build a DAW
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Posted on Nov 09, 2005 02:43 pm
BigC
Member Since: Nov 04, 2005
Does anyone, and I am sure there is, know a good site that tells what components to buy and how to build a DAW. And where to buy the parts to do it with. And an updated site, not a site that tells about computers built in 2000. Or the year 1865. Just kidding!
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Nov 09, 2005 02:45 pm You can ask here, many of us have built our own DAW's. What parts are you confused about or needing advice on?
You need a case, a motherboard, processor, RAM, harddrive (or two) sound card, video card...all the typical PC components. Get the best and fastest of each, is what most sites will say.
a 128 MB video card will rock, a 2Ghz CPU at least a gig of RAM...as big of an HD as you can...
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Nov 09, 2005 03:16 pm Hoo-boy, that's a pretty open ended question. There's tons and tonnes (for you eur folk) of variables that will sway you're decision.
Are you going to one man band, or 4, or 8, or more inputs recording at one time?
Are you Mac, PC, or Linux favored?
Are you married to a Intel PC, or do you feel comfortable with AMD.
Dual processor? rack mount?
Do you want to go with a mixer? control surface? preamps only, PC based mixer?
Do you want to interface with digital devices? midi devices? multiple midi devices? optical? adat? etc?
Do you want 192khz resolution? or will 96, 48, or 44.1 be enough?
24bit recording or 16 bit?
what software would you be inclined to go with? pro-tools, nuendo, logic, sonar, cubase, cakewalk, others?
There may be sites out there that can tell you such, but I'd rather (and did/am doing) the research myself on different parts. One persons opinions on one website may be pretty biased towards what they already use, so it may miss other valid options.
You can look into people's profiles here, and see what they are using, plus look through the archives in the computer section. I read lots here, and a few other places, before I started putting together a PC. Now I'm going to be doing it again, and I've learned a few things the hard way, and the easy way, so this next one should be better.
hope that helps . . . probably not much, but it does show some of the various concerns
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 10, 2005 12:06 am I am guessing better then a third of the users here at HRC have built their own DAW or can tell you who built them for them. I know I have been building my own since dB started me down that path long ago.
