went the same way. It might be possible to fix them by recapping them like a reel-to-reel, but there's a bit too much surface-mount for that IMHO.
In total I've spent about £900 on soundcards for recording purposes over the last 11 years. In the last 8 years I've been buying tape, I think I've maybe spent about that much again, not sure.
However, the tapes look good on the shelf - dead soundcards or soundcards that are perfectly good but not supported by Windows, do not.
ez_willis
.
i NEVER have ANY issues when i record and i'm using xp with the same soundcard i've had for years.
lo.fi.love
Functionally obsessed.
Here's my late entry to this thread.
CORY! I know what you mean. I am having the same issues but perhaps on a smaller scale, since I have less equipment and my equipment isn't in need of such intense rehab.
I do, however, have a lot of work to do, and new issues keep coming up as I 'complete' my studio (is it ever complete?). For example, after spending three months planning my cabling, acquiring the supplies, spending nearly $1,000 on everything, and then finally making and installing the cables, I was ready to get rolling on new musical projects. Not to mention, I had to spend $800 on custom racks that would meet my needs and also fit into the space that I have available. When this didn't work out as planned, I became very discouraged and was at the end of my patience.
One thing that I have, which you don't, is copious amounts of spare time. I'm single with no kids, and I currently don't have a girlfriend/love interest. I tend to work six hours a day during the week, and I have a boss who thankfully supports me 100% in my off-hours projects. My friends also understand that this is what I love to do, and they understand that because of this I often don't feel like going out or meeting for lunch/coffee/drinks or whatever. Take this into consideration, because this is where our lives are different.
Anyway. As you have read in my recent posts, I'm making a lot of progress but I'm still managing a number of setbacks. Allow me to take inventory:
1. Cabling: I'm still working out the kinks in my cabling. If something doesn't work as expected, I have to ferret out the problem by tracing the signal path from origin to endpoint, pulling cables and testing with a multimeter. This is very frustrating when the take is ready to go and I just want to hit 'Record'. Thankfully, I'm only recording myself. Nobody else would put up with this.
2. Mixer: There's a ghost somewhere in this machine. I swear that a few line inputs aren't working correctly, but I don't have enough evidence to analyze, from which I could isolate the issue and work on a solution. And, since the cabling is still suspect, I can't be too sure whether it's the mixer or cabling, or perhaps another device.
3. The 48: I don't know what's going on here. Amp cards? Relays? Faulty noise reduction units? I'm going to do a full physical on the deck and see if the issue manifests itself in a concrete manner. Start from the top, working all the way down, taking notes and making decisions based on my limited experience and natural technical aptitude/intuition.
4. My second 34b: I had to replace the capstan flywheel assembly. It's installed. Play doesn't work well, so I ordered a new belt. I haven't installed the belt yet, but I am able to play a tape (not monitoring the output) for a brief period before it grinds to a near halt. FF and RW do the same thing, so it's not just the belt that's having problems. Remember, I bought this deck from someone who lived a block from the ocean and there was some corrosion in/on the deck. Plus, the the tension arm on the takeup side seems to stick, so this could cause other problems. This is basically a parts deck that I'm trying to bring back to full health, and I'm wondering if it's 'totaled' or if I should continue restoring it.
(By the way: When I wrote the paragraph above, my cat scooted across the floor on his butt. GREAT... now I have to take him to the vet and spend money on THAT, too?? )
5: Patchbays. I ran out of room on my four PB-64s. I might have to buy another patchbay. Also, I have this problem:
See that mess? Most of those patch cables are jumpers for the accessory send/receive jacks on all 20 channels PLUS the 8 busses. When I plug in the eight-track it adds 16 more cables; more if I'm using tape echo. I built the patchbay this way for a very specific reason: I'm making music which relies on TONS of tape effects and I need to have access to every input and output in order to achieve these effects. But, with 40+ patch cables plugged in, it's total albatross territory.
To solve this problem, I'm building something which most people would consider to be totally pointless. I'm building a 'normalling' RCA patchbay in a 2u project chassis, with the normals made using toggle switches. Closed circuit = jumpered, open circuit for patching to a device. I may also include sixteen additional ports to jumper my eight-track to channels 13-20, but I haven't decided.
This project will take maybe two weeks to complete but it will be SO worth it. I could just upgrade to TT patch bays but I'd be out another grand, at least.
