simple stereo input

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notbradsohner

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what are the bare minimums for a computer if i only want to transfer a stereo track?
 
pretty much any computer with any soundcard will record a stereo track. Question is, how good of quality are you after. A Delta 2496 is gonna do a better job that a $10 Soundblaster, but they can both do it. What are you trying to acomplish? Transfering vinyl? Mixing down from an external multitracker? If your gonna be doing alot of it, it'd get something nice, but if youre just gonna to a once or twice shot, you can probably get by with whatevers in your computer
 
Without getting to specific ....
One that works and has a soundcard.

Just about any computer that has a soundcard with a Line In could capture at least one stereo track.
I don't think I would really want to use anything under a 486 or equivalent.
I just bought a 733mHz PIII for the kids at a used computer retailer for $150 US. Mind you, this was just the CPU ... no monitor or keyboard etc... but it had a CDROM, 256megs ram, a 15 gig 7200 RPM drive, Soundblaster Live and a nVidia AGP video card (w/16 meg VRAM).
All in all .... not bad for some chump change. It will easily do up-wards of 10 - 12 tracks with a few effects on AUX channels.
A single stereo track would be a walk in the park.
Point being .... you can get by rather cheaply if all you require is capturing single stereo tracks.
 
Really depends- you could get by with as little as a 133mhz Pentium if you had the patience but you dont want to do that to yourself. If you plan on master with it, and you want a higher bitrate (24bit) and if you want to do alot of processing of the stereo track then you'll want something more modern- Id say P3 at minimum with a decent soundcard (and by decent i mean NOT a Soundblaster) (my recording puter is P3 933). If all your doing is capturing a track from vinyl or tape and burning it to cd then you can use the slowest piece of shit you can find that actually has a working burner. Are you planning on building something? Buying something from a flea market? Using what you have in front of you now? Throw us a bone here
 
Yup .... it all depends on the quality you are after. A 16 bit Soundblaster can work if you don't intend to do much DSP. A 24 bit card will offer higher quality when doing effects processing as it captures a higher dynamic range to work with.
Myself I make money doin it ... so I've shelled out some cash ... P4 3 gHz and a MOTU 828mkII along with a butt-load of other gear and software.
I'm easily 6 grand into it, but thats what my needs dictated.
What are yours?
 
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