Old PC Finally Died, Now What...?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nate74
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Nate74

Nate74

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I was using the PC that got me through undergrad up until about 8 months ago. Since then, I've limped by with my laptop and my wife's PC. But now we're moving into a larger house where I can have a whole bedroom for my studio :) I'm ready to incorporate my PC permanently into my setup, which is:

I track through an analog board/preamps to an Alesis HD24XR. I use Cakewalk Home Studio 2.0XR for some editing and then usually firewire the tracks back to the HD24XR and mix on the analog board. But recently, I've gotten more and more interested in mixing on the PC.

So what will I need? I suppose a soundcard with 1/4" TRS outs? But what about specific specs or better still, brands? Can I call Dell to get most of this?

Lastly, is there a way to power my monitors from both my analog board and from the PC? Maybe somewhat to switch back and forth?
 
nice choice with the cakewalk software. :)

as for a computer, i think dells are overpriced but that is entirely opinion based. i went to a local computer store, told them what parts i wanted, and got them to put it together for me.

for the soundcard, if you are only needing a one or two input soundcard, i would highly recommend the audiophilie 2496 as it has gotten a ton of good reviews around here. a good alternative would be the echo mia ( i like echo gear so this is again opinion based).

and yes you can probably get your speakers to pump out music from both sources, it would just require some routing on your analog mixer
 
Nate74 said:
So what will I need? I suppose a soundcard with 1/4" TRS outs? But what about specific specs or better still, brands? Can I call Dell to get most of this?

Lastly, is there a way to power my monitors from both my analog board and from the PC? Maybe somewhat to switch back and forth?
Click to expand...

You can use the HD24 as a 24 channel A/D converter, and get an ADAT card (or two). Then route the card's stereo outs back to your board's stereo returns for monitoring.

Unlikely that Dell will be selling pro audio cards.
 
minofifa said:
nice choice with the cakewalk software. :)

as for a computer, i think dells are overpriced but that is entirely opinion based. i went to a local computer store, told them what parts i wanted, and got them to put it together for me.

for the soundcard, if you are only needing a one or two input soundcard, i would highly recommend the audiophilie 2496 as it has gotten a ton of good reviews around here. a good alternative would be the echo mia ( i like echo gear so this is again opinion based).

and yes you can probably get your speakers to pump out music from both sources, it would just require some routing on your analog mixer
Click to expand...

I must agree with you that I would rather put together my own rigs. However, Dell has many nice refurbished systems in their outlet store. If you're lucky, you can pick up a P4 3.0 proc, 160gig HDD, 512/1024 ram, PCI-E vid card, for $350-$500.

The site refreshes every hour or so. Good deals go fast.
 
I would explore local builders before going to Dell, simply because Dell uses so much proprietary stuff. Local builders will be sticking with brand name components like an ASUS or INTEL board and so forth. Plus, you'll be getting a local person you can chase down if there is a problem - not some automated help line.

For sound cards - skip the generic motherboard based cards entirely, skip the gamer grade cards (Audigy and so forth) and look at pro level cards - not really expensive as the cost is in the scale of I/O. A beautiful setup is the EMU 1212 or 1220 front ends. The M-Audio cards are great. Any decent motherboard will provide you with firewire right onboard, so there should be no need for extra cards just to do that.

When my Dell died, I salvaged what I could (a couple of drives, a burner and the monitors / cards and my Delta 66 sound card) and went to Egghead (now in bankruptcy - might want to choose someone else for a while), picked up a quiet box, an ASUS motherboard, an AMD64 chip, one Gig of ram, a fresh drive, XP home and a few odds and ends for under $ 800 and built it myself. It works and when I upgraded my mixer to a firewire front end, the box was ready. Do a little research and don't skimp on "brand X" RAM or generic motherboards (I chose ASUS and AMD over INTEL based on reputation; YMMV). Used monitors and keyboards can help a lot with the budget. Keyboards are basically free and monitors are about $25 if you look around.

One place to learn some tricks is to search Google for gamer sites. Those guys tune their PCs like hot rods. But they love graphics - you need little of that. You need real sound and they go for booms and bangs. So thye'll be high end on the whole graphics / monitor stuff and you'll be outrunning them in the soundcard department.
 
Cool! I have a local "white box" dealer that has done some upgrades for me through the years. I have a good flat screen monitor so I'll just need the CPU.

So an Audiophilie 2496 soundcard to start with... as far as RAM, etc. what would you all suggest?

I know HD space is relatively cheap so I'll try to max that out ( I got a 200Gb external yesterday for $90 ).
 
You should get two hard drives. One for your recording applications and one for song storage.
 
if you go for an echo product be careful if you choose an athlon 64 based system.... as i found out (see thread gina 3g issues!!!) after I'd spent $150 on a motherboard, the echo products aren't supported on the via K8T800 and the K8T890 chipsets.....

Hope that helps.

Liam.
 
I wouldn't waste my time with the Dells. Take a very long hard look at what really goes into those machines. They do make a pretty quiet machine but if you look around, you can get one purpose built that will easily out perform.

Put together a list of items you want then do some surfing. You might even consider building your own but, not everyone feels comfortable with that approach.

Cakewalk has a pretty good point of reference for many of your questions...take a look around in this area of their website;

http://www.cakewalk.com/PCResource/default.asp
 
SPINSTERWUN: 2 HDs, got it. I've been using my external for that purpose, but it'd be OK to have another internally.

As for budget, I haven't really given it much thought. I was figuring that for about a grand I should be able to get what I need from a cpu. Is that close?

Anything that doesn't go into the computer, will undoubtedly go into the studio in some way or another :)

So if I get a system with a pair of 200Gb HDs, what kind of processor, etc. should I get... I mean spell it out for me, as you can tell I'm not exactly savvy with this stuff...
 
I have an AMD athlon 64 3200+, it's a pretty sweet beast. there are newer and faster chips out now but they get pricy in a hurry.
you'll probably also want 1024 megs or RAM. With this you'll probably need a new motherboard, i would suggest something by asus as they are one of the best. i use a k8n-e deluxe, it has all that i need, including LAN and firewire.
 
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