What's In Your Computer?

[DanielR]

I use an old PC and I am finally ready to upgrade and own the "latest and the greatest" computer to be my DAW.

I see that a lot of people post in their signatures what type of software they use or what platform but I don't see real specific info on what their computer "looks" like. I know this is not a hardware forum but I identify strongly with the users of this forum and would really like to know what they use that has proven to be rock solid for them in their music production. Information like what video card works best with what motherboard and memory and what sound card or audio interface, etc.

It's a big investment and a DAW is going to have special considerations that a computer for other uses does not have. It is specialized and this is a specialized forum with members who I am sure have very good info.

My thinking is to start with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPU and a motherboard with an AM2 socket and then go from there. I use a Tascam FW-1884 control surface for my audio and midi interface and will continue to use it in my new DAW.

Is anyone interested in listing the details of their computer hardware or offering any experience based advice? I'd be very interested in reading them.

Thanks,
Dan

[wst3ae]

you are going to be miles ahead of me, but for your amusement:

Abit NF7-S rev 2 motherboard
AMD Athlon T-Bird 2800+
1GB memory in two 512MB sticks
Antec 450W power supply
Matrox G-450 video card
Frontier Design Dakota Audio/MIDI interface
Adaptec AH-2940UW SCSI Interface
Maxtor 100GB ATA133 - four copies of C:
Maxtor 200GB SATA - samples, loops, etc
Maxtor 160GB SATA - projects & misc data
Seagate 9GB SCSI2 - temp, swap, etc
Plextor SCSI Wide CD Reader
Plextor DVD Burner on USB2 port (problematic - need to move it to ATA)
SGI SCSI DAT drive - for reading audio DATs mostly

Other than the unpredictable behavior of the DVD drive on USB2 and Firewire the system has been stable for a couple of years now. I've had to reinstall from scratch once during that time.

The reason I have four copies of the OS and applications on the primary drive, if you are curious - one partition is my safety copy, it includes the OS plus applicable patches from the time that I built it, all my administrative utilities, and thats it.

The next copy is a copy of the OS with all my standard music applications. This to is sort of a safety copy, a good starting point for updates, or for restarting<G>.

The third copy is my test copy. I boot this one if I want to try out a new application or plugin before I install it on my production copy. I also participate in beta tests from time to time, and I use this copy for those tests.

The last copy is my production partition. This is the copy I boot from when I want to work. Nothing gets installed here without being tested on partition 3 first. Everytime I get lazy and break that rule I end up in trouble<G>!

To provide a little more context, I use the following tools for music and audio production:

Sonar V6
Sound Forge V6
Acid V3 (I don't use it much)
Vegas V3
Wavelab V5
Audition V1
Samplewrench V5
Awave Studio V8
Translator
MIDI Disk Tools
MIDIQuest
Infinity
Finale2006
SmartScore V3 (wrestling with updating or switching)

Major Plugins include:
GPO
JABB
FM7
B4
Pro53
Minimonsta
Oddity
Mtron
ImpOSCar
Jamstix
DFH Superior
plus all the stuff that came with Sonar

Other utilities that amuse me:
MusicLab MIDIoverLANCP
Multiplicity

I have a second machine that is almost identical in hardware that I use for GigaStudio3 Orchestra. I don't have a bunch of libraries, but I do use:
Scarbee Slapped and Fingered Bass
Prosonus Orchestral Library
Garritan Orchestral Strings
Seyer Acoustic Bass
and a ton of freeware stuff I've run across

If I were able to build a new system today I would absolutely go with the AMD64 X2, and I'd get a motherboard that supported two of them. I'd also get a slightly more modern video card, but other than that I don't think I'd change anything else (well, a bigger power supply would probably be a good idea!)

By the time I do get around to building the next machine I suspect Intel will have cut the cost of their new family enough that I will have to look at them. But today I think the AMD chips are still the best bang for the buck!

Hope this helps.

Does that help?

[Wheat Williams]

I am finally ready to upgrade and own the "latest and the greatest" computer to be my DAW.So it's a foregone conclusion that you're going to build your own PC from parts, and it will run Windows?