6: My effects deck. A TEAC X-10R. It simply doesn't work, and I somehow broke it further when I tried fixing it. I'm dreading this project, but it needs to be done.
7: Recapping the PSU on my M-520. Not an onerous task, but something that will require great care and planning.
8: Aligning and calibrating my MX5050 MkIII-2. This machine is way out of whack and I'm sure I'll have to spend an entire afternoon getting it right again.
9: I have run out of space in my bedroom, and I have a big bedroom. I'm looking at some office space this week, and although I'm willing to spend ~ $300/month to house my gear somewhere else, I'd really prefer not to. It's just a fact of life here, where housing is so expensive.
10: I'm sure there's more, but...
These are all fairly big roadblocks, but I have found a few ways to cope. One thing about myself is that I am a natural problem solver, and I get an immense amount of satisfaction from tackling seemingly insurmountable tasks. ... To be able to step back and look at what I've done and say to myself, I did that, brings so much inner calm and happiness.
What's clear about you, Cory, through your interactions here is that you really, really enjoy these things, too. You love to fix things, and you care about these objects as if they were living, breathing creatures with souls. It's clear. And I feel the same way. It transcends simple work ethic, and it's more important to us than simply getting the job done. We work with our hands and with our minds, and our work satisfies our souls.
The key here is to not get lost, and to balance everything. It is also important to say "Enough!" and to reorganize priorities, even if it means putting all of these projects on hold for a week in order to pray/meditate/reunite with oneself and to strengthen bonds with loved ones. Even more, it is very important to acknowledge and accept that this is who you are, this is what makes you happy, and the people you love will always understand this. They will understand as long as you make good on your other priorities and honor your commitments in other areas.
I totally understand the angst that comes with all of this, though, when thinking about how much you would rather be making music. It's fun turning wrenches and reading manuals but it's difficult when you just want to jump to the end point. If you give yourself finite, tangible goals, though, you can visualize what "success" means and you can work toward that. It gets closer each day that you work on one part of that plan. Imagine yourself spending most of your "music time" actually making and recording music instead of fixing things. Because THAT is why you are doing this, and it's going to be so much more rewarding when everything else is in its place.
To sum it all up... Enjoy what you are doing now, because you hopefully won't be doing it for too much longer. You love to repair and build, and to be an advanced amateur technician, so make the most of it while you're doing it. Take notes, post here, make a scrapbook, and give advice, because that is what you are good at and everyone here appreciates it so much. Your presence here is invaluable to so many people, and we all thank you very, very much for it. Keep a list of what needs to be done, and don't add to that list unless there are new, intermediate steps to accomplishing other items on that list. Take on no new projects, and don't be afraid to decline a request for help if it will take you on a long detour. Everybody here understands that you have enough on your plate and that you can't bear any more. So don't be afraid to say "No" to someone or something if it's going to get in the way of what you already have going on.
(Don't say No to the wife or kids, but I think you know that! )
Anyway. I'm done writing for now. To put a cherry on it, I have to say that I really admire you for your dedication. I also really admire you for wanting to be the best husband and father that you can be. Having come from a broken, dysfunctional family myself, I really wish that I had someone like you around when I was a boy. You're doing a great job, dude, so KEEP IT UP!!
CORY! I know what you mean. I am having the same issues but perhaps on a smaller scale, since I have less equipment and my equipment isn't in need of such intense rehab.
I do, however, have a lot of work to do, and new issues keep coming up as I 'complete' my studio (is it ever complete?). For example, after spending three months planning my cabling, acquiring the supplies, spending nearly $1,000 on everything, and then finally making and installing the cables, I was ready to get rolling on new musical projects. Not to mention, I had to spend $800 on custom racks that would meet my needs and also fit into the space that I have available. When this didn't work out as planned, I became very discouraged and was at the end of my patience.
One thing that I have, which you don't, is copious amounts of spare time. I'm single with no kids, and I currently don't have a girlfriend/love interest. I tend to work six hours a day during the week, and I have a boss who thankfully supports me 100% in my off-hours projects. My friends also understand that this is what I love to do, and they understand that because of this I often don't feel like going out or meeting for lunch/coffee/drinks or whatever. Take this into consideration, because this is where our lives are different.
