Computer Or Stand Alone?....yes, Again!

[Drummerbones]

Hey gang. I have been recording with different stand alone units for many years now. I've pretty much mastered the use of the "all-in-one" box, and the use of external compressors, effects processors, parametric & multi-band EQ's bla bla bla....Okay, right now I'm in the process of getting my digital studio back together again (going through a move and had to get rid of my gear). I'm very comfortable with the all-in-one style since that's what I'm used to. I've done a lot of mastering with Sound Forge, but never any real recording or mixing with a PC.

Do I go back to an all in one unit (looking hard at the Yamaha AW16G) or should I finally take the leap to a PC?

If I go with a PC (yes, I've done many searches here on the BBS) where do I start? There are soooo many different computers, sound cards, mixing programs....it's making me dizzy.

What PC?
Which program?
Which sound card (I need 8 inputs)?
Plug ins? No clue there....
Format for backups?

AHHHRRR!!!!

 

[photoresistor]

umm... you got a price point here?

I would suggest going with the AMD platform, with the amount of money you are willing to spend determining whether you go the Athlon XP or AMD64 route. Basically, make sure you get good quality RAM and a good amount of it (at least 528mb)...

For the soundcard I would suggest looking at the Aardvark Q10... its what I have. It has 8 inputs and some great sounding pre's for the money.

You can get hooked up with a version of Cubase LE is you look around (they come bundled w/ the q10)

 

[manning1]

my recommendation.
athlon (or 64 if you have the bucks). 512 ram, two fast 7200 rpm hard drives.
one for win. one for tracks, try and use 8 mb cache drive for tracks if you can. DONT USE humungous hard drves. ie: not 200 gb.
i use powertracks multitrack software (49 bucks from pgmusic.com).
you wont do better unless you spend hundreds more. just try the demo and youll seewhat i mean. 48 tracks. just the in depth audio and midi editing and vocal harmonisation alone is worth the price. also try band in a box demo.
very addictive if your a songwriter.
get a delta sound card, and dont put anything else in the pci slots.
just search under my name for lots of other tips posted in the past year regarding computers, software,mics,techniques,speakers etc etc.
i'm a puter engr, and highly recommend amd for a powerfull daw.
peace. if you got q's after back reading my tips just ask.