New System build for musician please

[999tigger]

Ok I don't know much about this area, but can I have your thoughts on a new desktop PC that should do the things a musician wants.

I would have thought a 6600 quadcore can be had for starters.
500g hard drive.
2-4gig of ram.

Graphics card I'm not sure, it doesnt have to be an 8800.

I'd have said the key hardware features are a decent soundcard- suggestions please. I was thinking of Auzentech.

Decent speakers for playback.

Decent music software.

I'm just feeling my way through it at the moment.

thanks

[reactionevents]

Hi there, been meaning to join up to this forum for a while now but only got round to it for this post.

Your quad core is going to be a god send when multitasking(running various soft synths etc) so i would say thats essential,

and a large hard drive for your samples etc.

the more ram you use is also going to be a benefit.


but what OS are you planning to run? Most of the programs widely available dont really seem to have vista support as AFAIK. I personally have stuck with xp due to it being fool proof with just about any vst/plug in/sequencer/sound card right now. As for the sound card...whats your budget?

Speakers for production I would go for Either Tannoy or Genelec Studio Monitors (active) as ive heard both of these and they have accurate and flat sound (in my opionion)

I'm currently using Alesis prolinear 720's there pretty good too.

Its up to you whether you go the active route or not. i find active speakers to be much more accurate due to being bi amplified with a 'matched' set or pre amps built in.


as for the Sequencer itself...there are demos of Fruity loops/Cubase(which i use personally)/and logic around the net...although with logic the latest versions are mac only.(goes up to 6 on the pc?? i could be wrong don't quote me on that)

The sound card Auzentech? never heard of it being used in production before..


www .turnkey. co.uk/web/productAction.do?dispatch=showProduct&SKU=MMAN-AUDIOFIL&context=WEB (Wont let me post links)


This m audio will do the job nicely and has near enough zero latency,for a low price.


If this post doesnt make sense its becuase im a bit tired.ill re read over it later!

[staffsMike]

I'm assuming that the computer would need to be quiet or silent?

Assuming they don't want to play games then I can thoroughly recommend the following as it's what I use in a different pc to my system.

Antec P182
Corsair 520HX
Scythe Ninja
Western Digital 500GB AAKS or 2 (the party piece..you won't hear it in operation in that case.
Gainward 8500GT SilentFX which stays suprisingly cool but anything passive will be fine (ATi HD2400pro/XT or HD2600pro/XT)

That combination for me is completly in auidable

Further to that I would use
Abit IP-35, maybe the pro version for the eSATA ports as they might want to use fast external drives?
Q6600 right now or wait until Jan for the Q9450 (i think it's called)
4GB of RAM.
It shouldn't matter whether its 4x1GB or 2x2GB modules unless you think they will actually want 8GB of DDR2 at some point?
If you do think they will need 8GB then check out 4GbComputer : DDR2 : Computer Memory - Computer Memory - MemoryC.com hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK[/url]for decent 2x2GB kits as they seem to be the cheapest place at the moment.

Not good with sound cards as I don't use them anymore.

Perhaps because i'm not audiophile but I always found these very nice, never bought them though lol
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[Thorsson]

I think this not only explains the use of cubase products with Vista but also memory issues as well: Support for PCs using Microsoft Windows Vista :: Knowledge Base :: Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH

I'd generally go for a 64-bit OS due to the memory support, but sound card drivers are notoriously bad. One sound card that does have Vista drivers is the E-MU 0404. Another is the Echo Mia/MiaMIDI. You don't want to get a gamer's card.

If you glance around the threads you will see that there are a bunch of new Intel products coming out after Xmas, which will up performance and drive down prices. If you can't wait then I'd go with a Q6600 G0, an Abit P35, and DDR2 PC6400 (not much point in going over 2Gb on a 32-bit OS, otherwise get as much as you can afford).

Hard Drives 500Gb is the sweetspot at the moment. Given your application I think it's worth considering the Seagate 7200.11 based on it's double-sized cache. It's not as quiet as Samsung or WDD drives, but it's not noisy and inside the P182 I don't think that it would be a problem.

DVD drive - the Asus 1814 is known as very quiet: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

I have the Corsair PSU recommended by StaffsMike and it's good, but if your budget stretches I also have the Enermax Infiniti 720 and it's quieter.

[Colossous]

Good info from the guys above - what is it you are looking at recording - mainly digital sounds or live instruments and vocals too ? If the latter you'll want a soundcard that can input a mic or instruments or a channel strip with XLR/mic inputs.

[d032sh]

Hi there,

I think you've missed out the most important piece of information we need to help you... what do you actually want to do in terms of music creation? What instruments do you play, i.e. do you want to record keyboard, guitar, vocals, cow bell?

[Thorsson]

And a budget would help as well. You can spend an awful lot of money on decent sound kit.

[d032sh]

And a budget would help as well. You can spend an awful lot of money on decent sound kit.

Oh yes, and don't I know it