Sound card -

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cheywind

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The new PC it seems we have decided on is the

HP P4 3.2ghz Media Center Pc 19"

In talking with the HP Tech - i am trying to get specifics about the
sound card in this unit

The closest I can get is it has Intel High Definition Audio with up to
7.1 surround sound capabilities - possibly something about a Philips Sound Card.

This PC costs alot of bucks! My main concern is for the sound card - audio recording abilities of this unit

It seems to me that if we spend the bucks on this unit - we should not have to buy an additional external sound card........

At this point I am lost.....any thoughts would help
 
As a rule, the stock soundcard in these pre-built PC's are not well suited for recording, if at all. I'd say the bare minimum requirements for a recording interface would be 24 bits recording capability, and the availability of ASIO and WDM drivers.

Be prepared to shell out some extra cash for a proper recording interface. That doesn't have to be that much extra. An M-Audio 2496 Audiophile costs next to nothing, compared to a new PC.
 
Your probably looking at more PC than you need for the voiceover work that you've been talking about. You'll want to get a soundcard specifically for recording and expect to spend about $200, maybe less.
 
Pre-built PC's with proprietory mainboards = Nightmare for compatibility

Do you have the time to build your own machine?
 
Probably - the HP guy gave me some specs that he thought we would need if we had it built - I am real concerned about $$ here...but this is what he said:

Customized Unit:
These 3 things are of major importance:


Highest quality Compromis
Procesing speed 3.44 (HT Technology) 2.89
Hard Drive 400g
Memory 4g 2g

2 DVD Drives 1 writer 1 rom
Light Scribe DVD
Sonic Delux Editor/Recording program
Monitor 19" (Bright view) $369 or $399
256 MB (?)
DVI - High Definition
Sound Card Audigy
Speakers
Key Board/mouse Wireless
Microsoft Office included

The initial media pc we were looking at comes in at $1799 - which is very high for us right now...we were hoping to be able to do this for less - we also do photography work so graphics is important....but right now $$$ is super important

Both of the options he listed above to custom make one come in way over $1799.

Looking this over....how does his suggestions look?

More importantly...can you or anyone else tell me 'exactly what we need'...so that we know what to check out and what to ask for....also a $$$$$ ball part figure on a new pc to meet our needs would be great......thanks so much....drowning in vocabulary and verbage right now
Important....we can only do this 'once'....so I need to be as close to what we need as possible...

Software suggestions would be terrific also.....

Many thanks
 
cheywind said:
Probably - the HP guy gave me some specs that he thought we would need if we had it built - I am real concerned about $$ here...but this is what he said:

Customized Unit:
These 3 things are of major importance:


Highest quality Compromis
Procesing speed 3.44 (HT Technology) 2.89
Hard Drive 400g
Memory 4g 2g

2 DVD Drives 1 writer 1 rom
Light Scribe DVD
Sonic Delux Editor/Recording program
Monitor 19" (Bright view) $369 or $399
256 MB (?)
DVI - High Definition
Sound Card Audigy
Speakers
Key Board/mouse Wireless
Microsoft Office included

The initial media pc we were looking at comes in at $1799 - which is very high for us right now...we were hoping to be able to do this for less - we also do photography work so graphics is important....but right now $$$ is super important

Both of the options he listed above to custom make one come in way over $1799.

Looking this over....how does his suggestions look?

More importantly...can you or anyone else tell me 'exactly what we need'...so that we know what to check out and what to ask for....also a $$$$$ ball part figure on a new pc to meet our needs would be great......thanks so much....drowning in vocabulary and verbage right now
Important....we can only do this 'once'....so I need to be as close to what we need as possible...

Software suggestions would be terrific also.....

Many thanks
Click to expand...
When you ask 'do we have time' to build our own? Are you thinking of a major company to do this for us? My longer response to your question went out right before this one.....thanks again
 
I assume by "building your own", codmate means buy all the parts separately and assemble your computer from that. If you are not good with computers then this is not a good idea, since it's really easy to accidentally screw something up and destroy equipment.

The upside to building your own computer is you get exactly what you want. If you're going to be gaming, you can get an awesome vid card but scale down a bit on the sound card. For recording, you don't need a great video card.

I built my computer for just over a grand, and it's a pretty damn nice setup. Unfortunately, I wasn't into recording very much when I made it, so all I have is an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 surround sound card. Lucky for me, since I'm going into pro audio, I can probably bug my folks for a better card for my birthday ;)

The decision for a new computer will be based on what you're using it for. If it's solely for recording, then you just want a quiet computer. You can buy a good soundcard for pretty cheap now. Your hard drive is the next thing to think about. You're probably going to want a high capacity (120+ GB) and fast speed. Most hard drives are either 5400 or 7200 RPM. If you can afford it, go with a 10000 RPM drive and rather than EIDE, try SATA if your motherboard supports it.

