Dream DAW
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Posted on May 04, 2004 12:26 pm
Mauz
grrrrrrr
Member Since: Mar 29, 2004
OK. So after huge problems with my computer I think it might be time to invest. What computer specs would you guys suggest? I am prepared to invest to avoid troubles for a while. But dont want to throw away money just getting the latest thing. I just want something stable that can run effects, handle multiple tracks and will last me a few years.
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May 04, 2004 12:30 pm Quote:
and will last me a few years
hehehe, so, you're new to this tech stuff ain't ya...the best PC can last forever if you never upgrade the programs you use...it's new versions of programs that get bigger and better that necessitate bigger and better PC's. So how long it lasts is up to you.
Bottom line, any modern system will work, just stay away from Celeron CPU's. To save money go for AMD CPU's, don't go under 2ghz or so, pack it full of RAM (512 recommended, 1GB+ is good). Get the fastest hard drive you can for reasonable money.
From there it's a matter of choosing your sound card.
tonyd1970The fat one always watches us.Member
Since: Nov 08, 2002
May 04, 2004 12:39 pm I had a great experience with the refurbished dells. Goto the dell site, and click on the refurbished. good prices and selection but they come and go quick. also fast delivery in the us
MauzgrrrrrrrMember
Since: Mar 29, 2004
May 05, 2004 09:07 am I can get a cheap fire wire hard drive. Do you think this will help ease the pain on my poor little pentium 3m 1.2 GHz for the moment? I think the fact that I use the same hard drive for recording as running apps is causing problems.
Rotation Speed:
7200 rpm
Seek Time:
8.5ms
Data Transfer Rate:
Up to 400Mbps max.
Capacity:
40GB Hard Disk
Buffer Size:
2MB (2048 kB)
vdalehubbardLost for words with all to say.Contributor
Since: Sep 12, 2003
May 05, 2004 11:24 am Your Hard Drive seems good enough. Your P3 1.2 GHz should do you fine. Just get a load of memory (1 GB of SDRAM if that is what it takes) and not many applications installed to take up space. Might want to buy another HD to install your other programs that don't deal with recording to keep space free on the HD that your Operating System is on. Just my suggestion.
May 05, 2004 01:01 pm I'd just like to 2nd what vdalehubbard said about an extra drive. If you put the OS and software on one drive (including swap file) and record to a separate drive, you will increase performance. And with EIDE drives going for about $80 (US) for 120GB, seems pretty cheap. Another thing that will help performance is to defragment the drive that you are mixing from. Mixing on-the-fly multiple stereo tracks can suck the performance out of a drive in a hurry if the files are severely fragmented. One way I deal with that is to use a couple of drives. One for storage and one for working. I keep the working drive clean, I erase everything/defrag/diagnostics etc before I start to work. Then I copy files from the storage drive to the working drive. They are written defragmented that way. Then I back them up and copy them back to the storage drive when I'm done. But I'm only working with a dual P450 system (under NT4), which is just not enough engine these days, so I have to take these steps so I can keep my track count up. My max is about 16 stereo tracks at 16/44.1 with EQ, dynamics and effects (but not too much).
MauzgrrrrrrrMember
Since: Mar 29, 2004
May 06, 2004 03:25 am Sweet advice guys. Hard drive has bene ordered. I like your advice CompSem. I like your meticulous approach.
Incidentally I went to a seminar where one of Italy's pest producers explained his hard drive techniques. He had 3 HD arranged like this.
1 - C: with programs (running a 'lean system')
D: as a back up area for current song
2 - Hard drive with 6 partitions (1 for each song he was working on) This hard drive would be the active one being worked on in cubase.
3 - Another hard drive with variable number of partitions depending on his needs. Maninly for backup to have previous versions of the work. Something like an undo drive.
He said that partitioning you hard drives like this allowed him to always have clean drives as he could easily delete a partition associated with a song. and then that partition would be clean for a new song. Also defregging was much quicker. In general he found this method (customised slightly depending on needs) was the best way to have a smooth running system and to always have backups of his work.
Many albums he produced on a system with only 1GB of ram. And he really took it to the max. I am going to write an article on this guy and his techniques and will let you know when it is posted on Will's site.
MauzgrrrrrrrMember
Since: Mar 29, 2004
May 06, 2004 10:36 am WHAT ARE THE ODDS? This producer just wrote to me and told me he is selling his old computer. It is a mac G4 with 1GB ram. The cool thing is that is already configured as a DAW and its packed full of his samples libraries that he has collected and made over 20 years. Plus it has Live and Cubase already installed. And a number of the top hits have gone right through this baby. And a whole bunch of handy softwares. WOW. I am so excited about this I think I am going to p**s my pants! He hasn't told me the price yet, but he's a super chill dude so I don't think he will rip me off. And you can't beat the customer service since he said I could call him if I had problems with his configuration. All of you send me positive Karma so that I am able to conclude this transaction! And I promise if I manage to get my hands on this baby I will immediately go HRC pro and do my best to save that ciggy amp guys by smoking double the ciggy and not even creasing the packs.
May 06, 2004 10:40 am ** commencing karma transmission **
If you are getting the computer with that software installed on it, also make sure you get the CD's, manuals and license keys for them so they are "legally" yours...also, in the future if you need to reinstall the software you will need them.
