I need help designing my system

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CRISB

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I am a guitar player singer that has decided to enter the world of home recording. I have a KORG D8 (8 track unit) but realize it's limitations so I am jumping into recording with a computer. This is all new to me & I have ACID PRO 3, Sound Forge 5 & SONAR XL on my current system which I have been messing with but it is an AMD 750 chipset & I have learned that their are limitations with the soundcards I can use (I presently have the SoundBlaster PCI that came with my computer). I am not very knowledgeable about computers but I have friends that are, however they are not extremely knowledgeable about building computer recording systems & the best product choices out there.

Since prices continue to drop in the computer field I am going to get a separate computer for recording, a great soundcard with pre-amps & phantom power preferably, & great near field monitors. My concern is that things in the computer field change so fast that I want to make sure I get the most updated hardware, speakers, soundcard & other components. Can you advise me on the best stuff out there now for a computer based system that I can use to record guitar, vocals, bass & looped or MIDI drum tracks? I only will ever need to record 2 things @ one time but want a soundcard with optical in/out (since I sometimes want to connect the KORG D8's optical in/out to the computer).

I really would appreciate anyones present thoughts/opinions on the best system I can create & where are the best places to buy from.

Thanks!
 
I plan on spending around $800 for the soundcard (if necessary), $500 for the monitors & around $1000 for the computer (I don't need a keyboard or monitor). Oh & about $200 for a great cd burner (I have a plextor 8/4/32A now but this was bought for my current system a year ago which I never intended to record with). Do you feel I should use this plextor? I think there are a lot of better burners that have come out since last year.

I am really confused about the computer part of this. I want the most up to date system & friends could probably build this for me but I need to know what to get & you guys are the experts on that!

Thanks
 
YMMV

Your Mileage May Vary, but I just want to caution you that although going the computer route gives you amazing flexability, it also might mean a lot of extra headaches too; I'm not trying to discourage you, but rather ensure you know that you are about to open Pandora's Box.

Personally, although I'm still working on making my computer a useful part of my studio, I find that all the fuss with windows stifles my creativity. Sometimes there's nothing like a simple stand-alone recorder....

-Shaz
 
hmmm
well I think PC based recording is great and a lot better than stand alone, but anyway...
My system is a couple years old and still works great for what I do, which is no more than you are talking about. I did write up a complete report of what I bought and more important why, and also where and how much... which doesn't matter much anymore. But reading it might give you a better idea of what to go for and why. its in the archive section of my website.

My suggestion... spend more money on the sound card and less on the computer. The studio card/system is going to be a lot more critical than the rest of it. I have an athlon K7 550 and it works great. I reccommend at least that for the floating point processing. Anyway... It is a lot esier to upgrade the computer bit by piece than the studiocard

also (and I just went through this setting up a system in montana) choose a soundcard and then get a motherboard and chipset etc that is reccommended or at least on the manufacturer's compatability list. Then make sure every component is compatable with the MB/proccessor set up. And get a serious power supply, digitzers eat juice, and weird problems result from a lack of power. And finally, consider whisper fans, the PC really does make a lot of noise, and if you get them from the start, they are more expensive, but you aren't also buying fans you throw away after you get better ones.
peace
Folksinger
www.pan.com/folksinger
 
Thanks everyone!

So if I start with the soundcard first should I just go with a Digidesign (all in one type deal)? Or something like an Ardvark Q10? What is everyone one excited about? I read good stuff about the Echo Mona too. I am confused because everyone has an opinion about what is better & these are the opinions of the experts on this site!

I do not need all the inputs the soundcards (I mentioned above) have, however they are the ones that have optical & appear to be better quality. I want pre-amps built in & phantom power because I do not want to have to buy all this additonal hardware. If I could link the KORG D8 to my computer I guess that would solve the pre-amp concern? Is that an option? Is it ok sound quality wise to do?

Thanks again guys!
 
Thanks Gidge!

I checked out that site & it looks like I can interface the D8 with computer. It has a lot of good info.

Do you think that I should still create a DAW? What would you recommend if you were creating a new system today?

What soundcard? What computer type & specs? What monitors, microphones etc? What software?

Thanks!
 
I can only speak from personal exp.

Here is my set up. P3 1GHZ. Easton mother board, 60gig e-ied hard drive(they say two H.D's are better) Do not skimp on hard drive!!, no need to go scuzi but get a good one. C W 9.0 suite. Echo layla 24/96 (not what I would recomend for you), 256MB ram, and a mixing board, ect. ect.,

I am very happy with how mine works. If you are going to do only 1 track at a time you could get away with much less than what I have. From the sounds of things you don't want my layla:). Too much money for what you are doing and there is more versitile stuff out there for less money now. (I must say the layla has excellent specs for jitter and sound quality though)

Here are a couple of good links.

http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/compare/index.htm

http://www.pcrecording.com/setup.htm

As for the mic, Studio projects c1 seems to be the vote here, although I have never used one. You should get a large diaphram condensor mic though. $200 - $500 should get you one that will do you for years.

You have to have a good video card!!!! no on board card. It will effect you editing if your wave graphics skip across the screen and don't smoothly slide. Trust me my good video card went T.U. and boy does it make life hard....:(.

Oh ya my 2 cents. PC based recording Kicks Ass! I am so happy I went this way!!!


Got to run

F.S.
 
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