Need help putting together DAW

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Acousticles

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Computer Hardware Questions

Hi everyone, I'm new to these forums and site, and I'm real excited to be here. I'm also slightly new to recording. I've done one 11-track album with my band (2 acoustic guitars and 2 vocals) using Audacity, an Acoustic Amp, and a Soundblaster Live! 24-bit USB soundcard. Haha, I've quickly realized that although this setup was good enough to do the first album, I'm not going to be able accomplish anything vaguely complex with it. Anyway, down to business.

I'm looking into build a new DAW and trying to keep the cost under $500 (for processor, MOBO, RAM, and HDD's), and had some questions on components.

1) Processor
-Obviously I'm going 64-bit
-Do I go Dual-Core over Single, or does it not make a difference for recording?
-Whats a good clock-speed (is 3.4gHz overkill on a single core?)
-How important are the cahce and FSB speed (is 2mb L2 cahce and 800mHZ FSB good?)

2)RAM
-I'm going with DDR2 dual-channel
-Should 1gb be enough? Or should I go with 2

3)MOBO
-Don't really know what to look for in a MOBO for recording (as long as it is compatible with all my components that is)

4)HDD's
-I'm prolly gonna go with 2 HDD's at 7200 rpm
-First HDD will be for Windows and Programs (80gb)
-Second HDD will be for audio files (prolly 120gb+)

5)Graphics Card
-Umm, something cheap...haha, not gonna be doing anything graphically intense on here

Beyond that I'm looking to get an M-AUDIO 1010 LT for my soundcard, and I have a Peavey XR 8300 powered mixer, and of course some mics. I plan to do effects digitally and get Cubase.

Should all that be good? Anything I'm forgetting? Anything I could get that would be better? And remember I'm trying to save money :P

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post.
 
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Saying you want to build a DAW for under $500 is like saying you want to build a Formula One racecar with parts from the local Kia dealer. A good motherboard alone for recording will be nearly half that. You're wasting your money if you buy anything other than an Intel Core2Duo based system.
 
Hard2Hear said:
Saying you want to build a DAW for under $500 is like saying you want to build a Formula One racecar with parts from the local Kia dealer. A good motherboard alone for recording will be nearly half that. You're wasting your money if you buy anything other than an Intel Core2Duo based system.
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What a crock of shit! :rolleyes:
Good mobos can be had for under $100.A decent computer can be built for under$500.The guy didn't say it had to be THE most smokin' up to date computer.
 
ha ha, Im glad you do what I do for a living, too. :rolleyes:

and good luck getting anything pro audio to work well on an nforce4 motherboard.
 
Um, I run a Gigabyte DS3 which is a 965 based intel board, it was $125 and it can handle whatever I can throw at it. There is NOTHING on high end mainboards that you would need for a DAW. You dont need SLI, you dont need WLAN, you dont need any of the shit they will charge you an arm and a leg for.

For the original poster:


1) Processor
-Obviously I'm going 64-bit

I recommend a Intel Core 2 Duo, the best bang for your buck right now. The E6400 runs about $230

-Do I go Dual-Core over Single, or does it not make a difference for recording?

Dual core for sure. The more power you have, the more tracks with plugins you will be able to run reliably

-Whats a good clock-speed (is 3.4gHz overkill on a single core?)

Dont worry about clock speeds, they are not an indication of performance anymore. My E6600 is clocked at 2.4 gHz and can literally run 10x more tracks than my old P4 that was clocked at 3.4. Look at benchmarks at toms hardware, they do pretty comprehensive testing

-How important are the cahce and FSB speed (is 2mb L2 cahce and 800mHZ FSB good?)


pretty important for AV work. I the C2D runs at a 1066 FSB and is available with 2 or 4 mb cache, if you can spend the extra $100 for the E6600 (which is the cheapest CPU that has the 4 mb) I would do it

2)RAM
-I'm going with DDR2 dual-channel
-Should 1gb be enough? Or should I go with 2

DDR2 is what you will need for a modern system, get as much as you can afford

3)MOBO
-Don't really know what to look for in a MOBO for recording (as long as it is compatible with all my components that is)

ASUS P5 (the budget one) or Gigabyte DS3 (what I run). I know firsthand that those 2 are solid


4)HDD's
-I'm prolly gonna go with 2 HDD's at 7200 rpm
-First HDD will be for Windows and Programs (80gb)
-Second HDD will be for audio files (prolly 120gb+)

That sounds good. I recommend these: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS. 320 gig, 89$

5)Graphics Card
-Umm, something cheap...haha, not gonna be doing anything graphically intense on here

Geforce 7xxxx (a cheap one). Find one with passive cooling that wont make noise
 
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If you buy a car that is anything other than a Lamborghini, you're throwing your money away.
Who cares what you do for a living.Some people have to make do with less than the ideal, and if they ask for advice on how to build something for $500., I'm more inclined to help them find something that will work.
 
