Home studio Financial dilema (essentials?)

[ambi]

Ok, im trying to work out what equipment i need/want for my home studio, and how much its going to cost, etc.. the main issue ive found is with the computer. I currently have a decent computer, and i don't want to just throw it away, and i can't decide if i should just totaly upgrade this one, and use it for music/games/general use. Or give it a slight upgrade, by adding a delta 44, and some more ram, and using it only for music, then buyin a seperate computer for games and general use.

If i did just totaly upgrade this computer (which would be cheaper than upgrading and buying another), i would have to some how make it work for music and for general use, and games. I have the klipsch 4.1 speakers right now, very good speakers, but horrible for monitoring and mixing. But i would want to have them attached at to the computer for gaming and music, as well as the delta card, and some monitoring speakers. CAn this be done? could i say, have a delta 44, with monitoring speakers attached to it, and a sblive audigy with my klipsch attached in the same box? It seems like there would be conflicts, and i wouldn't know which card was processing what, and i would have to be constantly unmuting this, and muting that etc..

The equipment i wanted for this hip hop oriented studio is.

Mackie mixing board (1202 or 1402)
Delta 44
Shure sm58
Shure sm87
Roland Midi Keyboard
2 technics 1200 turn tables
1 vestax 05pro mixer
yorkville ysmi powered monitors
Computer

My current computer is a 1.2 gig tbird, with an ati radeon 64 meg ddr card, 256 megs of pc133 ram, and an abit kt7a mobo. It runs fine for music stuff, but kinda shitty for games. Thats why i was considering just adding some ram and a delta card, and using this stirctly for music. Then getting another computer for general use. That way i wouldn't mix anything up, and i wouldn't have to deal with switching computers/using 2 sound cards at once, for gaming, and for music. the only problem i find with this is its damn expensive! If i could make one computer do it all, it would save me a lot of money! When i think about it. i really don't neeeed 2 computers, cause i can only use one at a time, and ive been using this one for games and stuff, and for music. and it seems ok. I would have seperate hard drives, possibly with seperate Operating systems on them, for music and for games, so the two would be seperated. But i guess the main issue is having 2 sound cards, with two sets of speakers attached at once.

Sorry thats kind of a mess, im not even certain where i was going, but if you can make sense of it, could you fill me in? And if there is something in my "studio" im missing, thats essential please tell me. If i could just upgrade this one, it would save me about 1500 dollars candian, which i could buy other equipment with, and that way put together my studio faster. but that would also leave me with almost a complete computer in older parts, that would be usless. After upgrading the mobo, ram, cpu, video card, case fans, power supply, cpu fan, and adding another hard drive and a delta 44, i basically have a whole other system left over sitting in a pile of parts.

 

[ambi]

just some computer specs

just some computer specs

i could upgrade this one with the following


-2 80x80x25mm Enermax Ultra Quiet RPM Adjustable Clear Case Fan: UC- 8FAB - $40
-Enermax 350W EG365P-VE(FMA) Dual Fans ? $69
-3 256MB SDRAM PC 133 ( Micron / Infineon ) CAS-2 - $177(anitech)
-Zalman's CNPS6000-Cu - $60
Delta 44 - $410

Total - $756
+ Tax - $862


And then i would have to buy a new system with a monitor and everything.


-2 80x80x25mm Enermax Ultra Quiet RPM Adjustable Clear Case Fan: UC- 8FAB - $40(xpcgear.com)
-Enermax 450W with two fans ( EG465P-VE) ? $100(anitech)
-2 512M DDR-PC2700: 333mhz ( new version with new routing ) - $378(anitech)
-(better one?)-Thermaltake Volcano 7 - $28(atic)
-XP2100+ CPU socket 462/128k+256K ( TPI reading; 1.73ghz ) - $365(atic)
-AT7-333R KT333, ATA133-Raid (0,1, 0+1) to 12 IDE devices, 4xDDR-333, 6Audio, 2USB2.0/4USB1.1, AGP4x, LAN10/100, i1394 x 2, SPDIF port - $255(atic)
-40G 7200rpm ATA100 2M ST340016A (Barracuda4 ) - $118(anitech)
-MSI Geforce 4 Ti4600 128MB DDR AGP w/VITO & DVI & games retail $519(anitech)
-Sound Blaster Audigy value with i1394 port - $100(atic)
-52x EIDE - $40(atic)
-AOpen 32X10X40X CD-RW w/ Justlink - $105(anitech)
-Logitech: Navigator internet keyboard (967093-0403) - $37(atic)
-Logitech Optical wheel Mouse PS2 & USB (DB58 ) - $25(atic)
-Case - $60
-D-Link 530TXS10/100 PCI network card - $13(anitech)
-1.44 FD - $18(atic)
PF790-2 19" 0.25mm Flat-CRT 1600x1200@88Hz Refresh - $540(atic)
Total ? $2741
+ Tax ? $3125



So theres my music computer, and my gaming/general use computer. Adds up to about... 4g's canadian. ouch. But my old computer is being used, nothing wasted. I don't have the two sets confused, nothign to bog down the music or mess it up. its all good.
but i could just do a big upgrade, like this, to the old computer.

