Home studio this way comes!

[The Recorder]

Phew. Just ordered "little better" (still quite crappy) recording equipment.
I think I've gone through hell with this.
I heard yesterday that the store wherefrom I had planned to order would be closed whole July and that was when I went to panic.
Where would I get the money in few days?!? I can't wait a month!!

Well, I got my money and solved all compatibility and cable problems that I had.
Only thing that I couldn't get was a drum mic set because the store couldn't get it from Sweden in just few days before their "vacation". But it's okay because I have some mics that I can play with and wait for these mics.

My little order was:
Behringer Truth B2030A studio monitors
Behringer ADA8000 ad/da converter
Behringer HA4700 headphone amp
RME Hammerfall LE 9636 sound card
A lot of XLR cables
and various other cables
and some K&M mic stands

The next thing on the list is computer that I would use only when recording.

Oh hell... What a unnecesarry topic.

 

[Fyhed]

Get a nice fat G5!

I recommend it highly

 

[Awake_In_Animosity]

I second that, my other guitarist uses a G5 with a Digi 002 Rackmount and it kills.

 

[The Recorder]

Maybe G5 when I'm rich enough, because my budget this time quite low.
I've been considering used pc with 2,4 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 512mb DDR memory and 80 gb hard disk drive for 260 euros. Only thing that I should buy would be writing cd drive which costs something like 19 euros.
Quite cheap package I think.
Comments?

 

[unsilpauly]

Maybe G5 when I'm rich enough, because my budget this time quite low.
I've been considering used pc with 2,4 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 512mb DDR memory and 80 gb hard disk drive for 260 euros. Only thing that I should buy would be writing cd drive which costs something like 19 euros.
Quite cheap package I think.
Comments?

keep saving. definetly! you get what you pay for computerwise. at least get an emac or a mac mini. my emac has served me well. id love to have a dual g5, but i had other gear to get. but for doing multitrack audio, i think these people will tell you that macs are just more solid. on my emac i do 40 tracks of audio with processing no problem. g4 1ghz, 1gig of ram and its really stable. you should do more homework. and as far as pcs go, i would at least get a pentium processor(3 or 4) and at least a gig of ram. but it wont last as long as the mac and the resale value wont be as good either. good luck dude.

 

[Frank'nfurter]

I've been considering used pc with 2,4 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 512mb DDR memory and 80 gb hard disk drive for 260 euros. Only thing that I should buy would be writing cd drive which costs something like 19 euros.

Thats not enough!
Try to get min. 1gig of ram, 3MHz P4 and a second HD for the audio data. You never get a good performance on a PC if you store your audio files on the same HD where the OS is.
Second thing is to tweak the whole OS.

 

[The Recorder]

Owner of that pc package was such an asshole. I told him yesterday that I'm organizing my money things and I'll contact him today. Well, I mailed him few hours ago and he answered: "I sold it today."
Shit!

My budget is something like 300 euros and this is what I can get with that amount of money:

Processor: AMD SEMPRON 2400+ BOX
Memory: 512 MB DDR 400MHZ BUFFALO PC-3200, CL2.5
Motherboard: ASROCK K7S41GX, SOCKET A, MATX, VGA, LAN, 6CH AUD
Hard: SAMSUNG SP0802N P80 80GB ATA/133 7200RPM, 36KK
Tower:A-OPEN QF50C/MT 300W LGA775 COOL GREY
CD drive: LG CD-RW GCE-8526BB 52X/32X/52X IDE

I think that would be a quite good deal.

...And guys. I'm just a newbie with these things so I'm not trying to record music with clean and professional quality, atleast with this budget.

 

[Frank'nfurter]

Try to get a separate grafik card. It helps alot to increase the PC performance.
Grafik on board is a preformance killer.

 

[The Recorder]

Try to get a separate grafik card. It helps alot to increase the PC performance.
Grafik on board is a preformance killer.

Thanks for the tip! Didn't know that.
I'll see what I can do.

 

[unsilpauly]

hey man, did you look into a mac mini yet. they are like 499usd. they will kick the crap outta any amd processor. how many tracks are you planning on mixing?
are you gonna be recording drums? do you want to buy another computer in 6 months when you figure out that the pc isnt cutting it. there is a reason for the mac mini, thats anyone who needs a GOOD dirt cheap computer. you get what you pay for. in 6 months youll be sucked into the engineering thing like everyone else on this forum. every newbie starts off with modest intentions but you will soon figure out that its best to just save alittle longer if you have to so you can get what is really gonna work for you. anyway if you plan on mixing 30 plus tracks in the lifetime of this computer you are gonna buy the cheapest youre gonna get out money-wise for a quaulity computer for recording is a mac mini with a gig of ram. thats really your cheapest viable option. if you notice too that any pc that is made for audio recording is just as much as a mac if not more. there is a reason. cheap pcs suck. a really good 1500.00-2000.00 pc will be really kickass and probably get the job done, but thats what you need to spend to get a good quaulity pc. ive owned cheap pc's before. they are a big waste of money for what audio requires out of a cpu.