Hard2Hear said:
Saying you want to build a DAW for under $500 is like saying you want to build a Formula One racecar with parts from the local Kia dealer. A good motherboard alone for recording will be nearly half that. You're wasting your money if you buy anything other than an Intel Core2Duo based system.
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Funny...I thought people had DAWs before Intel even made Core2Duo Processors... :rolleyes:

Also, much thanks to Altiude909 for specifically addressing everything, it's more help than you know, and to beezelbubba for the links and defense :p

Over the past couple days I've thought about it and decided to increase my budget some and acquire all the components over time. Hoping to have this built by early-mid summer. Keep the replies comin', I'll take all the help I can get.
 
listen, I can put together a computer that will run office and internet explorer just fine for a few hundred dollars. But what we do requires alot more power than your average office computer can really handle. I could tell you to go out and get the cheapest stuff available, that when you assemble it powers on fine and looks good. But when you add a Pro Audio card, and you start getting terrible latency, clicks and pops, or Windows keeps losing your audio drivers you'll wish you hadn't wasted your money on last years technology. Ask if you want to spend time with computers or if you want to spend time making music.

Once you have the ability to do more tracks, then you start using a few more plugins, then discover a cool convolution reverb, then maybe a couple of VST instruments, or a sample library, or >gasp< try out a UAD and like it..... well it adds up really fast and quickly becomes more than you first thought it would be. I have people call me all the time wishing they'd done what they wanted in the first place because they realize they just wasted several hundred dollars on a computer that now will be resigned to their kid playing spongebob and surfing on disneys website.

An old computer will do just fine if you're using old software on it. I gave my brother a P3 800 Win2000 with SonarXL and a Delta44 that he still records and plays with and it works great. But I tell him to not to d/l any new stuff because it will kill it.

I, and the guys I work with, have tested nearly every decent board on the market today. We torture them and find the ones that work best and throw the rest in the trash. When you're going to provide lifetime support and service you can't go with junk that is not proven or has bugs or incompatabilities with certian cards. For instance, I know of at least 2 boards out there that have voltage compatability issues with 1010lt cards.

Obviously, whether or not you like, you agree with me because you said you're going to take it slow and save up. I'll give you some pricing advise. Ram just dropped a couple weeks ago, but Intel processors probably won't move until 3rd quarter when the line is expanded and re-sorted out. A new Intel mobo line will be released mid summer that will make the current models a good deal around then. The Intel 965 is inexpensive and a proven workhorse for audio, but the 975 really kicks its butt in the hundreds of hours of audio testing Ive put them through. Hard drives are fairly steady, and the model that altitude gave you there is the best one to look at. Those drives are fast, and relatively quiet.
 
Thank you for that post Hard2Hear (it was a bit more help than your first, haha). I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to building a DAW...I've put together plenty of systems for gaming and such, but AV is a different world. When I originally said $500, that was just what I was trying to keep it under...not set in stone. Everyone's input is greatly appreciated.

Also, I don't need to use the most up-to-date software, so long as I can still record. So, with that said. Further suggestions?


BTW- Keep in mind that I recorded an entire album using Audacity with a 2 gHz Pentium M based Dell laptop with 2 gb of RAM and a 5400 rpm HDD, an SB-LIVE 24bit external soundcard, an acoustic amp and a cheap Peavey mic....so, really anything is gonna seem better... :p
 
Acousticles said:
Thank you for that post Hard2Hear (it was a bit more help than your first, haha). I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to building a DAW...I've put together plenty of systems for gaming and such, but AV is a different world. When I originally said $500, that was just what I was trying to keep it under...not set in stone. Everyone's input is greatly appreciated.

Also, I don't need to use the most up-to-date software, so long as I can still record. So, with that said. Further suggestions?


BTW- Keep in mind that I recorded an entire album using Audacity with a 2 gHz Pentium M based Dell laptop with 2 gb of RAM and a 5400 rpm HDD, an SB-LIVE 24bit external soundcard, an acoustic amp and a cheap Peavey mic....so, really anything is gonna seem better... :p
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Get a 7200rpm hard drive and a decent firewire card for your laptop, unless you already have the Delta. The laptop that you have should be able enough. Then save up for something better down the line.
 
Acousticles said:
Also, I don't need to use the most up-to-date software, so long as I can still record. So, with that said. Further suggestions?
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I've been using Ntrack for years and have had good luck with it, but I'm playing around with Reaper, which is really impressive, and only $40.
 
whattaguy said:
Get a 7200rpm hard drive and a decent firewire card for your laptop, unless you already have the Delta. The laptop that you have should be able enough. Then save up for something better down the line.
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Well, I woulda thought it would be enough too...but I'm currently using Adobe Audition and when I start applying effects and plugins...everything gets choppy and won't run smoothly
 
Acousticles said:
Well, I woulda thought it would be enough too...but I'm currently using Adobe Audition and when I start applying effects and plugins...everything gets choppy and won't run smoothly
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i used audition 2.0 for my band's cd and had that same problem because my DAW is 5 years old. what you need to do is freeze the effects to the tracks after you get them set, then they wont get processed when you play the mix. with mine, when i hit about 8-10 effects combined from all the tracks, it would lag up, so i had to freeze them
 
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zadeluca said:
i used audition 2.0 for my band's cd and had that same problem because my DAW is 5 years old. what you need to do is freeze the effects to the tracks after you get them set, then they wont get processed when you play the mix. with mine, when i hit about 8-10 effects combined from all the tracks, it would lag up, so i had to freeze them
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Ahah, I never even noticed that feature....eventually what I did was went into the waveform editor and applied the effect I wanted straight to the wav file (and of course had backups in case I needed to revert to original). This is much easier, lol.

It still doesn't quench my urge to build a new DAW...half the fun is doing all the research and putting it all together. :)
 
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