Switching to PC from the StoneAge .... Help

A

acousticide

New member
Ok,

I just spent 1 1/2 years recording a CD on my Roland VS1680. I took it to a local recording studio to get mastered and he pointed out to me that these workstations and the like.....suck!!! He says just get the Mbox w/Pro Tools LE and it will be well worth the switch... he proved his case and I'm sold.... BUT... I can build a computer, no problem, but just give me some advice of what I need to build a computer for this specifically.
Do I still need a top notch sound card?? for the reference speakers??
How much HDD space? How much of a processor?? RAM?? What are the basics to get this new fangled studio set-up. Any help is appreciated. I'm always behind :( ................... anyway, my album turned out pretty good nonetheless. It will be out soon. Thanks, www.dylanmoses.com
 
what kind of budget do you have? and do you really want PC or would you go with mac if it was in the budget? not to start a war about Mac vs PC but... its all a matter of what you want to do. myself i have a FIREPOD on a iMac G5 running Tracktion 2 from Mackie. do a little research about things check out software and dig around and read stuff see what works the best for you.
 
If you're going to go the Pro Tools route, be sure to check here for digidesign compatibility requirements.

http://www.digidesign/compato

Many machines that don't meet that spec will run it, but it isn't supported.

I wouldn't even bother with a soundcard unless its designed for multitrack audio. Rule all the Creative Labs stuff out. Check out m-audio interfaces for a sense of what's out there.

I'd *seriously* consider figuring out what interface and software you want to use and building your system backwards from there. In general, though, audio computers like dedicated audio drives running at 7200rpm (or more), fast busses, fast processors, and lots of ram. Good video cards are important, too, but not as important as on a gaming machine- you just don't want shared ram. You pretty much want the baddest machine you can afford to put together. DVD burner for data backup, firewire card for external drive and audio interface hookup,

Or whatever you can afford. My backup machine, which works *perfectly* well, is a Pentium 4 Mobile 2G with 512ram. I do wish I had more ram, but it works.

HD space. I have a laptop so I have one internal drive at 80g, I have 2 external 60's, 3 80's and a 120. :eek: A couple of 9's laying around too that get used every now and then to transfer projects.

That's way overkill for most folks, but I do a bit of production work to pay for my recoring habit. Moral of the story is that the more space you have the better. Best yet is to have TWICE that amount of space and have at least 2 copies of everything that needs to be kept safe. I've had 2 80 gig (maxtors) give out on me. I was able to recover the data but I was lucky.

Anyway, just my observations. There are others around here with *way* more PC expertise than I. I keep them running as part of my job, but I don't build them,

Chris
 
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