I hope you would at least consider an Apple Mac Pro, with a Quad Core 64-bit, 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon:

http://www.apple.com/macpro/

Of course, I recognize that there's a certain kind of user for whom half the fun is sourcing all the disparate parts and building it yourself. These people never seem willing to look at Macs.

But if you're willing to purchase a more-or-less turnkey system, an Apple Mac Pro is hard to beat for sheer computing power.

If you've been working with the same old PC for many years, you owe it to yourself to evaluate switching to a Macintosh.

[wst3ae]

If you've been working with the same old PC for many years, you owe it to yourself to evaluate switching to a Macintosh.

That's a great idea... right up to the part where you want to run applications that are only available for Windows<G>!

Yes, you could do the Bootcamp thing, or maybe even Parallels, but then you are spending extra money for features that you don't use!

I've been using my Wintel tools for over 10 years now, and I know how they work, what they'll do, and what they don't do... and I have zero desire to spend a ton of cash a weeks or months buying and learning tools!!!

[C J Pro]

Depends on which computer you want information on...

Well, here's one anyways:
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz HT
2 GB RAM
160 GB HDD
Dual ATI RADEON Video Cards
Dual Creative Sound Cards
USB and Firewire (IEEE 1394a) Expansion cards
Three NICs, 2 Linksys and one 3Com
DVD-ROM and DVD+/-RW
Coolmax Fan with Red LEDs (I wanted an unlit fan, but I just went for the cheapest one...scared me the first time I turned it on though).
19" LCD Display (1280x1024)
M-Audio FastTrack Pro Audio Interface
2.1 Speaker setup
Windows XP Home
Sibelius 4.1
GPO
JABB
Space for Garritan Marching/Concert Band Reserved
Space for Kontakt 2 reserved
Space for more of my junk reserved

I'm willing to replace it with a Mac Pro though. :D

[musicpete]

My computer is getting old, too. If you want a laugh, check it out on my website (http://www.abovethestaff.net/studio.htm). :D

[nikolas]

Indeed this thread is for laughs.

Everybody will be laughing at my computer: (lol)

Here goes:

PC
2,7 Mhz.
Athlon
2 hard disks
150 Gb and 300 Gb both ATA and 7200 rpm (1st laughter)
No midi controler or keyboard at all (2nd laughter)
no monitors (3rd laughter!)
2 GB RAM (for that I'm proud! hahahaha)
Sennheisher HD 600 headphones (they can do wonders indeed!)
4 USB slots (all of which are taken, so Cubase dongle comes on and off all the time. I'm honestly considering P2P to save 1 USB slot! This is mighty annoying! And yes I'm the guy who had the idea about the poll with the pirated software :P)
17" monitor (not even 19" :()
Noise making fan
no mic

I'm curently using

EWQLSO Gold and Gold XP PRO
EWQLSC
Ivory
Cubase SL3
Manytone Upright Bass (yes ladies and gents! found a lovely bass at a fragment of a price)

Next buys?

If money comes my way a new computer, and this will got for internet purposes and slave.

If money do not come my way: Small products at 50$ or elss that will make my arsenal huge to different areas. Cause let's face it with the EWQLSO nor+xp pro I'm covered as far as orchetsral stuff go for now (can't be too gridy!) The Choirs are...ok :-/ (but I do confess that I prefer the sound of Bela D. Media... Shame on me, such a loyal EW customer!), so no buy here either. Loops? No loops! Drums? No drums! Guitars? No guitars! (again Bela D. Media seems to be the way here...). Solo violins? Ok xp pro has some, but the Stradi v 2.0 is just... incredible! What else?

Csound: Free

That's all.

How more off topic can one go really?

[Pingu]

I run one machine for sequencing, with all my plugins on it, and a Gigamachine. I'm actually starting to wish I could use a few other plugins on the Gigamachine, but I installed Gigateleport, rather than using FX teleport with the Gigawrapper.

