CyberMoron needs help!!

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pouxhawk

pouxhawk

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Will a Hewlett Packard 7855, 1Ghz, 128meg, 60 Gig hd, DVD & CDR, with a "stinkin on board" sound card and “Windows ME” be able to do basic four or eight track recording? I don't need "state o the art" here, just basic vanilla stuff. I have analogue recording equipment at this time that works just fine and would like to eventually get into a Mac with pro-tools, but I really needed a computer for general home use. I couldn’t resist this one for 800 bucks!! I have been to the HP support several times and they don't even seem to understand the question. I can't even find out if the on board sound is capable of the "full duplex" operation that multitrack recording requires. HP said I can disable the on board audio, but it would probably mean screwing up the CDR and DVD settings. Being that I'm a relative novice to anything other than the most basic computer skills (READ: NONE), I don’t want to get into too much registry editing. If I can’t use this computer for multitrack recording , I’ll just leave it as the family computer. I suppose I can still use it for CD burning and MP3 conversions. I just won't waste money buying Cakewalk, or Cubase software. It would be a shame though, because it seems to be a “balls to the walls” fast little computer…….pouxhawk
 
I get at least 16 to 20 tracks on a HP 500mhz Celeron, so Id say you are in business....I have to increase the buffer size in my software (N-track @ www.fasoft.com) and close out all background programs except systray,explorer, and ntrack....I do have a 2nd hard drive (7200 Maxtor) that helps out, you may have to look into that....unless you have another sound card, dont disable the onboard sound or youll get nada....that onboard sound is "basic vanilla" and will give you a quite usable sound...eventually you will want to upgrade it, believe me, but for now youll do ok with it....

If you are just learning PC recording, go to that N-Track link and download the demo...alot of people here use N-Track, and it is without a doubt the best bang for the buck software out there....
 
pouxhawk theCyberMoron replys

OK, Let me get this straight, the on-board sound (on your HP at least) is capable of playing back old tracks while recording new ones? Wow! I hope thats the case with this one. I will check out the afor mentioned software....thanks, Dean"pouxhawk" G.... P.S, Is the input on your sound card mono or stereo?
 
crap, my reply just got erased. that sucks. okay, your pc is fine for recording. you might want to look into gettin a cheap montego II from turtle beach for recording stereo. and it's full duplex and all. go and download protools for pc from their website. it FREE!!!! yeah, that's right. you're limited to 8 audio tracks, but for a beginner, that should tickle your fancy for awhile, at least to learn to use the software. have fun.

~t
 
In case you didn't know already, check out ubid.com for any computer upgrades,ie: soundcards, etc. It would be listed under computers, sub-heading, components. Prices allow for much better upgrade than retail outlets, and that site comes highly recommened from zdnet.com (another great site by the way ) Ziff-Davis Publishers web site. As far as installing the card after purchase, if you can install an answering machine, or set the time on your VCR, you can install a sound card in your computer....:)
 
Hewlett Packard just ruined my day

Just got an E-mail from HP. They said that the on- board SC is not a duplex unit. And though disabling the on board sound and inserting an aftermarket SC was not difficult, it would most likely render my CDR and DVD without audio playback!! And that, they said, would be my problem not theirs..... Just when I was getting excited about this whole computer thing!!! ..Dean.... Maybe I can get a few more years out of my analouge stuff,,,
 
rendering your CDR & DVD soundless???? this means you just unplug the audio outputs from these units from the 'onboard' sound and plug them into your new soundcard.... making sure, of course, that you enable the software usually provided with the card. and away you go...... :)
 
poux, dont let your day be ruined yet...I just tried on my HP and the onboard card played back and recorded at the same time...you may wanna try it yourself....
 
OK, I'm alright, breath deeply..Don't panic

This is rough for a crotchity old technosaur who plays a 58 Gibson....and it's still younger than I.... I'm not acustomed to all this new fangled stuff...... You folks have been wonderful and I owe you all a favor or three( how about free lighting on your next low budget feature!!)...Thanks, Dean "pouxhawk" G
 
all you have to do is find someone who will be cool and install a cheap full duplex sound card. im by no means a computer genius, but i have my friends help me out. next on the list is a cheap video card for a second monitor for double screen recording. boy will it be nice to have two editing programs opened up on different screens.

t
 
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