Build your system cheap

[BudmanRocks]

Amd 3200+64bit(2.21ghz), 800fbs, 2gig of ddr ram, Radeon 9600 pro video card, 3 - 80gig WD 7200rpm HD's. M-Audio Delta 44. Behringer 2442fx Mixer. The computer stuff was top of line. I bought it a couple of years after it came out and saved 2/3's of my $$$$. Will handle 24 tracks maybe more never went higher. I run windows Xp pro and will never use vista till sweetwater puts it in thier Creation Station's. I biult this system to record my own music so the Delta 44 was plenty with 4 in and 4 out. I picked the mixer because of it's 4 subgroup out. I only posted this, if your looking to biuld a low cost recording system. I feel there is to much Bs out there about duel core and high end computers. You don't need them. Mine has been running for around 2 years now and no problems. Well I did crash it once and had to reinstall windows. The computer handles all my programs and vsti's great. So please remember that you don't have to spend alot on your computer. Mine was around 300 bucks. (mainboard, cpu, ram, HD's) Also it never see;s the internet. Geez I hope I didn't talk to much or bable.

[A McLoughlin]

Appreciate the information really....

I am having low noise generating from a decent Dell Laptop Computer... and am frustrated and thinking of starting over from the ground up...

This is helpful, because I have been looking at DAW builders and contemplating dropping around $1,500 - $2,000... but If I can build a comparable system for say around $1,000, then I would probably do that...

I work in SONAR 7 PE and do a lot of MIDI as well as audio and looping.

Any additional details you can share regarding this $1,000 budget to get to a near pro-level DAW station is certainly appreciated.

Thanks.

[brandondrury]

I feel there is to much Bs out there about duel core and high end computers. You don't need them.

I respect what you are doing. I always fight the "good fight" in terms of never making a person think they must spend $3k when they can get by for $300 or whatever.

However, it's another thing entirely to assume you know exactly what another person needs. (That's kinda the problem with the guys who tell you NEED a Quad Core CPU).

I'm about to dump $400 into building a new computer and I'll be going quad core. I do need it. At the moment my Athlon 64 2800 has done it's job and is ready to be demoted to email and web work.

I have a band coming Saturday who wants to record electronic drums with live bass, and DI electric guitars (for reamping). I'm scared! In the past, these sessions have ended up being total nitemares simply because I was expecting too much from my system. I'll have to get creative to avoid this potential fiasco.

So 99% of the users our there may not be loading up 1GB of Steven Slate samples into Kontakt 2 while using a guitar emulator all with latency around 128 samples and need it to work 100% perfectly. I won't be suprised if the vocalist wants reverb too.

Will handle 24 tracks maybe more never went higher.

With no plugins, you could probably pull 50 with no problem. That's the problem. 3 tracks with 5 instances of Altiverb and you'd probably be out of gas. It's the plugin usage that really kills us.

Brandon

[BudmanRocks]

Basicly I only record tracks via mic or line in. So i'm running nothing but wave files. I do use EZ Drummer, but it doesn't use much cpu power. When I first started doing this around 3 years ago I would have plug ins all over the place. Maybe 20 or 30 plugins running. Now it's just 5 or 6. My main thing is EQ. I had to learn the hard way by trial and error. I have been working with computer for around 20 years. My first computer was a DX2-66mhz. So slow. But I was doing midi on it. Put a Ensonic sound scape card in it. I thought that was big time. Cost for that thing back then was 3 grand. Well enough of that. I understand what you mean cause everyone does different things. Guess I should have explained more how I use mine. I don't record alot of bands because I only have 4 inputs at one time.

That makes it a pain in the ass. But i do alot of mixing for people. I am hoping this summer to biuld a new computer. I realy want to get into sata drives. The glyph drive is What I realy want. From what I have read they are the cream of the crop for audio.

[BudmanRocks]

Originally Posted by A McLoughlin

Appreciate the information really....

I am having low noise generating from a decent Dell Laptop Computer... and am frustrated and thinking of starting over from the ground up...

This is helpful, because I have been looking at DAW builders and contemplating dropping around $1,500 - $2,000... but If I can build a comparable system for say around $1,000, then I would probably do that...

I work in SONAR 7 PE and do a lot of MIDI as well as audio and looping.

Any additional details you can share regarding this $1,000 budget to get to a near pro-level DAW station is certainly appreciated.

Thanks.

If your thinking about spending 1500 then check these machines out. These might be just what you want. If you call them ask for Joe Gilder. He is extremely knowlagble about all thier computer stuff. A friend of mine bought the duel core for 2300 and is more than he will ever use.

Sweetwater Custom Computing Creation Station Tower + Demo | Sweetwater.com

This is duel core duo. I think thats quad core..

[A McLoughlin]

Appreciate the tout.