Anyhoo, my Gigamachine looks like this

ASUS motherboard
PIV 3GHz
2GB RAM
1x80GB SATA system HD, and 3x200GB SATA sample drives

VSL Pro edition
VSL Glass and Stone
VSL Concert Guitar
Dan Dean Solo and Ensemble Brass, Woodwind, Solo Strings and Bass
GOS
Garritan Gigaharp
Pieter Siedlaczek Advanced Orchestra
Ultimate Timps
VOTA
Sam Horns
Celtic Instruments
7CG Piano
Front Porch Banjo

Conversions of various older libraries (SOV, Early Patches, Complete Gamelan, etc)

The other machine looks like this

Asus motherboard
PIV 3GHz HT
2GB RAM
80 GB SATA system HD, 120 GB SATA sample and audio drive

Cubase SX2
FL Studio
Sound Forge 7
ReBirth
NI Komplete 3
Minimonsta
Imposcar
M-Tron
Oddity
Cameleon5000
Crusher-X
Stradivarius
JABB
GPO
RA
EWQLSC
Konakt Libraries (Atsia, Afro-Cuban, etc)

And now I need to stop typing, because my wife is looking over my shoulder and totting up how much all of these must have cost...

[wst3ae]

And now I need to stop typing, because my wife is looking over my shoulder and totting up how much all of these must have cost...

Don't you hate it when that happens???

I too run a dedicated GigaStudio machine, and I've wrestled with how to manage it for a long time!

You've obviously solved the bigger problem with GigaTeleport, but what are you doing for keyboard/video/mouse?

I used a switch for a long time, but recently came across a utility called Multiplicity that lets you control multiple computers from a single keyboard and mouse without a KVM switch so that all of the computers have live monitors at all times. To switch control from one machine to another all you do is drag the mouse to the other monitor!!!

Pretty cool... it does require desk space for an additional monitor, but I find it a much more natural way to work!

[Pingu]

Don't you hate it when that happens???

I too run a dedicated GigaStudio machine, and I've wrestled with how to manage it for a long time!

You've obviously solved the bigger problem with GigaTeleport, but what are you doing for keyboard/video/mouse?

I used a switch for a long time, but recently came across a utility called Multiplicity that lets you control multiple computers from a single keyboard and mouse without a KVM switch so that all of the computers have live monitors at all times. To switch control from one machine to another all you do is drag the mouse to the other monitor!!!

Pretty cool... it does require desk space for an additional monitor, but I find it a much more natural way to work!

OK I've got to try that! At the moment I don't bother with any kind of switching. I have two keyboards, two mice and two monitors. The keyboard that I use least lives on top of my MIDI keyboard, and the other is on the pull out drawer under my desk. The problem is the mice. Because I have a massive MIDI keyboard and two monitors on my desk, there's no room left. One mouse can be used on the pull out keyboard drawer, but that means that I'm always putting one aside whilst using the other. I'll definitely be looking at Multiplicity.

[TomcatII]

Well, if you want something to do for an afternoon, you could read this:

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=881256

It is certainly interesting reading.

HTH,
Tom

[Wheat Williams]

That's a great idea... right up to the part where you want to run applications that are only available for WindowsDanielR said nothing at all in his post about what software he wanted to run, and he didn't mention Windows. That's why I suggested that he check out a Mac. DanielR, what software do you think you'll be running?

[Houston Haynes]

As I posted in another thread just this morning...


GIGABYTE GA K8NSLI Pro - $75
GIGABYTE 6600GT-based passively cooled video card - $90
AMD 64 x2 4400+ - $259

I doubt that you'll be able to these particular parts today - it's been six months since I made the move to AMD64 X2. But, you can get the next step up for each of these units for just a few bucks more than I paid for these. You'll want to get a separate FireWire card for your FW and disable the onboard 1394 port - I got a Belkin F5U503 FireWire card, which runs on the TI chipset.

[DanielR]

All of your responses have been very interesting. I really appreciate all the input.



DanielR said nothing at all in his post about what software he wanted to run, and he didn't mention Windows. That's why I suggested that he check out a Mac. DanielR, what software do you think you'll be running?


I used a Mcintosh from the mid '80s up until 1994. That's when I had to get a "day job" (four kids) and the company required I own and use a PC running Windows. So I made the switch.

