1st test of my new handbuilt DAW...

  • Thread starter Thread starter tubedude
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tubedude

tubedude

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Finally got a chance to mess with it tonight and get some things configured...
I loaded a 21 track project at 24 bit, no plugs, at 50 latency in Sonar 1.3 with WDM in Windows XP.
Worked like a charm. I am used to getting dropouts at 5 tracks, so this is like heaven to me. I am going to give it an intense session of testing in the next few days, and report back on what this particular system can handle so that if anyone is interested, they can copy it. I have high hopes, as I built it for performance. After I get a good idea of what it will handle, I am going to overclock and re-test. This should be cool.
Athlon XP 1800
Epox EP-8kha+
256mb Crucial DDR RAM
Asus GeForce2 card with TV out and 64mb onboard...
Maxtor fluid dynamic bearing hard drive, 40 gb, ata133 (very quiet and nice, highly recommended)
So far, so good. $500 in the box.
 
Awesome!

I got one of those 40GB liquid bearing maxtors in my kid's computer...it is VERY sweet...I might have to steal it :) Only $80 for it too! Kinda spooky though...I'm used to hearing a bit of the grind :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
That sounds like a killer deal. What's the CPU speed and where did you get it for 500 bones?
 
Ok, I'm all smiles.
Another simple test, and things are looking great.
The song was 21 tracks at 24 bit, 44.1, Ametths song called "Blatchford".
Ok, running Sonar at 100ms latency (rather high, but the playback meters were dead on as far as I could tell) with console view on and all meters on in console and track view, also with the hold peaks function on the meters.
Main out had 1 reverb, one 6 band parametric EQ
Tracks 1-10 each had an Fx-pansion Reverb plug-in, one per track.
Tracks 11-21 each had 6 band parametric Eq's, one per track.
This test played through numerous times without dropouts, and read at only 30% CPU and 20% disk usage. Thats 11 reverbs (which are very CPU intensive) 12 parmetric EQ's, and 21 tracks total with all meters kicking ass and everything responsive as hell.
Very happy so far. I'm going to cut the latency in half and see what happens from there tomorrow. Then I'm going to load it til it crashes, just to see what it will handle.
 
Seanmorse-
CPU speed is 1.56 GHz, I ordered everything from wherever had the best prices and shipping rates. Everything in my computer, just about, came from a different source. www.pricewatch.com lists the days best prices on whatever computer parts you are after. I ordered everything starting from there. So far this is killer, but Windows XP is getting on my nerves. Sonar rocks.
 
Bumping the latency down to 60ms seems to have increased the disk usage by about 5%, but otherwise, its still going.
 
Forgot to mention that I am running Sonar 1.0, I forgot that I didnt install any service packs for Sonar. Its doing wonderful without though.
 
hey tubedude

the motherboard Epox EP-8kha+

does it have onboard sound?

i was looking at that motherboard and the website said that it has onboard sound

can you get it without?

Tukkis
 
Dunno if it comes without, but you can disable it in the bios so mno sweat there.... and it can be useful of clicktracks and stuff if you are using a delta 1010 or something similar that doesnt have onboard...
 
good as long as you can disable it because i don't want any conflicts

Thanks
Cya
 
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