What do you think about these DAW specs?

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jason_m.

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Case: Antec - black w/ locking cover
Hard Drives: Western Digital -
1) 120 GB ( OS, programs...)
1) 250 GB (secondary for music files only)
Motherboard: ASUS for Intel P4 800Mhz
CPU: Intel P4 2.6C Ghz socket 478
CPU Cooler: Zalman Flower
RAM: Corsair - two 1GB sticks
Sound Card: M-Audio Audiophile 24/96
Video: Dual outs for possible/eventual dual monitoring, Nvidia perhaps?
Video Cooling: Zalman Heat pipe
CD-R: Sony
PSU: Nexus - Ultra quiet 400 watt model

Software:
Windows XP Home
Cubase SX
Norton Ghost


This will be my first PC just for recording, and I've done some research into what I think would be optimal for myself. Any veterans care to give their opinions/suggestions?
 
This will be my first PC just for recording [/B]
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Look like a nice one, but, 120gigs, just for OS and progs... in fact, if its dedicated to audio, a 40gigs could be more than enough! But, of course, more you can afford, better this will be :)

Same thing for the 2gigs ram. I'm still with 1gig DDR and have no probs.

In fact, I dunno why I'm writing all this.

Oh yeah, I found why!!! I'm jalous!!!


except for the soundcard. But if it respect what you need go for it! :)
 
Your soundcard is much weaker than the rest of the setup. Consider spending less on the computer parts (even a basic new p4 setup is powerful enough for recording) and more on the soundcard. For a little more there is the Echo MiaMidi. Then there are RME, Lynx cards and the delta 1010, echo layla and aardvark q10.

Go with seagate barracuda harddrives as they are much quieter than the competition. No point having all those quiet components and then having noisy wd harddrives. www.silentpcreview.com has more info.

Also consider a matrox g500 video card if you dont plan on playing any games. It has stable drivers, good dualhead display implementation, great 2d video quality and does not use a fan (or need a special heatpipe).
 
alfalfa said:
Your soundcard is much weaker than the rest of the setup. Consider spending less on the computer parts (even a basic new p4 setup is powerful enough for recording) and more on the soundcard. For a little more there is the Echo MiaMidi. Then there are RME, Lynx cards and the delta 1010, echo layla and aardvark q10.

Go with seagate barracuda harddrives as they are much quieter than the competition. No point having all those quiet components and then having noisy wd harddrives. www.silentpcreview.com has more info.

Also consider a matrox g500 video card if you dont plan on playing any games. It has stable drivers, good dualhead display implementation, great 2d video quality and does not use a fan (or need a special heatpipe).
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The Audiophile will work just fine if he only needs 2 inputs. Why spend more money? It is just as good as the MiaMIDI.

Like he says at the end of the post, its his first recording PC.
 
hey jason,
welcome to the wonderful world of daw's.
before,i make any suggestions could you tell me if you ever want to record a drummer or any multiple live instruments.
if so,you may want to trim 200 to 300 out of the hd and ram budget and get somethin more than a 2 channel card.
even a good 2 channel card can really limit how you work.
if you posted some pricin for your rig ,me and the guys can probably point you to where you can save some bucks for a more versatile soundcard breakout box combo.
what ever you decide ,your gonna love this kind of recording.
good luck,keith
 
Hey, thanks for the replies. I get that "overkill" feeling alot when I mention what I have in mind for the hard drives...

I plan to use this setup for: Guitars, Bass, & Drums. No Midi work is planned. I bought the Audiophile card because I had heard nothing but praise from sites, magazines, and owners. When I found it for $120 new, I couldn't pass it up.

Before the Audiophile card is an 18 in Behringer mixer. I figured this will be sufficient for drums. I plan on just sending the left & right outs to the dual ins of the Audiophile. Shouldn't this work out just fine?

About the hard drives: WD vs. SB - I hear that the Western Digital drives are the best choice for a quality music PC despite the noise. Any opinions on this?

I'll look into that Matrox card. Thanks again.
 
brzilian said:
The Audiophile will work just fine if he only needs 2 inputs. Why spend more money? It is just as good as the MiaMIDI.

Like he says at the end of the post, its his first recording PC.
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The MiaMidi has better specified and measured sound quality and balanced i/o. It is better than the Audiophile - thats why it costs a bit more. He could easily spend a little less on his pc components and get the Mia for the same total cost overall. The audiophile is a good recommendation when someone cant afford anything better (ie the Audiophile is a great entry level, low budget soundcard) but in this case he clearly can given how much he was prepared to spend on his pc.

