slave computer

[dryan]

Mazz, you are absolutely right about the bundled software that comes with most machines. It truly ruins the PC DAW. I usually opt not to install that software when I build a machine. I did overlook the fact that Mac users have the fortune of plugging in the machine and start writing right away. I have indeed had the misfortune of spending hours upon hours troubleshooting PC's to spec them to DAW standards.I have not yet been 'successful' with music nor have the discretionary income to spend on a Mac. A PC is a necessity for me. If you own a PC, you have no choice but to learn the parts and OS in order to have a successful DAW. That's why I started building mine. The first two DAWs took some work to build but it got easier with each consecutive one. I spend about 4 hours shopping for proper parts. It still takes about 2-3 hours to put a PC together with mods. Another 1-1/2 hours is spent installing the OS and tweaking the system. The most time, by far, is spent installing the samples and plug-ins. And you are right again, time could be better spent working on the music itself.I build PC DAWs because I enjoy it now. I have yet to build a system with Vista and being confident around XP, I still dread the idea of either OS. To this day I still believe that Microsoft is a monopolistic, plagiaristic, egotistic corporation. And unfortunately for me, a necessary evil. dr

[ciskokidd]

Hi Mazz,I would stay away from XP64 as drivers are generally very hard to find for it. I know because I gave it a try. I was able to get drivers for my sound card, but that was about it.For 64 bit you are best going with Vista based on that alone. Especially if you are getting a newer machine. You have to contend with trying to find video, lan, and SATA drivers. The SATA drivers are the worst as you have to either have a floppy drive (good luck there) or you have to slipstream them onto a bootable XP64 OS disk.Best of luck,Cisco

[mazz]

Yeah Cisco, I hear you. I'm counting on these folks or someone like them to have all those things worked out ahead of time with restore disks, etc. They service some of the "big guys" in Hollywood so I would imagine they can make "near zero" downtime happen. http://www.visiondaw.com/vdaw_powerusers07.aspStill thinking about it.Mazz

[matto]

Although I don't have any personal experience with them, I've also heard good things about PCAudiolabs, if you're shopping around:http://www.pcaudiolabs.com/

[mazz]

Thanks matto! I've checked them out too. So far visiondaw is in the lead. They seem to have the best deal going with that 4Gig 64bit machine.I was seriously considering getting a new Mac this year and I'm thinking outside my own little box and thinking that maybe I can do a slave machine and a couple of choice Play libraries for the same price, take some strain off my G5 and get a couple more years out of it.Still dreaming at this point.Anyone else have any ideas/opinions?Mazz

[stick]

Why not get the new Mac for your main machine and run whatever VIs push the new one over the top on the G5? It seems to me the new Macs are SO much more powerful, you may not even need the other computer. I'm still running everything on a Dual 2.0 G5. Granted, I push it to the limit on a mildly thick rock/orchestral film trailer piece, but with Freeze in Logic I get by fine.

[mazz]

Quote:Why not get the new Mac for your main machine and run whatever VIs push the new one over the top on the G5? It seems to me the new Macs are SO much more powerful, you may not even need the other computer. I'm still running everything on a Dual 2.0 G5. Granted, I push it to the limit on a mildly thick rock/orchestral film trailer piece, but with Freeze in Logic I get by fine. I just looked at the refurb section of Apple's website and there's a quad core there for a pretty good price. I wish it had more than 1G of RAM but it's still a good deal. HMMMMMM Damn you Stick!!! I really want to have my templates set up and loaded and ready to go so I can work quickly. One of my goals is to up my speed and quality. I think they are compatible goals Reading Nick's Virtual Instrument magazine back issues I found a section on how to run Kontakt stand alone outside of Digital Performer (they used Logic in the example) which allows it to have 2G of RAM on it's own (there's a 2G limit per application in OSX 10.4). I might try that too on the G5 (Dual 2.7, 5G RAM). If that works that would really free things up as well. HMMMM Damn you Stick!! (did I already say that?) Thanks for the thought provoking post!Mazz

[Mark Kaufman]

A friend of mine runs a computer repair store...he's been around the block over the years, even knew Michael Dell way back when. He tells me it would be a terrific risk to purchase a Vista OS, claiming that there are still too many unaddressed bugs and potential problems. He says the best thing about Vista right now is all the repair business it brings him.I can't do his arguing for him on this forum, knowing as little as I do, but his opinion swayed me enough to stick with an XP-based system.

[mazz]

Quote:A friend of mine runs a computer repair store...he's been around the block over the years, even knew Michael Dell way back when. He tells me it would be a terrific risk to purchase a Vista OS, claiming that there are still too many unaddressed bugs and potential problems. He says the best thing about Vista right now is all the repair business it brings him.I can't do his arguing for him on this forum, knowing as little as I do, but his opinion swayed me enough to stick with an XP-based system.I might have gotten a bad batch of crack that made me think about a Windows machine. I might just stick with Mac! Still thinking.Thanks for the cautionary tale!!Mazz

[matto]

To counterbalance stick's post...The big advantage of just adding a slave is it's a much less time consuming and traumatic undertaking than replacing your main DAW machine...(yeah I know... "DAMN YOU matto"... )