Setting up your PC for Recording

[carl20]

Thanks a lot Sir Kit!

I've read some infos about alesis multimix firewire products and it appears that there are many issues about them. I'm having second thoughts of acquiring one. Anyway, right now i have a mixer with 24 mic preamps (China made mixer). How can i make use of this  mixer to record our songs to my laptap? what would be the minimal interface (don't know if its the right term) that i should buy?

Thanks ulit sir.

M-Audio delta 1010LT try mo

[Peter North]

Again, many thanks Sir Kit.

Ok, i've already asked my cousin in canada to buy me stuff for my home studio. Here's what i've search in ebay so far.

Alesis Multimix 12 firewire - C$ 285.41
Phonic *Helix 18 Firewire b* MKII - C$ 304.83

Given the above products, what would be your recommendation?

Thanks ulit sa walang sawang pagtugon sa aking kakulitan.. hehehehe

God Bless

[KitC]

I'm not saying that one is better than the other, but the Phonic has 8 mic preamps compared to Alesis' 4, and the Phonic includes Cubase LE - I'd say it's the better deal.

[Peter North]

thank you very much sir kit.

you're d man!

[star]

sir ako BUDGET ko po 25k.. khit wala munang sound card...
ano po ba exact specs  kelangan ko...

MOBO - ?
CPU    - ?
RAM   - ?
HD     - ?
V-card- ?

yung mga hindi ko po nabanggit meron na po ako.. 

sa sound card naman po budget ko 15k ano po mairecomend nyo?
pang house recording lang po.... my mixer na kmi SL2442 behringer.

[KitC]

sir ako BUDGET ko po 25k.. khit wala munang sound card...
ano po ba exact specs  kelangan ko...

Next to the software, the soundcard is the most important element you should take into consideration when building your audio computer. That said, based on present chipsets, use an Intel P35 or X38 chipset. Most brands are ok although there have been DPC latency issues with Gigabyte mobos. One thing you should consider is if the mobo is quad core (or more) ready. Unfortunately, the upcoming Nehalem cpu architecture is incompatible the present 775 mobos in the market today.

For ram, get 2 gigs at least DDR2-800. Seagate drives have proven to be quite reliable, get SATA drives (if getting SATAII, make sure your mobo is capable). Vidcard? Any medium powered card will do, you don't need highpowered 8800GTs or 3870 SLI systems for audio work.

[row]

help naman. would i rather set up my pc for recording or do it w/ a recording studio? im planning to record my compositions po and independently produce my own record. thanks poh.

[jay_burn]

hello.. i recently bought an Alesis Firewire Multimix 8 and an ADS Tech PYRO PCI 64R2 Firewire Card.  now i'm planning to build a pc for my planned home recording studio. is this specs ok?
Intel E4600
Gigabyte ga-p35-ds3l
320gb Seagate sata
2x1gb kingston 800 ddr2

[carl20]

hello.. i recently bought an Alesis Firewire Multimix 8 and an ADS Tech PYRO PCI 64R2 Firewire Card.  now i'm planning to build a pc for my planned home recording studio. is this specs ok?
Intel E4600
Gigabyte ga-p35-ds3l
320gb Seagate sata
2x1gb kingston 800 ddr2

oks na yan laban na yan!

[jamming_papu]

hello.. i recently bought an Alesis Firewire Multimix 8 and an ADS Tech PYRO PCI 64R2 Firewire Card.  now i'm planning to build a pc for my planned home recording studio. is this specs ok?
Intel E4600
Gigabyte ga-p35-ds3l
320gb Seagate sata
2x1gb kingston 800 ddr2

not just ok but good. with that memory and processor, simultaneous multi-track won't have a problem. ... i think. i have a 1 gb and all seems well in 3 tracks simultaneous. a 2gb would definitely be better. with a 320 gb SATA, you would probably not worry so much of the big space which audio tracks makes. 

[KitC]

not just ok but good. with that memory and processor, simultaneous multi-track won't have a problem. ... i think. i have a 1 gb and all seems well in 3 tracks simultaneous. a 2gb would definitely be better. with a 320 gb SATA, you would probably not worry so much of the big space which audio tracks makes. 

Experience has taught me that it's better to have 2 or more physical drives instead of just one. Even if you partition a large drive, when you lose the MBR, that drive is format material and you lose all your data. Better to have a small sized system drive (say, 80 gigs) and leave the large drive for your data.

