Good computer sound-absorbing enclosures

[Eric Doggett]

Hey guys -

I am building a desk in a new house, and am considering an isoraxx or something similar. I saw Bruce's review of it way back when, and was wondering if anyone else had any experience with it, or know of other similiar enclosures out there?

I would want to place one or two g5's in there, vertical or horizontal, plus a rackmount pc.

Thanks!!!

Eric

[Gamera]

Yep, put the machines in another room and get one of these
http://www.frontierdesign.com/Products/TranzPort
That's a couple hundred bucks that will save you thousands...

- G

[Nick Batzdorf]

Enclosures like that work well and are very elegant, but there are many other solutions that to me are preferable. I brag about my set-up all the time (sorry for the crappy photos):

http://homepage.mac.com/virtualinstruments/site/PhotoAlbum10.html

If you can't put your machines in the next room (the garage in my case), another idea is just to build a closet. That'll give you space for lots of other things as well as the comps. A built-in closet shouldn't cost as much as a computer box, and five years from now when a single laptop is powerful enough to run everything we need, you'll still get value out of your investment.

Ventilation is an issue, but it's not much of an issue. If the heat gets too much even with fans, there are air conditioners like this:

http://www.melcor.com/ssair.html#Thru%20Mount%20Air%20Conditioners

(check out the smallest "thru-mount" ones)

[geronimo001]

Are those air conditioners noisy? What about monitors?.. you buy long extentions right?..

Interesting thread BTW, I've been wondering about that for quit a while and i too end up leaving the door open of my homemade iso box...it's sceary how hot it can get.

[Nick Batzdorf]

I don't know whether they're noisy, but they're small and hopefully not in the wall going into your studio, so that shouldn't be a problem. The one I was talking about is the small one that runs on 12VDC.

[Nick Batzdorf]

No doubt. I'm just thinking of all the custom mixer stands and other furniture being sold a couple of years later "for local pickup only." Most of the stuff we buy has such a short lifetime as it is, so if you can avoid that, I think it's a good idea.

Never mind the single laptop, what happens if you need to add more machines to your rig and they don't fit in the iso-box? That's why I suggest exhausting all the alternatives first. The iso-boxes I've seen are very elegant, but based on a lot of experience, furniture that's modular or adaptable is the best investment.

[Eric Doggett]

Hey guys -

Thanks for the info! I think the 'other room' option is out, because I would have to run audio/midi cables everywhere. I would have ethernet connections in the other room, but not support for audio/midi.

Are there other manufacturers besides the isobox/isoraxx? Maybe just 2 g5s! :)

Thanks!

Eric

[Nick Batzdorf]

I'm not telling you what to do or saying you shouldn't buy the iso-box, but I do question your reasoning. So what if you have to run cables?

[Gamera]

I would have ethernet connections in the other room, but not support for audio/midi.
MIDI Over LAN... FX Teleport...

- G

[Eric Doggett]

MIDI Over LAN... FX Teleport...

- G

oops - should have qualified -- Mac G5's :)

[Eric Doggett]

Hi Lee -

I think I went to the fx teleport thing and saw pc only for that. But it's good to know about the MOL option for macs!