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#38352 - 04/11/00 09:19 AM advice needed!
Anonymous
Unregistered


I have a 266Mhz Pentium II, with 32 MB syncRAM, 4.3 GB Hard Disk and a full duplex sound card.
1.-I want to know what else do I need to built a descent home recording studio.
2.-Do I have To upgrade my computer?
Zanks.

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#38353 - 04/12/00 06:52 AM Re: advice needed!
Korgasm Offline
Member

Registered: 12/16/99
Posts: 270
Loc: Australia
It all depends what you will be using your computer for.

If you will only be running a couple of audio tracks along with your midi tracks then you can do it OK with what you have- providing you don't go overboard in the plugins department!

If you are wishing to run many more audio tracks with plug ins etc, I'd advise you to upgrade to a faster processor (at least a Pentium111450 and even these are getting 'slow' now!).

I also strongly advise you that if you are serious about using your computer for music, set it up so it is only used for music and nothing else- no games, no spreadsheets or wordprocessing etc. You'll have way less headaches!!!!!!!

Good luck with what you are doing! Bye the way, what are you looking at running in your new studio? Cheers.

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#38354 - 04/16/00 09:10 PM Re: advice needed!
wchoy Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 04/13/00
Posts: 13
Loc: United Kingdom
You didn't mention what software you are or are intending to use. If it either of the 'four' popular sequencers, then first things first: the RAM- get as much as you can because this decides the speed, number of tracks available and reliability of your system. Next, try to get a Zip drive for storage of songs/samples or better yet, get a CDR-W writer.
With regards to synths (if you intend to use them), you can opt for either the software equivalent (cheaper, more flexible) or their hardware equivalents (real thing which collects dust). Get either a EMU, Korg, Roland or Yamaha.
You'll also need a good AKG C1000s for recording vocals (perhaps) and a dependable Mackie or Soundcraft Mixer with at least 4 channels. Oh, and don't forget a pair of quality-branded speakers for mixing. That's it. As you can see, there are loads more to discuss about but the list may be too long!
Hope this helps.

WINN

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#38355 - 04/17/00 06:50 AM Re: advice needed!
WS Offline
Member

Registered: 09/18/98
Posts: 618
You didn't mention how much you want to spend or what kind of instruments you are using. You should get an"audio card" and not a multimedia card (under $200 for excellent used ones (Card D+, Events). You need a 4 buss mixer (Mackie 1202 for $150 used). Amp and monitor speakers can run between 300 and up for used equipment. You will more than likely blow your hifi amp (they are not made to take the spikes that occur in live recording) if you try and use it.A good mic will run over 100 used but SM58 (shure) will work well. Sequence/Audio software can go for just a few dollars to ($40+) for used older versions (Cakewalk 6.0, Cubase).
Audio uses the hard drive and not Ram but the more ram the better. You should be able to get 16 audio tracks (maybe more) but if you try to use real time effects this will be greatly decreased. You might even have a hard time with them on a 266 and newer software versions. I would also recommend Sound Forge for editing tracks. You might need a Midi interface too ($20 used).So, for $700 you can have an excellent used setup. You might look for someone trying to sell the entire setup. The same equipment new could run you $2000. Of course, it could run you much more too. Check out www.harmon-central.com for used gear.

[This message has been edited by WS (edited 04-17-2000).]

[This message has been edited by WS (edited 04-17-2000).]

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#38356 - 04/25/00 01:21 PM Re: advice needed!
Baris Can Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 02/08/00
Posts: 22
the AMD Athlon Processors are the most
suitables for sound editing, recording, encoding, decoding; so if you are going to
use your PC intensively on sound-issues, go and buy an AMD Athlon 700 MHZ. This Athlon is also more powerful than the PIII with same clock speed and additionally cheaper, too. Besides of that, if your harddisk isn't fast enough, go and buy a fast harddisk. Also, you should have 128 MB ram, if you dont like waiting for minutes, like me, while you edit or modify a longer wave file.
Thats all. I hope, i was helpful...

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