A Fresh Start...any advice

Ok....Just got home with my pc from best buy. They did a fresh reinstall of winxp for $129. They could have tried a data retriveal for $199 but it wasnt worth my while to do it since i just backed up everything i wanted from that comp about 2 weeks before the crash..."exception: email from cakewalk with the vsti wrapper and password....wonder if they will send me another one"

...........so here i am..... a little nervouse to plug it in for the first time...agian.....

planning it as a dedicated daw hooked up to internet only when i want to register something. Planning on reinstalling mc2. Cant afford to buy sonar yet. Thinking about installing audacity and anvil as well, and if i cant get that wrapper from cakewalk i was thinking about installing VST Host.

So before i do anything any advice for or agianst this?

Any suggestions or words of wisdom.

Please dont let me screw up agian!!!!!

Alway's backup your music! As for getting a new computer make sure you make a backup copy of your operating system if it didn't come with one, DO THAT FIRST before you do anything with your computer, most new computers depending on what kind you have will have some means of backing up your operating system when you get it to disc, store them in a safe place.

I don't know what kind of computer you are using and honestly I don't know much about MC2, I am using Vista and MC4. But I thought I would mention some things that might help you, or they may not.

I haven't tried this yet but I got a message about Windows Live Skydrive that is free and allows you to save up to 5 GB's for file storage, you can have it password protected for yourself only or specific files for everyone or certain people you assign a password to the file, or so I have been told. If you don't have a backup HD to save your music to this might be a good option in case of a hard drive crash or computer failure.

I don't know about MC2, I know in MC4 which is what I use I can save the file or SONG that is to a Cakewalk Bundle file, I have been doing that after losing a few things because of my tweaking on my computer here lately. I have my hard drive backed up to an external USB hard drive. I use Acronis True Image Latest version and it not only backs up the OPERATING SYSTEM but all files on the hard drive, if you need to re-install your computer completly you are covered with that software, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! Although don't do like I did a few days ago, even though you have things backed up doesn't mean you are safe from losing anything, what I done was I made the mistake of NOT backing up my hard drive during using it and reverted it back to the last day and lost two songs because I hadn't saved them on my external HD. One good thing about using this kinda method with a backup HD is you can turn off that stupid Windows Restore which isn't worth anything IMO, I know if that's all ya got and don't mess around with the settings on your computer a lot like I do then it's ok. When you turn it off it can greatly improve the speed your computer processes things, it's little things like that which will make your computer not have such a burden to process so much that can make a big difference when you go to record with your DAW.

Keep your Hard drive optimized, Windows Defragment is garbage in my opinion, My recommendation would be Perfect Disk, and don't be fooled by O&O Defrag, it just isn't as good because I've done my own speed test between the two, but then again anything is better than nothing so if you have to use windows defrag it's not the end of the world, just know there are better ones out there.

Limit everything you can that you don't have to have on your system since you said you are using it as a dedicated DAW, unplug it from the internet when recording, and also I don't know what kinda sound card you are using but if it's an add on look and make sure that you don't have a built in FACTORY sound card that is still enabled, some machines like mine have one built in and you have to turn it off, that can make a big difference.

Ok, I throwed in my 2 cents worth and I could go on and on, I'm no EXPERT by no means but I am just letting ya know a few things I have learned. Hope this helps.

Best of luck, and if I can help let me know, I'll do my best but there are EXPERTS on this site who can provide MUCH BETTER information.

That's cool. So you just need the password from the e-mail? Is the wrapper itself in your Cakewalk Program folder?
If so, you can log onto your account with Cakewalk. The Serial # and Registration code of any Cakewalk products you own should be listed there.
If you don't actually have the executable file, I would have a hard time justifying the price of downloading it. I doubt they would send you a new one. They do give you three chances on downloads, though, and maybe you still have one in reserve. I'm not sure how they handle that.

a couple of years....never really had any problems with mc2.

O.k....No I have no problems with the realtek hd soundcard....in fact that seems to have always worked quite well.....ok....anyways...heres the update.

Got my GNX4 reinstalled and working great, got my eurorack mixer set up (Almost identical to Steves) and plugged into the line left and right of the gnx4....currently got the some mics and keyboard running through the mixer and then dry through the gnx4 through the usb into the comp....works great. Along with running the audio of the keyboard i got the midi running through the midi interface of the gnx4. Still havent ran the mixer direct into the comp and not sure if it will work or if it is even worth it.

Running MC2003 for recording, GNX4 library x-editor, Anvil studio (free version for the midi guitar interface), Audacity Free for all the neat audio editing and supposedly it can also be used as a vst host, FL studio 8 demo for creating beats, and Finale NotePad for Musical Notation. I do realize that some of these program features overlap each other but i like them all for there own special abilities.

So that is all I have installed so far and am not planning on installing anything else unless i really need to. Hooked it up to the internet long enough to down load them and have now un-hooked it.

I have disabled operating system sounds but thats about the only tweek i have done. I do not plan to install any anti-virus since i am not keeping it on the net.

Any thing else i need or should do?

yes robo....that is exactly what i am doing with the mixer....extra inputs. since i decided to skip getting the delta 1010 i needed a way to plug in more than one mic at a time....as it stand right now i can plug in 3 mics that need phantom power at one time....two on the mixer and one in the gnx4....i prob wont do that too often but it;s there if i need it....i figured for 50 bucks at least i gave myself some more i/o's.

it's a very exciting time for me right now...i am finally getting things really set up to my liking....now if only my wife would give me the time i need to use it....instead i am off to plant a garden....


any other advice is more than welcome!!!!!!!!!!

Things i have been doing instead of working on my DAW.

Thursday-drove 2 1/2 hours and spent 50 bucks in gas to mow the mother in laws lawn....spent the day there.

Friday-ran errends all morning and planted garden and trees until the kids were out of school...went to see my parents as they happend to be in town and then spent the rest of the night at the carnival that was in town...dropped another 50bucks there.

Sat-Worked all morning...got off work at 2:00 and was feeling like crap...went to the doctor and found out that i have phenomia...wife had me out digging up bushes after that....lol...she let me rest now....now i have about 2 hours until i need to be in bed (Gotta be up for work by 4:45am) and am gonna use that time to install some vst's

if only i had the sick time to use....and i cant go off the books...i am seriously close to getting put on a sick time program as it stands....oh well...i am actually not feeling too bad....i get a little out of breath but nothing i cant deal with.

i did get some time to work on the daw though....installed vst host and some CM vst's i had gotten for free...also loaded all the old projects that i had backed up....i am missing some audio data but not from anything i am really gonna miss...seems to be working fine....i think tommorow i will be recording if all goes well.....after work that is.