Anyway. As you have read in my recent posts, I'm making a lot of progress but I'm still managing a number of setbacks. Allow me to take inventory:
1. Cabling: I'm still working out the kinks in my cabling. If something doesn't work as expected, I have to ferret out the problem by tracing the signal path from origin to endpoint, pulling cables and testing with a multimeter. This is very frustrating when the take is ready to go and I just want to hit 'Record'. Thankfully, I'm only recording myself. Nobody else would put up with this.
2. Mixer: There's a ghost somewhere in this machine. I swear that a few line inputs aren't working correctly, but I don't have enough evidence to analyze, from which I could isolate the issue and work on a solution. And, since the cabling is still suspect, I can't be too sure whether it's the mixer or cabling, or perhaps another device.
3. The 48: I don't know what's going on here. Amp cards? Relays? Faulty noise reduction units? I'm going to do a full physical on the deck and see if the issue manifests itself in a concrete manner. Start from the top, working all the way down, taking notes and making decisions based on my limited experience and natural technical aptitude/intuition.
4. My second 34b: I had to replace the capstan flywheel assembly. It's installed. Play doesn't work well, so I ordered a new belt. I haven't installed the belt yet, but I am able to play a tape (not monitoring the output) for a brief period before it grinds to a near halt. FF and RW do the same thing, so it's not just the belt that's having problems. Remember, I bought this deck from someone who lived a block from the ocean and there was some corrosion in/on the deck. Plus, the the tension arm on the takeup side seems to stick, so this could cause other problems. This is basically a parts deck that I'm trying to bring back to full health, and I'm wondering if it's 'totaled' or if I should continue restoring it.
(By the way: When I wrote the paragraph above, my cat scooted across the floor on his butt. GREAT... now I have to take him to the vet and spend money on THAT, too??
)5: Patchbays. I ran out of room on my four PB-64s. I might have to buy another patchbay. Also, I have this problem:
See that mess? Most of those patch cables are jumpers for the accessory send/receive jacks on all 20 channels PLUS the 8 busses. When I plug in the eight-track it adds 16 more cables; more if I'm using tape echo. I built the patchbay this way for a very specific reason: I'm making music which relies on TONS of tape effects and I need to have access to every input and output in order to achieve these effects. But, with 40+ patch cables plugged in, it's total albatross territory.
To solve this problem, I'm building something which most people would consider to be totally pointless. I'm building a 'normalling' RCA patchbay in a 2u project chassis, with the normals made using toggle switches. Closed circuit = jumpered, open circuit for patching to a device. I may also include sixteen additional ports to jumper my eight-track to channels 13-20, but I haven't decided.
This project will take maybe two weeks to complete but it will be SO worth it. I could just upgrade to TT patch bays but I'd be out another grand, at least.
6: My effects deck. A TEAC X-10R. It simply doesn't work, and I somehow broke it further when I tried fixing it. I'm dreading this project, but it needs to be done.
7: Recapping the PSU on my M-520. Not an onerous task, but something that will require great care and planning.
8: Aligning and calibrating my MX5050 MkIII-2. This machine is way out of whack and I'm sure I'll have to spend an entire afternoon getting it right again.
9: I have run out of space in my bedroom, and I have a big bedroom. I'm looking at some office space this week, and although I'm willing to spend ~ $300/month to house my gear somewhere else, I'd really prefer not to. It's just a fact of life here, where housing is so expensive.
10: I'm sure there's more, but...
These are all fairly big roadblocks, but I have found a few ways to cope. One thing about myself is that I am a natural problem solver, and I get an immense amount of satisfaction from tackling seemingly insurmountable tasks. ... To be able to step back and look at what I've done and say to myself, I did that, brings so much inner calm and happiness.
What's clear about you, Cory, through your interactions here is that you really, really enjoy these things, too. You love to fix things, and you care about these objects as if they were living, breathing creatures with souls. It's clear. And I feel the same way. It transcends simple work ethic, and it's more important to us than simply getting the job done. We work with our hands and with our minds, and our work satisfies our souls.
The key here is to not get lost, and to balance everything. It is also important to say "Enough!" and to reorganize priorities, even if it means putting all of these projects on hold for a week in order to pray/meditate/reunite with oneself and to strengthen bonds with loved ones. Even more, it is very important to acknowledge and accept that this is who you are, this is what makes you happy, and the people you love will always understand this. They will understand as long as you make good on your other priorities and honor your commitments in other areas.
