What dose it take to record 32 tracks at 24/96
- Thread starter Garak
- Start date
TexRoadkill
Audio Bum
The reason the HDD can do it is because there is very little processor overhead and all it has to worry about is the audio.
There are formulas for figuring out the needed bandwidth but I cant remember the numbers. The processor requirements will be a bit of a guess because in a comp there a lot of variables.
My semi/educated guess is a kicking Mac with ProTools TDM and firewire drives.
Is anybody here actually recording with that type of system demand? I'd be curious to hear what works on a PC.
There are formulas for figuring out the needed bandwidth but I cant remember the numbers. The processor requirements will be a bit of a guess because in a comp there a lot of variables.
My semi/educated guess is a kicking Mac with ProTools TDM and firewire drives.
Is anybody here actually recording with that type of system demand? I'd be curious to hear what works on a PC.
Slackmaster2K
Gone
It really depends on a lot. On a PC, I would guess that a typical machine like a PIII 1Ghz/256MB/7200RPM HD/etc would handle 32 tracks of 24/96 audio. However in real life, I'm not sure it would go very smoothly. You've got to consider the chipset, the implementation of that chipset (motherboard), the soundcard and its reaction to the chipset, the other PCI devices and their tendancies to hog the bus. blah blah. It's really impossible to predict...one machine will work fine, the next one won't. When you get one that works, keep it 
Really the jump to 96khz is a big one, and perhaps not for much extra fidelity. I can't really hear any difference between 96 and 44.1, at least on a single track. However, dropouts come a heck of a lot earlier when I record at 96. It's just not worth it *to me*.
If you stick with 24/44, then any semi-modern machine should be able to do 32 tracks without effects (assuming the system is somewhat free serious issues). I frequently do 24 tracks of 24/44 on a Celeron 850/256MB/7200RPM HD and the CPU meter stays way in the green until I start adding a bunch of effects.
Slackmaster 2000
Really the jump to 96khz is a big one, and perhaps not for much extra fidelity. I can't really hear any difference between 96 and 44.1, at least on a single track. However, dropouts come a heck of a lot earlier when I record at 96. It's just not worth it *to me*.
If you stick with 24/44, then any semi-modern machine should be able to do 32 tracks without effects (assuming the system is somewhat free serious issues). I frequently do 24 tracks of 24/44 on a Celeron 850/256MB/7200RPM HD and the CPU meter stays way in the green until I start adding a bunch of effects.
Slackmaster 2000
96khz dose sound a little beter, I usually record at 48khz because I've had problems with clicks and pops @ 96khz. I find there is a noticeable diffrence between 48 and 44.1.
Anyway why I'm asking this question is that I was looking at the MDR and I noticed that it was based on PC hardware. I was thinking mabe I could save $1000 or so and build my own running linux. There is some software out their for linux right now that can mulitrack in sync with the delta soundcards. It seems that its limited to 16 bit right now but I don't think rewriting the drivers for 24 bit support would be all that hard, I have some experience with kernel module writing. Also I think I would use real time linux for this to make the sync more reliable.
What I was thinking is a duron CPU with a motherboard with onboard RAID and eithernet. 512megs of ram and Two 20gig 7200rpm HD's or so. Throw that in a Rackmount case and add 3 delta 1010's and you basicly have a MDR. I could build a custom control suface with 24 led meters and all for around $200. Or I could just use my laptop as the remote.
So basicly roll your own Harddrive recorder. Anyway I'm off to build a computer to install linux on, the only linux machine I have right now is a 133.
Anyway why I'm asking this question is that I was looking at the MDR and I noticed that it was based on PC hardware. I was thinking mabe I could save $1000 or so and build my own running linux. There is some software out their for linux right now that can mulitrack in sync with the delta soundcards. It seems that its limited to 16 bit right now but I don't think rewriting the drivers for 24 bit support would be all that hard, I have some experience with kernel module writing. Also I think I would use real time linux for this to make the sync more reliable.
What I was thinking is a duron CPU with a motherboard with onboard RAID and eithernet. 512megs of ram and Two 20gig 7200rpm HD's or so. Throw that in a Rackmount case and add 3 delta 1010's and you basicly have a MDR. I could build a custom control suface with 24 led meters and all for around $200. Or I could just use my laptop as the remote.
So basicly roll your own Harddrive recorder. Anyway I'm off to build a computer to install linux on, the only linux machine I have right now is a 133.
Slackmaster2K
Gone
It's still a complex question. Mackie designed a single purpose system. Being based on PC architecture does not mean that it's a PC, as you know. You're still going to face the same problems we all face when building a DAW 
Slackmaster 2000
Slackmaster 2000