Sorry if this was a bit confusing.
 
cheywind said:
Procesing speed 3.44 (HT Technology) 2.89
Hard Drive 400g
Memory 4g 2g

2 DVD Drives 1 writer 1 rom
Light Scribe DVD
Sonic Delux Editor/Recording program
Click to expand...

This is way overkill for what you're wanting to do. And I wouldn't bother with Lightscribe now that you can get printers that will print to CD.

You might want to call:

http://www.adkproaudio.com/

and talk to them about exactly what you're going to need. For recording narration over prerecorded music, you shouldn't have to pay much more than $1000.
 
IronFlippy said:
I assume by "building your own", codmate means buy all the parts separately and assemble your computer from that. If you are not good with computers then this is not a good idea, since it's really easy to accidentally screw something up and destroy equipment.

The upside to building your own computer is you get exactly what you want. If you're going to be gaming, you can get an awesome vid card but scale down a bit on the sound card. For recording, you don't need a great video card.

I built my computer for just over a grand, and it's a pretty damn nice setup. Unfortunately, I wasn't into recording very much when I made it, so all I have is an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 surround sound card. Lucky for me, since I'm going into pro audio, I can probably bug my folks for a better card for my birthday ;)

The decision for a new computer will be based on what you're using it for. If it's solely for recording, then you just want a quiet computer. You can buy a good soundcard for pretty cheap now. Your hard drive is the next thing to think about. You're probably going to want a high capacity (120+ GB) and fast speed. Most hard drives are either 5400 or 7200 RPM. If you can afford it, go with a 10000 RPM drive and rather than EIDE, try SATA if your motherboard supports it.

Sorry if this was a bit confusing.
Click to expand...
No worries - the confusion is in my head.

Let's get 'real simple' here ( for my sake)

The new computer is 'specifically' for recording.

Can anyone tell me exactly what we need to know - what we need to be sure is built into this new unit?

If anyone can be specific it would be awesome! A simple wish list type thing would be great... we can only do this once...so I need get this right!

I have heard different sound card names and types, drive, ram, etc...... the more specific anyone can be can only help.....
 
apl said:
This is way overkill for what you're wanting to do. And I wouldn't bother with Lightscribe now that you can get printers that will print to CD.

You might want to call:

http://www.adkproaudio.com/

and talk to them about exactly what you're going to need. For recording narration over prerecorded music, you shouldn't have to pay much more than $1000.
Click to expand...
Thank you for saying so! I thought it was just me. Checked out that website and will call them tomorrow - seems to make alot of sense! You use language I understand too...thanks again
 
I work in a lab with about 40 Dells and hear next to no noise, so I can suggest a Dell Dimension 3000 and upgrade the RAM to at least 512MB, which you can get almost anywhere, just keep looking for PC400 or DDR3200 type. Might as well upgrade the processor to 3.0GHz with HT (hyper-threading, which means good in non-technical terms) seeing as how it's only $41 more from Dell's site. Next you're gonna want a good soundcard. I've heard many good things about the M-Audio Delta 1010LT (which is basically the same as the Delta 1010 except much cheaper and without the organization of a break out box). The last thing you're going to want to invest in is a good hard drive. I exclusively use Western Digital drives as I have found them to be most stable and are exceptionally quiet. I'd go for at least 7200RPM and 8MB buffer.

And now in convenient checklist form with links:
M-Audio Delta 1010LT Sound Card
Dell Dimension 3000 Computer (free screen)
Western Digital 160GB Hard Drive

The sound card can be purchased at most online music retailers like musiciansfriend.com or zzounds.com
The hard drive can also be found at popular computer hardware retailers like zipzoomfly.com and newegg.com

Again, I hope this wasn't too complicated. I'm a computer geek and often get too excited about stuff like this and go way overboard.

By the way, this is only a guideline to help you. I'd recommend doing research of your own and posting again asking if what you found would be wise.
 
Kind IronFlippy

Wanted to say a very heartfelt and public thank you to Dear Ironflippy who helped me navigate through a lot of confusion. As a result we are now awaiting a new PC that is much more suited to our needs then anything we were considering. Wanted everyone to know that is a very cool- kind-patient-human being with a big heart and exceptional mind (seriously)
 
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