I totally understand the angst that comes with all of this, though, when thinking about how much you would rather be making music. It's fun turning wrenches and reading manuals but it's difficult when you just want to jump to the end point. If you give yourself finite, tangible goals, though, you can visualize what "success" means and you can work toward that. It gets closer each day that you work on one part of that plan. Imagine yourself spending most of your "music time" actually making and recording music instead of fixing things. Because THAT is why you are doing this, and it's going to be so much more rewarding when everything else is in its place.
To sum it all up... Enjoy what you are doing now, because you hopefully won't be doing it for too much longer. You love to repair and build, and to be an advanced amateur technician, so make the most of it while you're doing it. Take notes, post here, make a scrapbook, and give advice, because that is what you are good at and everyone here appreciates it so much. Your presence here is invaluable to so many people, and we all thank you very, very much for it. Keep a list of what needs to be done, and don't add to that list unless there are new, intermediate steps to accomplishing other items on that list. Take on no new projects, and don't be afraid to decline a request for help if it will take you on a long detour. Everybody here understands that you have enough on your plate and that you can't bear any more. So don't be afraid to say "No" to someone or something if it's going to get in the way of what you already have going on.
(Don't say No to the wife or kids, but I think you know that!
)Anyway. I'm done writing for now. To put a cherry on it, I have to say that I really admire you for your dedication. I also really admire you for wanting to be the best husband and father that you can be. Having come from a broken, dysfunctional family myself, I really wish that I had someone like you around when I was a boy. You're doing a great job, dude, so KEEP IT UP!!
Last edited:
O
ofajen
Daddy-O Daddy-O Baby
Cory:
Scroll to the pictures at the bottom and you will see your next machine:
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/msg/1544333383.html
At least it's old enough and heavy enough to be of interest, eh?
Cheers,
Otto
Scroll to the pictures at the bottom and you will see your next machine:
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/msg/1544333383.html
At least it's old enough and heavy enough to be of interest, eh?
Cheers,
Otto
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Otto...that's sick.
I actually saw one of those (the A-80 24-track) converted to 2" 16-track at the studio of the guy who bought my M-520...it looked new. Wicked nice looking machine. BUT...If the A-80 was a person I don't think its somebody with whom I'd be having a beer...The Ampex MM-1000 however...au contraire.
Jeff,
Thanks. Don't mean to get mushy or anything but your words are a wonderful cap to a weekend that turned out much different than when it started.
And you've taken on a tremendous amount of gear...your albatross patch bay array looks awesome and the cables...I know how much time that takes...they look incredible. You've done a lot. Keep truckin', we're here when you need us. My instinct is to comment on each of your bullet points but I know that's not what you intended.
We'll get your 48 back online.
Don't forget to do some direct tests with those M-520 LINE inputs to rule out the mixer if you can.
Its looking great and as long as you have a vision defined for the goal, a goal that may change but something you can sit with for a season, you can see the gap narrowing. Look back to see how far you've come. I did that this weekend with the MM-1000...I was starting to feel like I was spinning my wheels, but...its only been a few months and I've done WAY more than I originally intended. All stuff that would need to be done at some point and I think I've been more moderate with this project, but it HAS come along way, and I have a goal...
Thanks again for the encouragement, inspiration and kind words.
I actually saw one of those (the A-80 24-track) converted to 2" 16-track at the studio of the guy who bought my M-520...it looked new. Wicked nice looking machine. BUT...If the A-80 was a person I don't think its somebody with whom I'd be having a beer...The Ampex MM-1000 however...au contraire.
Jeff,
Thanks. Don't mean to get mushy or anything but your words are a wonderful cap to a weekend that turned out much different than when it started.
And you've taken on a tremendous amount of gear...your albatross patch bay array looks awesome and the cables...I know how much time that takes...they look incredible. You've done a lot. Keep truckin', we're here when you need us. My instinct is to comment on each of your bullet points but I know that's not what you intended.
We'll get your 48 back online.
Don't forget to do some direct tests with those M-520 LINE inputs to rule out the mixer if you can.
Its looking great and as long as you have a vision defined for the goal, a goal that may change but something you can sit with for a season, you can see the gap narrowing. Look back to see how far you've come. I did that this weekend with the MM-1000...I was starting to feel like I was spinning my wheels, but...its only been a few months and I've done WAY more than I originally intended. All stuff that would need to be done at some point and I think I've been more moderate with this project, but it HAS come along way, and I have a goal...
