Is it possible to get by with what I have?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jamstunes
  • Start date Start date
J

jamstunes

New member
I am a new newbie. I play 4 acoustic instruments (mandolin, guitar, harmonica, piano), sing, and write music. I would like to begin my recording experience by layering a few single tracks from my various instruments and vocal harmonies on my computer. 4-6 layers max.

I have an HP P3-700 with 64 MB Ram, SB live sound card. That's it for the computer. Expanding the RAM is costly for this dinosaur.

I'm trying to purchase an ALTEC LANSING 1674C 4 CH MIC MIXER PREAMP and an ADK Model GC-1 - LARGE CAPSULE CONDENSER MIC. (bids in on ebay)

Considering that I will not need more than one input channel at a time, can I get by with what I have? (I need advice on software and cables, etc. also)
 
Last edited:
Yeah - perhaps. I have done multitrack recordings on a Cyrix 333 and 32mb ram, but wouldn't recommend it. Dunno if that mixer is the best choice but ADK mics are fine. Pick up a Behringer UB802 for the equivalent of about £30 brand new.
 
Wow, I just checked out the Behringer UB802. Hope my bid falls short.

Still, I'd appreciate some more detailed feedback on how to "get by" with my dinosaur and budget. Everything is appreciated.
 
jams. i'm a computer engr with a studio.
theres no getting past the fact your ram is too low for modern multitrack recording. you need at least 512 ram. unless you want problems.
if you dont get that altec mixer. look closely at a yamaha mg mixer.
a lot of folks like them. if you get time i would urge you to read the free tutorials on digital audio and midi in the support section at pgmusic.com.
and try the demo of powertracks that i use. on a proper pc you will be able to do 48 tracks recording.
after youve read the tutorials, if you have any Q's - just ask. peace.
 
manning1 said:
jams. i'm a computer engr with a studio.
theres no getting past the fact your ram is too low for modern multitrack recording. you need at least 512 ram. unless you want problems.
if you dont get that altec mixer. look closely at a yamaha mg mixer.
a lot of folks like them. if you get time i would urge you to read the free tutorials on digital audio and midi in the support section at pgmusic.com.
and try the demo of powertracks that i use. on a proper pc you will be able to do 48 tracks recording.
after youve read the tutorials, if you have any Q's - just ask. peace.
Click to expand...
Thank You very much
 
You can certainly toy with what you have. And actually it's not expensive to build a PC. I built an Athlon 64 machine with tip-top specs for my brother for about £350 (not including monitor) a couple of months ago. Add an M-Audio Audiophile soundcard to that and you're good to go. Just a thought.
 
64 Mb of RAM is your big limiting factor. Windows alone will chug with this little RAM.

But I started off with a P2-400 and could playback as many as 30 tracks with 2 harddrives and 384Mb of RAM. So it can work. Your P3 still has more horsepower than most pro studios had available through the mid-90s.

* Stick with 16bit/48k on EVERYTHING.
* "Print" your effects to another track to reduce the load plugins put on the system.
* Optimise your drives often.
* Run a lean, clean version of Win98SE.
* Use EndItAll2 to kill any unneeded processes.
* Do a lot of "off-line" processing (apply plugs destrutive to a COPY of a track - keep the original around in case you need to go back to it)
* Use older audio software (the newer software is cooler but new features requre a LOT more horsepower to run - an older version was targeted for slower PCs.)
 
I used to use a P-III 600 with 384 mb ram, running windows 2000 and could get around 12-16 tracks with real-time effects, this was using Sonar 2.2XL, and recording at 24/44.1.

Cakewalk Home Studio 2 has pretty low system requirements and is almost the same as Sonar 2, if you stuff as much ram as possible into it, you can most certainly get by with what you have, provided you have realistic expectations on both track counts, and how many real-time effects at once.

:)
 
TimOBrien said:
64 Mb of RAM is your big limiting factor. Windows alone will chug with this little RAM.

But I started off with a P2-400 and could playback as many as 30 tracks with 2 harddrives and 384Mb of RAM. So it can work. Your P3 still has more horsepower than most pro studios had available through the mid-90s.

* Stick with 16bit/48k on EVERYTHING.
* "Print" your effects to another track to reduce the load plugins put on the system.
* Optimise your drives often.
* Run a lean, clean version of Win98SE.
* Use EndItAll2 to kill any unneeded processes.
* Do a lot of "off-line" processing (apply plugs destrutive to a COPY of a track - keep the original around in case you need to go back to it)
* Use older audio software (the newer software is cooler but new features requre a LOT more horsepower to run - an older version was targeted for slower PCs.)
Click to expand...

Man ! Thanks a billion. Now there is some useful info.
 
I used a AMD k6-2 450 for my first foray into computer recording with the SB Live and made some decent recordings with it. I had 128 Ram though. You should be able to get 4-6 tracks down though, without anything fancy. The songs I started with had about six tracks all with effects and the system handled it without a problem.

Getting by is cool, but if you find you like recording you will get frustrated very quickly with you limited resources. You could pick up a much more powerful machine for under 300, hell you could probably pull it together for even less with some online bargain hunting. Tigerdirect.com has some good deals on barebones systems (includes only case, power supply, mobo; some have processor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers too).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top