-2 80x80x25mm Enermax Ultra Quiet RPM Adjustable Clear Case Fan: UC- 8FAB - $40(xpcgear.com)
-Enermax 450W with two fans ( EG465P-VE) ? $100(anitech)
-2 512M DDR-PC2700: 333mhz ( new version with new routing ) - $378(anitech)
-XP2100+ CPU socket 462/128k+256K ( TPI reading; 1.73ghz ) - $365(atic)
-AT7-333R KT333, ATA133-Raid (0,1, 0+1) to 12 IDE devices, 4xDDR-333, 6Audio, 2USB2.0/4USB1.1, AGP4x, LAN10/100, i1394 x 2, SPDIF port - $255(atic)
-40G 7200rpm ATA100 2M ST340016A (Barracuda4 ) - $118(anitech)
-MSI Geforce 4 Ti4600 128MB DDR AGP w/VITO & DVI & games retail $519(anitech)
-Zalman's CNPS6000-Cu - $60
Delta 44 - $410

total ? 2245
tax - 2559

Its about 1500 less. Now, if that could work, i would have saved 1500, and still have almost an entire computer, that i could sell, or, put in a case with a moniter and have to use. But, i would have no use for it! i guess i could add some more ram, and put the delta in it, and use it only for music, and then use the other one for games! Doh, im back to plan one, seems like theres some flaw in my logic. I guess totaly upgrading this one, and then selling off the old stuff for as much as possible would make the most sense. That way, it would reduce the 1500 to possibly 800, and leave me even more money to buy other stuff with! Anyways, i need input! there seems to be no logic to this situation my head hurts!

 

[Mizchif]

look on ebay
I bought a delta 66 for 340 canadian
70 bucks less than the delta 44 with extra in and outs

 

[Paul881]

Now thats what I call a detailed post

This will probably have all the purists here flaming but I have a PII, 400 Mhz machine with win 98 which is used as a family puter for homework, graphics, business (Win office), a web gateway, games......and recording. I use Sonar, a Delta66 + omni I/O for audio and a s/blaster Live! for midi/sounfonts.

I record audio and midi, i do sound tracks for company presentations/video/powerpoint and the puter is okay for all of that. But it does have 760meg ram Oh, and two 7200 hard disks, one is exclusively for music files.


I will upgrade later on this summer to win XP and I will then go for a faster motherboard and cpu.

My advice would be to upgrade what you have, use it to the max before getting hung up about specs and stuff. Otherwise you become a slave to the upgrade.IMHO. But if you have the money, what the hell.......

 

[ambi]

hmm

yea, that makes sense man. So i can run two sound cards in one box? A delta card, and a sbcard for games and music and stuff? My concern would be that i would have 2 sets of speakers hooked up, monitors to delta, and klipsch 4.1 to sb. Would it try to play sound out of both at once? Like, how would i know which sound card was doing what? If i was recording with the delta , i would know thats the one being used, becuase i wouldn't have any inputs into the sb card. But say if i was processing audio files, etc.. how would i know which card was being used? do you switch? or can you tell the computer which card to use for what? Cause if i could sell me old parts, upgrade, and have everything running in one box, i could potentially save 2200 dollars, which i could use to buy a lot of gear! And i don't really have money to throw around, im only 18. i will be graduating soon, and working full time for a year. Most of that is for music, so i guess i can toss some around, but i don't want to waste a cent on something that won't be usefull, and i want to spend my money as wisely as possible, and im startin to think 2 computers isn't wise. i can only use one at a time. So if i just have one hard drive for music, and the other for games, switching hard drives would be like switching comptuers in the other scenario.

 

[Paul881]

The only reason I have two cards is because the Delta does not directly support soundfonts nor midi inputs. I take the output from the s/blaster into an input of the delta. Or you can get a small mixer unit and an output to your speakers. But you only need one set of speakers.

When you use sequencing software for recording, you have to tell your computer which card to use. Mine is set to Delta as the default but each midi track has to be armed with the info on the s/blaster, its a breeze really. The system "sees" both cards, you just tell it which to use. And any game that uses soundfonts automatically calls up the s/blaster.

 

[ambi]

hmm

ok, it seems as though that would work. But i want my Klipsch 4.1 multimedia speakers connect for regular listening, for a second reference, and for games, because they're surround sound, with a sub, made for gaming, and listening. The monitors are just for making music. So i want to beabel to use the klipsch that are attached to the sblive for the other stuff, and just use the delta for music. But is that possible? Cause to have sound played through the delta, i think id have to set it as my primary playback (or whatever its called) card, so all sound played, goes through it into the monitors. And then if i wanted to switch to the klipsch speakers on the sblive, woudln't i have to go into the settings, and change it so im using the different sound card? Woudlnt that be a big hassle? Come one, i know someone is doing the same thing i want to do, there must be a way to do it!

 

[TexRoadkill]

Ambi, I do exactly what you want to do. The only difficulty is the installation. I had to completely remove my SB and the drivers and get my Delta up and running correctly. I then reinstalled the SB and it worked fine. IRQ conflicts are usually the problem and that is a way to make sure they get their own IRQ's.

My system is only a P3 750 with 512MB PC133. It's showing it's age on games but it works fine as a DAW. I'll probably get a newer comp just for games

 

[ambi]

hmm

yea tex, as you can see above, i was thinking of a seperate comp for games. but, it might be too pricey, especially caue ive only has this one a year. But yea, im thinking of having a dual boot. One harddrive win2k for audio stuff, and have the delta card used there, and on the other hard drive win xp, and the sb card.