Building a studio PC

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justpicaname
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2006/02/07 14:15:35 (permalink)

Building a studio PC

I am planning on building a new system only to be used for home recording. I have a ton invested in software, but my PC sucks. I want to have a top notch system.
I will be keeping my studiophile bx8a speakers. but I want some suggetions on the best CPU, soundcard/ pre-amp, motherboard, even ram.
Specs that I should be looking for is what I really need to know (ie how important is a cpu's bus speed? should I go with 1066MHz or is 800MHz good enogh ect..)
also I head that pci-express may have ill effects when recording sound (pops or clicks, is this true?)

my current system some current software
P4 1.7Ghz calkwalk GTpro
1GB ram(pc-133) ozone3
M-audio revolution 7.1 wavelab5
Gforce4ti4600 Propellerhead reason
steinberg Nuendo
many more

thanks in advance!

http://www.soundclick.com/stevenklatt
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    ohhey
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    RE: Building a studio PC 2006/02/07 15:32:37 (permalink)
    CPU speed is the main thing, get the most you can buy. All the other stuff is "good enough" these days. Get a second drive for sure so you can keep your projects on it and Windows and your programs on the OS drive. Also get a copy of Ghost so you can backup your C: partition after you get everything installed, that way you can get back to good if you install some bogus software in the future. If you keep all your projects on a second drive you can just overwire the C: drive with your known good Ghost and get going again without loseing anything.

    As for sound cards I think Lynx cards are as good as you can get without having to use external rack mount converters. They have those too if you need to add on later. Good drivers and the best sound I've ever heard in any recording device computer card or deck.

    I'm using a Grace 101 for most work I do now. It's very clean and quiet and has a balanced output that matches right up to the Lynx balanced inputs. It also has a hi-z (guitar) input in the front that makes it a super high quality direct box.

    Love the Antec Phantom 350 fanless power supply, $$$ but good. Antec Sonata case is good also. Matrox video cards are good, they have dual head and you don't need a "gamer" card for music production, it's all 2D graphics. My Matrox P650 dual DVI also has no fan so that helps keep the noise down. The only two fans in my system are the CPU cooler and the 120mm low RPM case fan.

    I'm using a P4 3.2 ghz right now but if I were buying now I would go AMD. Hyper threading turned out to be a joke and I had to turn it off in the BIOS. If you want big power just get a dual core AMD.

    Don't know about the PCIE thing might want to search this forum to see if there is a fix for that or what the details are, I'm still AGP.

    Frank Coffey - Songwriter
    http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=790131
    #2
    MarlboroMan23
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    RE: Building a studio PC 2006/02/07 16:16:47 (permalink)
    How many audio inputs are you needing. If it's not overkill for your needs you could try a MOTU 24I/O (24 balanced inputs and outputs) and just connect a variety of pre-amps to it. You can get a ART Gold MPA preamp for about $300 these days for a good preamp on a budget.

    I'm pretty sure current thought is PCIexpress is bad news for audio right now. Not to spook you, but the non PCIe motherboards are being phased out so don't hesitate too long. Check out the "new DAW king" thread in the sonar forum for info on CPUs and the " New SONAR Computer Configuration?" thread that's on this forum.


    most authors of novels regarded as classics are dead, classic novels are, therefore, most likely to be written by dead people.
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    #3
    Lay In Wait
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    RE: Building a studio PC 2006/02/07 22:23:24 (permalink)
    I upgraded from a system almost identical to yours, and can tell you that I have had no probs with PCIe.

    Windows 7 Pro 64bit, Core i7 920, Asus p6td deluxe, Sonar X1c PE, Motu 2408 mk3, Apogee Mini DAC, 3x UAD-1, Digimax FS, Motu Microlite, MCU, Tranzport, Nocturn. And more...
    #4
    justpicaname
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    RE: Building a studio PC 2006/02/08 00:11:02 (permalink)
    well thanks for the feed back, 24 I/O sounds perfect, though I can probably get by with 16. I will be using XLR mics so I need a pre-amp. Guitar and bass will go directly from my rack into the sound card. Only micing drums and vocals.
    In total I am willing to spend about $3500-$5000 (canadian) for the whole system
    It will not be used for games, only recording and some light internet use.

    what about hard drives is bigger better or can it get to big and slow me down?
    Thanks again

    http://www.soundclick.com/stevenklatt
    #5
    Autist
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    RE: Building a studio PC 2006/02/08 00:14:18 (permalink)
    I don't understand why PCIe has such a bad reputation. I have been using it for a while and haven't had any problems with it either (ATI card with the nVidia4 chipset).

    Aside from that I agree with what the others have suggested.
    #6
    justpicaname
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    RE: Building a studio PC 2006/02/08 00:24:04 (permalink)
    what about the OS? should I stick with windows, or go to mac os X?

    http://www.soundclick.com/stevenklatt
    #7
    Autist
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    RE: Building a studio PC 2006/02/08 02:36:09 (permalink)
    If you use Mac you can't use Cakewalk products. If you want to use Cakewalk products use Windows XP (Professional is best unless you want to go with 64 bit).
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