Thanks again for the encouragement, inspiration and kind words.
famous beagle
Well-known member
Ok, seriously though. I would say you're very much in the minority. I don't know of one other person who has never had any computer problems -- be it hard drive crashes, windows crashes, other software problems, hardware compatibility. Consider yourself very lucky!
ez_willis
.
i didn't say i have NEVER had any issues, but since XP was released and i bought my rme card there has been zero, and it's been 4 or 5 years.
Blue Jinn
Rider of the ARPocalypse
I've been relatively happy w/ "turnkey" linux solutions like 64 Studio (of which I have the "beta" 1.3 version from the defunct demudi site.) The M-Audio cards are fully supported, as are I believe much of the RME cards as well. I I've found Ardour (yes after a lot of "WTF!?") to work OK. (It has a pretty steep learning curve.) I was/am used to Cakewalk which is pretty idiot proof, FWIW, I also have an older MAXI Studio ISIS
and gave up trying to use the bundled Logic.Win 98 has a lot of positive comments about being used for audio. I've not had too many problems with it but you have to tweak it to eliminate all the things it thinks you need to run.
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
Unfortunately I have a Terratec Phase 88, the firewire version, which I use for making digital copies of the multitracks. The PCI version is supposed to work quite well, but the firewire version does not seem to work nearly as well. The Xonar has some very strange effects on monitoring the S/PDIF input, but the actual recording is fine.
To try and minimise RF noise I usually use external USB interfaces (for digitizing 2-track masters), a Transit and two Edirols. Unfortunately they all broke down in the same way... after about a year the USB data starts to leak into the analogue circuits. I think it's probably the filter capacitors dying. As mentioned, I've modified one of them into a standalone ADC and am using an optical link to digitize things at the moment. 'Course, this is not something that can be blamed on the OS
I've used 98, 2K and XP Home. All of them have been problematic in one way or another, even with different hardware setups. Windows 7 in release is buggier than it was when it was in beta and it's fingers crossed as to whether it even boots - some days it can barely play the startup sound so I don't think using it for anything actually important is a good idea.
In short, there is no panacea. Tape isn't and computers certainly aren't. At the end of the day there is always a place for problems to creep in, whatever you're using to record. You just have to grit your teeth and soldier on.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
I've really enjoyed some experiences in the past setting up simple mobile DAW units out of old laptops using stripped/tweaked win98se...
jpmorris, I think the whole reality that there are always openings for problems to creep in is so true, and that is one reason I'm so happy with my DAW setup...I spent the time to build a system that works for me and that is stable and whenever I think about changing or upgrading I quickly find no interest to continue the thought because what I have works and I'm familiar with it. Its getting long in the tooth by this time but I could really care less: Cubase Studio 4 with Yamaha 01X and i88x as well as a companion Presonus Digimax FS...my studio PC is a Dell Dimension 9200 with a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo and 4Gb PC6400 RAM. I'd love to dabble with 64-bit but Steinberg didn't do an XP64 for Studio 4. So I stick with 32-bit. I run two sets of mirrored SATAII RAID drives (4 drives total) for a backup set and a system/tracking set, though I'm thinking of changing that. Anyway, the Dell runs great and the system has been nearly bug free but I went through a lot to get it there. I've had recent problems trying to get the audio hardware to cooperate with a Dell laptop but I think it is a conflict with the onboard 1394 adapter, so...oh well.
No panacea.
jpmorris, I think the whole reality that there are always openings for problems to creep in is so true, and that is one reason I'm so happy with my DAW setup...I spent the time to build a system that works for me and that is stable and whenever I think about changing or upgrading I quickly find no interest to continue the thought because what I have works and I'm familiar with it. Its getting long in the tooth by this time but I could really care less: Cubase Studio 4 with Yamaha 01X and i88x as well as a companion Presonus Digimax FS...my studio PC is a Dell Dimension 9200 with a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo and 4Gb PC6400 RAM. I'd love to dabble with 64-bit but Steinberg didn't do an XP64 for Studio 4. So I stick with 32-bit. I run two sets of mirrored SATAII RAID drives (4 drives total) for a backup set and a system/tracking set, though I'm thinking of changing that. Anyway, the Dell runs great and the system has been nearly bug free but I went through a lot to get it there. I've had recent problems trying to get the audio hardware to cooperate with a Dell laptop but I think it is a conflict with the onboard 1394 adapter, so...oh well.
No panacea.