 

[The Recorder]

hey man, did you look into a mac mini yet. they are like 499usd. they will kick the crap outta any amd processor. how many tracks are you planning on mixing?
are you gonna be recording drums? do you want to buy another computer in 6 months when you figure out that the pc isnt cutting it. there is a reason for the mac mini, thats anyone who needs a GOOD dirt cheap computer. you get what you pay for. in 6 months youll be sucked into the engineering thing like everyone else on this forum. every newbie starts off with modest intentions but you will soon figure out that its best to just save alittle longer if you have to so you can get what is really gonna work for you. anyway if you plan on mixing 30 plus tracks in the lifetime of this computer you are gonna buy the cheapest youre gonna get out money-wise for a quaulity computer for recording is a mac mini with a gig of ram. thats really your cheapest viable option. if you notice too that any pc that is made for audio recording is just as much as a mac if not more. there is a reason. cheap pcs suck. a really good 1500.00-2000.00 pc will be really kickass and probably get the job done, but thats what you need to spend to get a good quaulity pc. ive owned cheap pc's before. they are a big waste of money for what audio requires out of a cpu.

I know that Mac would be much better, but I have no other choice.
Mac costs something like 500-600 euros and my budget is 300 euros and that pc is what I can get with 300 euros. Maybe I'll buy Mac next summer.

Got my stuff today! :hotjump:
Shitty thing is that I'm still missing computer and sound card.
RME Hammerfall LE 9636 coming next week and hopefully that computer too.

By the way, I promised to buy Fostex Recording Mixer Model 1840 for 250 euros. It's from 80's (I think) but should be in good condition. I'm planning to use it as a backup in the studio and maybe when playing live.
Owner delivers it to me tomorrow.
Comments?

 

[martyfireball]

hey Recorder, don't panick too much about the PC speed. I',m using an AMD 2500XP+ with 1Ghz RAM and get a 50+ track count no bother. Yeah, it would be nice to jump to the latest spec and speed but work within your budget and let your customers pay for your upgrades when you need them AND you get the business.
BTW, i'd get a DVD-RW drive not a CD-RW and def get a seperate graphics card (small memory is fine).
Seagate Barracuda's are quiet and good quality drives too.

 

[The Recorder]

hey Recorder, don't panick too much about the PC speed. I',m using an AMD 2500XP+ with 1Ghz RAM and get a 50+ track count no bother. Yeah, it would be nice to jump to the latest spec and speed but work within your budget and let your customers pay for your upgrades when you need them AND you get the business.
BTW, i'd get a DVD-RW drive not a CD-RW and def get a seperate graphics card (small memory is fine).
Seagate Barracuda's are quiet and good quality drives too.

DVD-RW drive was on my mind but I don't know... That would be about 35 euros more than CD-RW. I consider it, but thanks for the tip anyway.

 

[Fabbio]

Please don't rush things!!!

Save money for the Mac and you will never be disppointed!!!
I have a Powerbook and in three (3!!!) years i 'suffered' only 1 complete crash (I had only to restart and everything was again in place) and ten/twelve freezing of minor applications (except for word that keep on crashing over and over again... ...damn Microsoft...).

Even if you have to wait six months go for a Macintosh!!!

I'm serious!!!

:Spin: :Spin: :Spin: :Spin: :Spin: :Spin: :Spin:

 

[The Recorder]

I got that Fostex 1840 mixer today and MAN THAT THING IS HUGE! Bigger than kitchen table.
There were some problems with that mixer, I offered 250 euros for it and owner thought I meant 2500 old finnish marks. That's about 416 euros.
I was in kind of panic when I realised that I should pay over 150 euros more than I thought.

In the end I paid 385 euros for it and got bunch of cables (xlr, plug-plug, etc), AKG C525S microphone, custom case for the mixer and table/rack for the mixer.

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

I got that Fostex 1840 mixer today and MAN THAT THING IS HUGE! Bigger than kitchen table.
There were some problems with that mixer, I offered 250 euros for it and owner thought I meant 2500 old finnish marks. That's about 416 euros.
I was in kind of panic when I realised that I should pay over 150 euros more than I thought.

In the end I paid 385 euros for it and got bunch of cables (xlr, plug-plug, etc), AKG C525S microphone, custom case for the mixer and table/rack for the mixer.

Sounds like a good deal you had there.

 

[The Recorder]

Sounds like a good deal you had there.

I'm still a bit confused from all this pricing mess, but I really hope I did a good deal.

 

[Mulder]

Consider an Intel Pentium-M 730 with the Asus 479 adaptercard.
Put it on an Asus P4C-E with two sticks of Corsair XMS 3200 cas2 of 1 gig each and run the Pentium-M at 800 Mhz FSB, this will give you a pc that kills the G5, P4 and Athlon 64. The Pentium Mobile is the same cpu that Apple will use for its G6, very very very powerfull and uses about one third of the juice a P4 or G5 needs. Google on the PM 730 and read for yourself. Also, the P4C-E gives you twice the HDestate a G5 does (2xSATA & 2xIDE) for half the money.

You need two gigs of RAM when you work with DFH superior and/or orchestral sampled stuff, and it makes it possible to switch off WinXP's pagefile.

I only advise a G5 if you don't care much about computers and want something that does its trick right out the box. But if you do some reading on the Net and like to assemble your CPU yourself go with the 730.

 

[Ermz]

I've heard that switching off the page file is detrimental to performance, despite how much RAM the PC has. Apparently it's just one of the (many) quirks of Windows XP.

 

[Mulder]

I've heard that switching off the page file is detrimental to performance, despite how much RAM the PC has. Apparently it's just one of the (many) quirks of Windows XP.

There are much threads on the Net in which developers explain how to tame XP into a (great) DAW. The trick to disable the pagefile comes from Bob Lentini, the assembler of SAWstudio. He works with a very stable setup.

My experience as a Mac and PC user is that they both have their strengths and their weaknesses. And their deciples .

I prefer facts above faith in this matter. If Linux would host a killerDAW I would make a tripleboot in my pc to run it. Down with religion!