Dedicated PC for DAW - suggestions on components?

[jamesm]

Hi, all. It was great to see so many of you at the Rally last week. It's so inspiring to see the amazing developments from year to year. This was my first year as a true TAXI member. I joined after last year's Rally.I'm sort of getting back into things after quite a year - long story - and I'm looking to build a PC just for use as a DAW. I'm a software guy in my day job so I'm not unfamiliar with computers but it's been awhile since I've built anything from scratch.Does anyone have any recommendations for components? I'm thinking of 3GB RAM, a fast hard drive and a decent processor. Where I get lost is the interface from a MIDI keyboard into the PC and concerns about introducing noise into the chain. Although I may be doing some audio tracks I will most likely be working in MIDI.I have Tracktion 3 and I'm looking at ProTools LE, but thinking I may just stick with what I have, learn it, and then decide when/if to move up. I kept hearing at the Rally "learn what you have before moving on" and I'm taking it to heart.So... long way of saying that I'd appreciate any suggestions on connecting MIDI into the PC (what kind of card/box/interface) andany do's and don'ts when building a box from scratch for this purpose.

[jazzstan]

There's a fellow "the midi guy" Pete (something) who is not far from you in the Valley. (mdiguy.com, I think it is) He set up my last machine for me and got all the parts talking to eachother, which can be the real challenge. I'm sure he'd be happy to cover some of the technical questions for you. I may have phone number if you can't find him. I just ordered a new machine, with 4G memory, and 3 hard drives: an 80 for the operating system and program software, a 180 for loops & samples and other 'resource' material, and a 320 for my tunes. (all are 7200rpm); I'm getting a special case that is 'sposed to be super quiet. I don't have the specs with me, but if you want to know, just pm me. Getting the parts from ACNT in Torrance - but they do mail order, too. For interface/sound card for audio and midi, there are hundreds of choices. The midi is pretty generic, but for the audio - don't cut corners. (this is where Pete might help). You can go with internal or external. Depending on how many external midi input/output hardware (keyboards, drum pads, external sound modules) you may also want a midi 'router' ( could be mitigate with the right external unit). I'm using an M-Audio 24/96. You will want to be at least 24 bit for your audio. I'm sure folks here can provide a number of suggestions!~Stan

[allends]

Hey James,Stan gave you some good advice. I'll throw in my stripped down real life example just to show you how simple things can be and still be effective. My PC is 4 years old now but has the "3GB RAM, a fast hard drive and a decent processor" that you're talking about. It works OK, but I wish I had the latest processor and more RAM. I use Sonar with the Power Studio interface. You can find a link here to check it out. I only record myself one track at a time so I don't need a mixing board. There are lots of interface products to chose from but I went this rout because I'm a Sonar user and the bundled software/hardware was an economical and effective choice for me. My synth is an old Yamaha SY77. I bought it for its sound many years ago but now I only use it to trigger software synths. That's a good lesson IMHO: Software synths are always changing, improving, and are relatively inexpensive so that's where I'm putting my money (plus there's no noise in the signal chain). The synth just plugs into the MIDI-In on the Power Studio interface which goes into the PC via USB.My PC has a special quiet fan made by Zalman. Like Stan, I have an 80GB drive for programs. My other drive is a large one that I use to store my project files and the sound patch libraries that I have bought. I wish I had bought special quiet drives such as those made by Glyph (check out the link) . The hard drives are the only noise I hear from my PC box right now so that's the big mistake I made with my setup.I have only one good condenser mic for my acoustic guitar (and sitar) work: Rode NT3. At the Rally I placed my order for that Gauge mic that Michael was endorsing so we'll see how that goes.Well, there you have it. I have lots of pluggins like Omnisphere and EZdrummer for MIDI, etc. but that's another huge subject entirely. I hope my simple studio setup demonstrates just how easy things can be. You can build a different or more sophisticated system if that suits your needs better.Good Luck,Allen

[aimusic]

Yeah I'd agree with the 3 HDD situation, 1 for OS, 1 for your projects and 1 for your samplers/vsts etc...It all depends on what you intend on doing - for instance, I think recording bands/working mainly with audio uses up a lot less resources than working with midi (ironically) it' usually all your samplers/vsts that eat up the resources extremely quickly... for instance, sometimes I can have a track that's only got 6 midi tracks with almost all my resources gone, opposing a "band situation" where I've got 19audio tracks... and I got a 2.3ghz dual core processor with 3gb RAM... I am however contemplating upgrading to 8-core next year, because I will be setting up a studio business, but to get up and runnining that is TOTALLY NOT what is needed.

[jamesm]

Thanks very much for all the information! The links were a big help. I will also check into midguy.com.I'm on a fairly limited budget but I'm taking to heart the information I got at the rally. I want to set up a good basic system. Thanks again. I really appreciate it.James

[og]

FWIW, I built mine off a barebones package from a web dealer. As I am a cheap SOB, I now suffer from buyer's remorse that I didn't get the next faster/bigger/meaner/more cojones dozen-core whizbanger, but I run SONAR with eight or nine tracks and half a dozen busses, and never get abouve 28% on the CPU. That said, figure out what you can afford, then do without something so you can get the next best. You will not regret having a faster processor, more RAM, or better HDDs. This is the voice of experience, and I approved this message.

[jamesm]

Thanks, og. What components did you use to build your Frankenmachine?

[og]

I've got an Asus A8V mobo with an Athlon 64 2.4Ghz processor. Running XP pro. No modem. Western Digital HDDs--40G for the OS and programs, and 250G for loops, samples, and project files. Two disc drives, one burns CD/DVD w/Lightscribe (My CDs look pretty cool ). I don't recall the specs on the power source, but it's not a huge one. Pretty simple, really. Oh, yeah, some screaming vid card that my gamer stepson got me to buy. Never send your wife and her kid to pick up "something that will work". I'm running an ART MPA Pro Gold into an E-MU 0404 and SONAR with very few problems. Most of those are pilot error.

[jamesm]

Thanks, og, that's good to know. I was at Fry's yesterday, totaling up the cost of components. It's been a while since I've been through this process. It's a little intimidating. I hear you about the video card. The salesman was really surprised that I didn't want the megabyte-of-memory video card for my machine. I was more interested in quiet and simple with lots of memory and a fast processor, which is not a very sexy prospect for a computer maniac.

[steveha2865]

For the past several years I've been mounting my project hard drives in a UDMA Super Rack. This enables me to quickly change project drives without having to open the computer case and disconnect/reconnect wiring harness'. They are less than $20 (as I recall) so I just buy a rack everytime I buy a new hard drive. These are not hot-swapable, so you need to turn off the computer before changing drives.