It also pays to backup your projects every once in a while - that why I have a couple of external drives strictly for backing up all my projects, among other stuff  . Think of it... just because the MTBF (mean time between failures) says 1 million hours, it doesn't mean your drive will last that long. Mean time is just the average between 1 hour of flawless operation and 2 million hours before any particular drive... fails.

[jamming_papu]

thanks for another idea sir kit. i'll be saving my finish master track and some important single tracks on a cd then. 

[titser_marco]

What's a good FW PCI card? I'm thinking of getting an M-Audio FW1814 kasi.

[KitC]

What's a good FW PCI card? I'm thinking of getting an M-Audio FW1814 kasi.

Look for a FW card with a Texas Instruments chipset if you want the least problems. bindoy was selling one in the classifieds not too long ago.

[titser_marco]

Look for a FW card with a Texas Instruments chipset if you want the least problems. bindoy was selling one in the classifieds not too long ago.

Boss, I just looked it up, and he's selling a PCMCIA card. I need one san for my PCI slot.

Is it really impossible to work with a Via chipset? I'm using a PIV 2.4GHZ on an MSI board by the way.

[KitC]

Boss, I just looked it up, and he's selling a PCMCIA card. I need one san for my PCI slot.

Ganun ba? I know it was a pci card... why not try contacting him to clarify.

Is it really impossible to work with a Via chipset? I'm using a PIV 2.4GHZ on an MSI board by the way.

Medyo touch and go ang mga via. It's usually dependent on the FW drivers kasi. The only way to find out is to try. Max out the track count during recording and see how far you can get with the via FW. RME have successfully used their Fireface with Via FW... who knows? Maybe Via got their drivers right this time and Maudio is more attuned to Via.

[x_taxi]

you can always use the firewire off an old audigy card if you have one.  just don't install any of the creative drivers.  windows will always install drivers for the firewire chipset and it'll work even if you don't install the soundcard drivers.

some people at the digidesign forums have had more success with an audigy than some pci firewire cards.

 

[notEworthy27]

sir, balak ko pong kumuha ng delta1010. I'm wondering whether it'll be wise to get a break-out box from m-audio or a mixer with direct outs would do?

[LouieAzcona]

sir, balak ko pong kumuha ng delta1010. I'm wondering whether it'll be wise to get a break-out box from m-audio or a mixer with direct outs would do?

mixer with direct outs would do... ako nga mixerless eh... after 8 months of using delta1010lt, wala parin ako balak kumuha ng  mixer... una walang budget, pangalawa, hindi ko pa nararamdaman na kailangan ko na... siguro kapag puro condenser na ang mics ko (para sa acoustic drumkit), oras na bumili ng mixer.

i suggest, kunin mo muna yung delta1010, bago ka magdecide kung ano bibilhin. maganda mapagaralan mo muna. dati, muntik na ako bumili ng mixer,,, buti nalang madami ako nadiscover about sa m-audio.

[notEworthy27]

salamat sa reply! hmmm. Well, sooner or later i will be needing the mixer anyway for the condenser mics. so does this mean that the preamps of a mixer will be much better than the preamps of the m-audio break out box? sir pm niyo naman ako. I'd like to know more of your experiences.

[LouieAzcona]

so does this mean that the preamps of a mixer will be much better than the preamps of the m-audio break out box?

hmmm. honestly, i dont know., i have not used those tools yet, . ill just pm you about what i know. haha.

[stilljey]

standalone preamps is much better than preamp of a mixer or interface with built in preamp

[LouieAzcona]

standalone preamps is much better than preamp of a mixer or interface with built in preamp

what kind of "better" is that? kasi balak ko din bumili ng stand alone preamps eh

[stilljey]

what kind of "better" is that?

price range of $300-$500 preamp, dual or multi-channel depende sa needs mo. And if budget allow you can go for UA to Avalon, Presonus, Vintech, Grace...etc.

[titser_marco]

More questions, KitC if you don't mind:

Win XP RAM question:

1. I've been reading that there's not much point in investing in more than 2GB RAM in an XP system, but some sites I've seen say that  the /3GB and/or /PAE switch can allow Windows to access the entire 4GB. What's the score [for audio, at least], really?

Page file question:

2. Should I put the page file on a separate drive, or put it in the fastest parts of a drive? I read some of your replies and you mentioned that it can be done using the right software. I'd appreciate guidance on this.

Cheers, chief!

BTW: MIDI's working real sweet now