The lynx one is an even higher quality option if he only needs 2 i/o which he could still afford by down speccing his pc even more. However given his requirements (behringer mixer to record drums) then a multiple input soundcard is probably a better option.
 
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jason_m. said:
Hey, thanks for the replies. I get that "overkill" feeling alot when I mention what I have in mind for the hard drives...

I plan to use this setup for: Guitars, Bass, & Drums. No Midi work is planned. I bought the Audiophile card because I had heard nothing but praise from sites, magazines, and owners. When I found it for $120 new, I couldn't pass it up.

Before the Audiophile card is an 18 in Behringer mixer. I figured this will be sufficient for drums. I plan on just sending the left & right outs to the dual ins of the Audiophile. Shouldn't this work out just fine?

About the hard drives: WD vs. SB - I hear that the Western Digital drives are the best choice for a quality music PC despite the noise. Any opinions on this?

I'll look into that Matrox card. Thanks again.
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If you are recording drums, you will soon find that having at least 3 or 4 inputs is really useful ie a recording input for every mic you plan to use on the drum kit. That way you can adjust the balance between different mics later when mixing.

Therefore I would recommend you spend less on your PC and get a Delta 1010 (or at least a delta 66).

A seagate barracuda drive is more than fast enough for recording purposes (you will get plenty of tracks). Lower noise is more important than that extra bit of speed the WD drives have.

The matrox card is a G550, not G500 as I mistakenly said earlier.
 
I've been thinking about when the time comes to record the drum tracks. I don't think squashing all the drum mics into 2 channels is such a good idea anymore...

Are there any FireWire racks with more than 8 ins?
 
Another thing I've been thinking about is my hard drives...
I want speed AND quiet.

What about IBM / Hitachi 180GXP drives? Would they offer a "middle road" solution?

I don't know if this is a frowned upon subject here: What do you think about overclocking my processor?
 
jason,
1.if you just want to record rehearsals or jam sessions,your mixer into audiophile solution will work fine.
it will really hone your live mixing skills and ease you into your recording software nicely.
2.if you want to be able to adjust and tweak your mix you will probably want at least 4 inputs and preferably 8.
3.if you want to track to the computer but do your mixdowns in the analog realm you will also need multiple outputs.
4.unless you are gonna do some video work smaller hd could put you half way to a delta 1010 or some other 8 in 8 out solution.
5.no need to overclock anything over 1ghz let alone 2.
6.if you really need super quiet save for an isoboxx. seagate,maxtor,western digital,you choose.
iv'e only used maxtors for my 3 homebuilts.
fyi ,
i just picked up an 80 gig western digital for 69.99 after rebates at officemax.
waiting for a 120 gig maxtor for 59.99 after rebate from comp usa.
 
This will be used for recording high quality (I hope) demos, general ideas, etc.

I don't plan on doing any analouge mixing of the actual recorded tracks.
 
BTW: I exchanged the Audiophile card tonight for a Delta 10/10.

I think I'll be glad I did when drum tracking.

Probably going with the WD drives... and save up for a Raxess Isoraxx as well. Does anyone know where I might find one of these used?
 
jason_m. said:
BTW: I exchanged the Audiophile card tonight for a Delta 10/10.

I think I'll be glad I did when drum tracking.

Probably going with the WD drives... and save up for a Raxess Isoraxx as well. Does anyone know where I might find one of these used?
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that WD has released the 10,000 RPM SATA drives. I just rebuilt my system with 2 of these. Although currently they only come as 36gig, but more than enough for my recording machine. Also, if your using your machine for recording only then a high performance video card will be overkill. In addition 32 bit graphics rob CPU performance and often cause conflicts with recording software.
 
Thanks Stealthtech. I'll definitely look into those 10,000RPM drives... they definitely sound like a step up from 7,200. Too bad they don't make anything above 36GB??

I think that's the first time I heard the possibility of the video card causing conflicts with audio software & degrading performance... That’s very useful information indeed.

Thanks again!
 
I guess if I used those 10,000RPM 36gig drives I could put some RAID action into play, eh?

Could I do two drives for OS/Programs & three for Music files?
 
I've been doing some reading on those 10k WD HD......

Aren't they a little noisy and susceptible to heating up quite a bit?
 
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