PC adequate for recording?

[jay42]

This one's is a couple of years old and and can be re-formatted if needed:

2GHz Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+
1GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM
250GB 7200 RPM serial ATA drive
NVIDIA video
USB 2.0 & FireWire ports

I don't know if this is enough PC or whether I'd really need to start over. Right now, I don't have anything for recording music.

thanks ahead

[meterman]

Can you add more RAM? That would be the cheapest way to soup it up if the motherboard allows it. A 2.0ghz dual core should be OK...if you use Reaper it has a CPU monitor in it that lets you see how much your project is using so you'd know how much reserve you have. Before I upgraded I was having all kinds of issues with a 1.7ghz P4 w/ 1GB RAM, freezing, popping, etc, b/c I was running around 90% CPU during mixdown...Reaper is a free trial and great program...

[supernosher]

You'll need at least 2 hard drive's, but that's plenty of computer to do some basic recording and mixing, assuming you have a good interface, and the hardware plays nice together.

To help answer your question, please give an idea of what you are expecting to have this system do for you.

[jay42]

I was looking to see if the motherboard and hard drive were up to the task. It sounds like. I have nothing else invested and as it's a full tower, there's no problem adding another drive -- same type?

At this point, I don't know whether to go with an internal or external interface. External seems more convenient.

There are a number of USB or Firewire external devices and there are also PCI boards. I don't envision recording more than 4 tracks at at time -- more like 1 or 2.

[stratovarius]

I would add at least another 1GB of RAM

[jay42]

I would add at least another 1GB of RAMHopefully that's easy. I haven't been in it for a while, so I don't recall how many slots it has.

[clothwiring]

Like others said. Get more RAM. The more the better. Also get a secondary drive to record to. Not a bad idea to have an external drive as well to backup to. When it comes to this stuff you can't have enough backups. Trust me on that one! ;)

[stevel]

I was looking to see if the motherboard and hard drive were up to the task. It sounds like. I have nothing else invested and as it's a full tower, there's no problem adding another drive -- same type?

No. The biggest, and fastest you can afford. Internal good - though look ar recommended types for your PC, and for audio. You may also want to consider external even though you have the space for it (or both an inny and outy) - it's nice to have the ability to pick up your files and take them somewhere else if you need to. Glyph externals seem to hold up and work well (though I did have one of them fry :-( ).

At this point, I don't know whether to go with an internal or external interface. External seems more convenient.

External. Def.


There are a number of USB or Firewire external devices and there are also PCI boards. I don't envision recording more than 4 tracks at at time -- more like 1 or 2.

Problem is, usually the ones that only do 2 inputs - like a Lexicon Lambda for example, are typically cheap, and then of course usually lesser quality (note, do NOT buy a Lambda - I've got two of them in a computer music studio and nothing but trouble - can't imagine that product line has any "winners" in it).

Also, the interface you choose may depend on the software you choose to run.

For example, you may buy a 16 in/pit interface but if the software you use only allows for 2 simultaneous imputs, it can be a pain (though in your situation, that's more than you need).

I'm partial to Firewire (plus, it keeps from sucking up a USB port that I'd very likely need for something else). You want something with good mic-pres built in, and if you're doing both mic level and line level stuff, you want inputs to cover that (most now have at least two of the "dual" type input jack that accepts both XLR and 1/4", but you may want those in separate inputs as well).

If you need phantom power, or think you will need it in the future, it's a nice feature to have. In a sense, I tend to think of devices that don't include phantom power as "entry-level" and thus not as good as you want. That's a really broad and non-scientific deal-breaker, but for me, it's a quick way to look at something and see if it's of decent quality.

I hear good things about PreSonus and MOTU, though M-Audio makes good products.

You may of course want to consider the Pro Tools M-Box route.

HTH,
Steve

[Lou Ranko]

Get yourself one more hard drive for audio. Otherwise that machine's a stonker. You could do anything with it - apart from giving each of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir their own mic.
All you need is a decent audio/midi interface.

[jammybastard]

yeah, you'd have a good time running Reaper on that, or any multitrack recorder with low overhead.

[Tone_Terrific]

All pc's have limitations but people have been recording with them for a long time, now, and your machine is vastly more capable than what was in use 10 yrs ago.
Just hook up with some cheap interface until you hit the limits and upgrade the bits that are the problem. Your experience will help guide you at that point.