Basic studio set up requirements... HELP

[§eth]

Hi all you Great people, I\'m in the process of starting to build my home recording studio for orchastration. All I have now is a dedicated midi keyboard from Roland I have used for about 3.5 years now and that\'s it. I have decided that I will most likely be using PC aplications to help me, and wanted to know if I decided on the following, what else would I need to compliment my studio AS A MINIMUN? Thank you very much in advance!
I\'m thinking of a dedicated Giga computer for sure, but I do not know what I would need as far as sequencer/recording software(cubase or sonar right? which is better/why?)

Also the library(s) that I would most likely use would be 70% of the time be strings and I just purchased VOTA the other day. I\'m currious if I could also use SI Symphonic Strings or the upcoming QLSO in conjunction with ea other? How big of a hard drive would I want to store my sound library\'s on? I know already that it is a good idea to keep the aplication such as giga or what not on it\'s own drive and then do rendering on a separate drive, what else am I forgeting here? I\'m thinking of probably having one Big daddy computer and one dedicated Giga or possibly Kontact comp. I\'m sorry this is so long and possibly not very cohesive to understand but thank you for your time in leading me in the right direction! (oh As far as sound cards how is it possible to use 1 card on 2 machines? or do i need like 2 M-audio Audiophiles? I would only ever use my keyboard, maybe need a jack for a guitar and vocal input. The only other item that might throw a kink in the system is I\'m toying with the idea of purchasing \"Atmosphere\".

Seth images/icons/confused.gif

[michael88s]

Hi Seth,

I just saw your topic.

A minimum system can be a one computer system if it\'s big enough, with enough memory and fast enough hard drives. There are plenty of threads around where people talk about using Giga and something like Cubase on a single machine.

I personally feel you\'re better off IF your single computer can handle everything. Otherwise you\'ll need another soundcard for sure and you\'ll have to wire things up between the two boxes. Compromises will have to be made with one box, like recording one audio track at a time from your midi tracks.
It partially depends on whether or not you have time constraints, deadlines to meet, how deep your pockets are, etc.

I\'d use a minimum of a 60gb 7200rpm hard drive for your .gig files, bigger if you\'ll need it anytime soon.

michael88s