question from a newbie

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Member Since: Jan 11, 2007

apologies if i'm in the wrong forum.

Hi all,

i've a question regarding PC purchasing. I recently bought a M_Audio delta 1010 (rack mountable) and desk Yamah MG 10/2. i'm staring form scratch and want to get a PC to get things started.

Would people advise against getting a DELL...I want as much RAM and memory as I can put on it and have saved about 1000 euro to spend on a computer. The new ones I've been lookign at are quite cheap

What should I NOT buy?I'm afraid of accidentally buying something that won't be compatible with the M-Audio delta 1010( i was previously considering an iMac but this won't work with )

I am very much a beginner and want the most beginner friendly .

I intend to recording mainly guitar and vocals at first but will def be trying to do drums at a later stage...(that's why i got the 1010)

another thought that has crossed my mind is to sell what I've bought already, make a loss and then get something like an iBook and a small interface to get to grips with the recording process.

I'm a bit confused ..any help people could give would be great.

Thank you.

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Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jan 11, 2007 01:52 pm

I mix on a dell with no probs whatsoever. Mine is the XPS line but I've been buying them for years. Add on a little warranty as they are really good about it.

For that kind of money you could get a very nice desktop with some kind of dual core processor and 1-2 GB of Ram. Toss on a large hard drive and you are set. You could also get a laptop at that price which is great for recording on the go, but laptops are very limited on upgrading later.

After browsing I found a Dimension E521 with an AMD X2 5000, 320GB HDD, 2GB of Ram, 19" Flat Panel (I would upgrade to a 20" ultrasharp) DVD Burner, and I added the firewire expansion card and a 13 in 1 media reader. All with a two year warranty for $1189 (before shipping). That, would be one kickin home studio. As always I'd shop around but at least that gives you and Idea. You won't get near that power/storage from a laptop at that price.

Faze 2 Studios
Member
Since: Aug 15, 2005


Jan 11, 2007 01:57 pm

A lot of people on here use delta 1010's (or the 1010's smaller brothers) and love them. I havent used one so i cant tell you from first hand exp. but i doubt anybody on here would say that the elta was a bad buy. So i think your good with the 1010. AS for the yamaha mixer, id say thats a great choice for a mixer. i use a yamaha 16/6 and love mine..LOVE and ive used the 10/2 and its well worth its price.
so i think your off to a great start, i wouldnt advise selling what you have, becuase what you have is great.
as far as computer, im not really sure. i wouldnt say that mac's are "better" then pc's anymore, you get much more bang for you buck with pc's though. im sure you can go onto compatability pages for the delta and find out what computers they recommend to use with your delta 1010 though.

also what recording software do you plan to use? theres a lot of great free programs that you can use out there to get you started.
but if your planning on going and buying a recording software, id steer away from Pro-tools (i think many would agree with me on that one)

hope that helps
-melty

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jan 11, 2007 09:25 pm

You can also look into having a PC custom built and I'm sure they can install the 1010's PCI card at the same time. Although these days the price of the pre built such as Dell are very comparable to building one specific for recording.

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Jan 11, 2007 09:39 pm

ugh, I hate thinking about a packaged system for audio. I know there's the 'build it yourself fear' but having them put the OS on there themselves gives me the willies. I have a laptop (dell) that I use for mobile recording, and I kill tonnes of crap before I record. This is after I already removed a bunch of the start-up crap that I don't need.

I also have a dell media-pc thing, which I only do home-type stuff on. No audio work at all.

Now my studio PC is built by me, and OS loaded by me. Very clean running, very few background processes running (under 10, i think).

Now if you have to get a dell, so you can get working, I would advise having a PC savvy friend come over and remove or disable all the non-essential junk that runs in the background. Things like realaudio, printer programs, scanner programs, norton, other AV stuff, etc. If you do use it for interent work, then a firewall / AV prog is a good idea, but having a different PCs for each is a good idea. I know dB works inet on his audio box, but I'm too paranoid.

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