24 Tracs @ 24/192 - PC or Mac Suggestions

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Deface7String

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Looking at buying two MOTU HD192's. How much horsepower do you think I need to record 24 tracs at 24 bit, 192 khz? Looked at buying a DSP card for the plug-ins, but deceided against it so the computer will have to handle whatever plug-ins I need. I will decide what software to use after figureing out whether to use PC or Mac. I was thinking with giong with a Mac with 1.25 ghz DP and 1 gig ram, but wondered if I could go with something cheaper... Any suggestions?
 
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You should probably figure out which software you want to run, and then figure out which platform you want to run it on.
From a purely performance perspective, you're going to be able to get more out of a similarly priced PC than out of a Mac. Whether or not you need that power is another question though. Then there's also the matter of which OS you feel comfortable with. If you want the most powerful DAW you can get, dual 3.06Ghz Xeons is it. mmm....dual Xeons.
 
Just checked out a dual xeon 2ghz by dell... with similar options as the dual 1.25 mac it is about $900 cheaper!

AS far as the software and dual processors... I've heard people say that "the software" must support dual processors to take advantage of haveing dual processors.... That doesn't make since to me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is the OS that controls the processors... not the software... therefore you would have to have software that is compatible with an OS that can support 2 processors. Right? So if I get the dell I just looked at I would need Windows XP Pro as the OS and any compatible Windows XP Pro software...

Any suggestions for software compatible with Windows XP Pro? Sonor maybe?
 
NO, the OS AND the soft need to be able to handle 2 cpu's. The OS needs it of course, but the soft needs to be able to split its needs to different threads so that the OS can allocate them to the different cpu's. Also the soft needs to do this intelligently, so that some threads stay locked to 1 cpu because switching from cpu gives latency penalties.

Sonar can do that, Nuendo also if you go for the pc.There may be others, but those 2 I'm sure of.

Have you give a tought about your HD's? A couple 15k U320 scsi drives?
 
Havoc's right. Multiple processor performance depends on the OS and the app. However, even if the app doesn't support MP, the OS will (win2k, xp pro) so your system will remain responsive under heavy load.

Something I'm uncertain about is the threading involved with plugins. Do Direct-X and VST plugs spawn their own threads, or does the host app?...and if they spawn their own, will the OS decide which processor works on what?
 
Audio Hard Drive

Would a "120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive with DataBurst Cache™" be sufficient for an audio drive? A bit on the slow side huh? The 320 scsi drives are expensive! wow..... for a 36 gig and a 146 gig drive at 10k adds $1200! Lets see... fast drives or a good preamp?
 
Most recent model 7200RPM drives should be good for most audio work...but...egad. 24 x 24@192. Youre pushing over 20 megs a second onto your drive. Honestly, I don't think this is necessary. Strictly speaking, 24 x 24@192 puts you out of the range of even the absolute highest of IDE harddrives, which have minimum write speeds of below 20 megs...(more like 15-17)

Do you need 192? I guess if you want it, you want it...but I don't see any reason for it, honestly. Pure overkill, IMHO. step it down to 96 and you're back in the range of any decent 7200 RPM hard drive, now. If you really want 192, you only have two choices: 1) Raid 0 or Raid 5 or 2) SCSI 15k RPM. Note, if you're doing the SCSI thing, those things are LOUD. You don't want those anywhere in the vicinity of your recordings.

Judging by your use of the terms DataBurst Cache...your looking at those Dells, huh? Well, most Dells use Western Digitals, at least on the IDE side, and Western Digital hard drives are good...

Wait a bit on that server stuff that Dell sells. Those Xeon motherboards use different PCI slots. They use Universal PCI slots (64 bit slots)... which means that, despite the name, they can't use 5v PCI cards because of the way they are notched. Why should this matter?

Well, most PCI audio cards out there are notched 5v. Like the M-Audio series cards. (Their new consumer audio card, the Revolution, IS notched universal...) Or the Echo cards. Or the Aardvark. Or the Terratec. Or the Frontier Designs. What does this mean? Don't get the Dell Xeon servers if you plan on a PCI audio solution.

One exception to this rule: the recent RME cards are 32 bit PCI cards notched for universal slots. Those will work. Whether they're compatible with those serverworks chipsets...who knows...

That's another thing. Chipset compatibility. Does anyone here know about compatibility between any audio interfaces and the ServerWorks chipsets? Because these things were not made for audio use or for mainstream public use, I can't imagine that much testing has been done for compatibility with these chipsets, which most of the Dell servers use.

Make sure you RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH! The more you do, the better! If you want a Dell, those Dimension desktops are very good for audio work. I use a Dimension 4550 with Sonar 2 XL and Gigastudio 96 with an Audiophile for output. Just reinstalled Windows clean and popped everything in...no messing with drivers. The new 845PE motherboard that they're using in their very recent Dell Dimensions is a very good, no-hassle type motherboard.

Research research research! Better to be safe than sorry...

Remember, you could always pay someone else to do the research for you. That's what Carillon Audio does with its turnkey systems. Good systems. Nicely designed. Or you could always ask me to build one for you. :) Actually, I haven't established much of a reputation on this board, but there are others who have, I bet...
 
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I think the threads of plug-ins are managed by the host. It has to, as it makes no sense to send the threads of plug-ins that are linked to different cpus, and only the host application can know that. From what I remember about how sonar uses the 2 cpus, is that all plug-ins are on a single cpu, so it has to be the host.

Scsi 15k drives are loud. I have 2 10k ones and they are the loudest part of my pc. And they get hot and need a fan! A single 36G U160 10k drive uses 12W idle. But you get a 3-5 year warranty, no questions asked.

Oh and you will need a large psu with a huge fan. This kind of pc just begs for a room for itself.

Good remarks about the pci slots. To add to the confusion: even if a card is notched universal, it does not mean it will work at 3V. Most boards do have a single "normal" pci slot. Do not forget that most of the serverworks boards already have 1 (or 2) ethernet ports, video, firewire, whatever onboard. Go to the www.2cpu.com forum and check there. Not much audio freaks around, but loads of info.
 
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