I currently run Windows XPSP2 and use Cubase 3 along with GPO and various other plugins. It's what I am used to now so I don't really think I would change back to Apple.

What I find interesting about my thinking is that I "want" to stick with AMD even though it would appear from having researched many forums that Intel might be the better choice at this point in time. I guess it's because I currently use an AMD processor and am happy with it.

Something I am beginning to believe is that I shouldn't read "user comments" at places like "Newegg". If you believed half of what you read there you wouldn't buy anything!

I just want to make sure that the motherboard, cpu, memory, video card and texas Instrument based firewire (because of my Tascam FW-1884 control surface needing that firewire chipset) all work well together.

A sure fire solution would seem to be a company that specializes in building music PC's as Ernstinen suggests - but that seems about twice the cost of building it yourself although you know exactly what you're going to get and that it's going to work and if you can afford it, the premium for that might well be worth it.

Thanks again for your responses. This is a great forum. I do too much lurking and not enough posting but I'm trying to fix that now.

I'll let you all know what I finally build and how it all works out.

Best,
Dan Rubio

[Wheat Williams]

I currently run Windows XPSP2 and use Cubase 3 along with GPO and various other plugins. It's what I am used to now so I don't really think I would change back to Apple.
Well, that's my point! Cubase 4 just came out (I just got my copy) so you'll want to upgrade to it.

If you own Cubase, Garritan Personal Orchestra, and Finale or Sibelius (for good measure) you already have licenses to run these programs either on Windows or on Macintosh, or on both simultaneously, since all these programs now license a user to install and run them on two computers.

If you build a new Windows PC, and you want Windows XP 2, you're going to have to hurry, because after January 30, all you will be able to buy is Windows Vista.

If you buy a new Mac, you can run all the software you already have, on the Mac, without having to buy any new licenses.

So give it a thought. Switching would not be as difficult as you think. That's my US$0.02.

[danny7]

My old PC, which I built myself, passed away unexpectedly last Tuesday. It is survived by an HP DVD-Writer 420i, A Soundblaster S-Fi ExtremeMusic sound card, An ATI Redeon 9000 Pro graphics card and 4 DDR PC2700 memory boards.

My new ride is an HP Media Center PC, Model a1620n.

I'm using SONAR 5 Producer Edition, GPO, Overture 4, Sound Forge 8 and Sonic Implants Orchestral Soundfonts.*()

[Raymond62]

A tiny bit......

---------------------------------------
ASUS P4B533 Mobo, 2.26 Ghz Intel PIV
1.5 GB memory
ASUS V8170 video (64Mb)
AudioPhile 2496 Soundcard
2 HD Seagate Barracuda ATA/IDE as a striped set (total 120 Gb)
1 HD Seagate Barracuda ATA/IDE 160 Gb
1 HD Seagate Barracuda external/USB for backups (160 Gb)
SyncMaster 912N Monitor (TFT flatscreen 19")
CD-writer and DVD-reader
Canon flat scanner, Canon Pixma printer

-------------------------------------
Roland JV1010 Synthesizer
3 channels Mixer with Headphones ampl.
2 Active monitors Behringer B2030A
Oberheim MC1000 88-halfweighted keyboard
AKG K240 Studio headphones
--------------------------------------

OS: Windows XP Prof
GPO orchestral sounds
The Grand 2 [Steinberg] - grandpiano
Sonar 5 PRO
Adobe Audition 2.0 (Wave editor)
Mozart Virtuoso Notation program
Midi Maestro (sophisticated midi editor)
Some freeware plugs: PSP reverb (for freestanding piano verbs), Ambience, RealSpaces, SIR (convolution), Classic stuff from Kjaerhus, etc....
Band-in-a-Box (older not updated version)
Powertracks (older and not updated)
Cubasis 5.0 VST

---------------------------------------
External DVD player, connected to the audio mixer for comparison purposes (my CD's versus my "mastering")
And the usual bits and pieces from MS, and others (security programs)

-------------------------------------
The most important piece of hardware: two excellent EARS

Raymond