Is this hardware ok for midi recording?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wild Monk
  • Start date Start date
W

Wild Monk

New member
1. Core i5-750 2.66G
2. Kingston DDR3 2x2G (total 4G)
3. ASUS P7-P55D motherboard
4. 1 x WD 1TB Hard drive (black) (do I need two drives?)
5. 500W PSU
6. CD/DVD burner
7. Case
8. 500MB graphics card
9. 1 x 22" HD screen
10. M-Audio Fasttrak Pro
11. Windows 7 64bit (is 64bit ok with other hardware/software?)

I already have monitors

Is this setup doable,or are there any driver/software clashes?

I'll be using lots of Midi instruments like vienna symphony orchestra.

If I was to trim a bit of cash, where could I trim it?

Thanks!
 
I don't know the exact minimum but you really don't need much of a computer for recording midi. I was using a 7 year old pentium 2.8 and worked fine. What you have there looks like it'll handle the job.

A second drive is nice but you don't need it, you should at least partition that drive and keep your files on a separate partition from the operating system. A back up USB drive or an online BU service is always a good idea. Hard drives fail and you don't want to lose all of your hard work.

Almost forgot, you need to check the software and hardware you're going to use and make sure it's ok on 64 bit systems. I still use 32 bit on my recording computer.
 
But don't you need a good CPU and lots of RAM with lots of MIDI tracks that all have effects? Every effect causes the CPU load to increase.

I mean, up to 20 tracks and effects...

Or what situation will require me to use all the CPU power in a home recording situation?
 
Vienna Symphony is a sampled VSTi, you will need lots of horsepower. I think you're specs are good enough. Here are the system requirements of their website:

Intel/AMD with Windows VISTA/7 32-bit and 64-bit versions (Core 2 Duo/Xeon recommended). VST host program.
1 GB RAM (2 GB or more recommended)

And, WOW, that stuff is expensive. :eek: no wonder you're looking to trim some cash. :D
 
If I use only one drive, do I divide it into 3 partitions?

ex. A = system, B = VST software, C = Recorded audio

Or whats the best way to partition and use software?
 
Core i5 for midi?

Midi was designed on 8MHZ machines.

Even a netbook will do....

As for partitioning, DONT. Here's a quick paste from my drive setup notes:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Audio processing streams a LOT of data. Drives need to give you quick, uninterrupted access. Separate dedicated drives help a lot to let you stream more tracks with less problems. The goal is SMOOTH UNINTERRUPTED THROUGHPUT of data so you wont get clicks, pops or worse, dropouts. Your sample libraries and audio projects should be on separate drives so they can stream without interruption. To do that you want separate drives not stopping the flow.

Here's how you want your system set up:

C: (Boot) OS, apps and vsts - your applications and vsts are generally only loaded once and don't hit the disk thereafter HOWEVER your OS will need to do occasional housekeeping work.
(order of secondary drives doesn't matter)
D: Usually reserved for cd/dvd drives
E: Sample libraries
F: thru Z: Music projects and misc data

Partitioning will NOT help you and is, in fact, bad. The arm has to stop what its doing on one partition, lift up and go alllllll the way across the disc to the other side, set down to do its job and then go alllllllll the way back again EVERY time the OS or an app needs to do housework. This mechanical movement is GLACIAL in computer terms and will lead to pops, clicks and dropouts in your audio. AVOID PARTITIONING and go to SEPARATE DRIVES. (the ONLY reason to use partitioning is if you BIOS doesn't support large disks or organizing a disk and then I would still avoid it as partition maps can go bad - or hacked - and then you lose EVERYTHING.)

Drives now are very very very cheap and this is one area you do NOT want to cheap out on....
 
So are you saying...

2 drives?

drive one: C/ system, D/samples/libraries
drive two: recorded audio

or

drive 1: system
drive 2: samples/libraries
drive 3: recorded audio

?
 
Core i5 for midi?

Midi was designed on 8MHZ machines.

Even a netbook will do....

But, again, he's using samples, lots of them. That'll eat up resources; RAM, CPU and hard drive throughput. yeah, an 8Mhz machine can do midi if you're triggering an external sound module....

To the OP, I agree with not partitioning drives. If you're recording audio, then I would recommend getting a second physical hard drive. If you're not recording audio, then don't worry about it.
 
Interesting theory on the drives, makes sense. I have used a partition on a 4 or 5 year old laptop and never had any issues at all. Mind you I was only recording 1 track at a time.

Anyway I think I'll slowly back away from this thread since I clearly don't know what I'm talking about.
 
unless your gaming, ditch the graphics card and use that money for another 500gb hdd. as far as everything else goes you'll be fine. i build my computer about a month ago with the same processor and its blazing fast - 8tracks recording simultaneously (a drumkit) and no clicks or pops. i would try more but dont have the necessary hardware ins. double check that asus uses texas instruments chipsets and your good to go. if not you can always buy a pci card for your firewire
 
Back
Top