My OLD! PC (Warning!)

Newbie

Newbie

New member
Hi all.

Been speaking to Joel and Cheez on com specs, still in the midst of saving for it. (May take a long time :()

Meanwhile, I've got this fairly 'chui' desktop (followed me for 6 years or so), thinking of reformatting it, using it for a audio/recording desktop.

Warning, do not vomit blood upon seeing the specs. xD


f_pcspecm_df7ccb9.jpg



It has firewire port (but unused for 6 years? LOL.) Couple of USBs and yeah the usuals. From Acer. Made-ready comp you get from Courts.

I've got a M-Audio Fast Track USB for mixer.

inputs.jpg


Do you think it'll work for now? Mainly trying out to record guitar tunes and all, been doing line-in and the sound is very dry and raw. Wonder if such set up with a proper DAW program can help in making the sound more "real".

Planning to use this comp to experiment it out. Any comments? Thanks.

PS: Just a side question, can it even be converted to a proper DAW station even? Or is it really too chui? Am planning to play around with midi (keyboards and all) in future. This comp.......? :D

Rgds,
Newbie
 
I think it should and will work, maybe get some cheap ram to upgrade it for abit?This should be fine for recording but don't expect it to run alot of vsts and stuffs.
 
What about layering VSTs or recordings?

What will happen if you overload the program with VSTs and all? Slow response time? I'm not really expecting it to like play the moment I hit spacebar or anything, but am hoping at least it can record a 3-4 mins song without hanging; can at least save my project lol.

PS: I'm not v familiar with these programs, do they need tons of rams and processor speed? I read the site for Cubase, says my com can support :S Tho I understand companies always put lower spec so more ppl will be attracted :(
 
Sure lag like hell...maybe not move or hang. I use to do my work on my pc laptop which is a pentium centrino...in my opinion, it can work but please be prepared to be frustrated because of the slower responds and hanging...
 
hey man,

Well your com CAN run a DAW and prob record your own stuff just fine. BUT, if you do use lots of plugins, you're gonna be faced with a lot of problems. I doubt the com will be able to support the use of many plugins. Probably simple eq might work fine for many tracks. But reverb, delays and modulation plugins might be a problem. Do take note of the buffer size in your DAW setting. One problem i suspect you might face is the audio you record might have clicks in it, especially if you record a long piece of audio in one take.

Definitely upgrade the RAM bro. It's a MUST.

But really, just save up and get a new com from Sim Lim. For 2K you could get a com with better-than-necesarry specs for a DAW. Infact, I think now about 1.5K is more than enough. Just don't spend unecessarily on graphic cards or sound cards tho. Hell you migh even be able to get dual monitor screens with 1.5K if you know where to look! :D
 
I think it is the ram issue. I used to have a laptop also about like that. Put a few gig and it will do something useful.
 
Socket 478 should be able to support up to 2GB of RAM. If you increase to 1-2GB, you'll see a lot of difference.

Other question is: what VST plugins are you using? If your VST include softsamplers which does disk streaming, then you need to make sure you have a dedicated hard-drive of at least 7200rpm just to stream the samples.

Otherwise, specs are OK.
 
Cheez said:
Socket 478 should be able to support up to 2GB of RAM. If you increase to 1-2GB, you'll see a lot of difference.

Other question is: what VST plugins are you using? If your VST include softsamplers which does disk streaming, then you need to make sure you have a dedicated hard-drive of at least 7200rpm just to stream the samples.

Otherwise, specs are OK.
Click to expand...


What does VST plugins do? I'm unfamiliar with what it is and how the process of it is being carried out in the programs/PC.
 
Hi all.

I noticed most of the recommendations is to upgrade or if not, get a new CPU.

I'm still in the midst of saving for one (gonna take sometime :() But alright, rather than creating a thread again, maybe I'll include the questions for specs (DAW set-up PC) here.

Joel has kindly adviced me with the following set-up.

MB : Gigabyte DLS45 (Onboard RAID, 64 bit compatible, intel 775 socket, to take quad core processor, 16 GB RAM capability)
HDD: Seagate Sata 2 , (160GB for primary and 1 TB for secondary) up to you to decide
RAM: DDR21066 - min 4GB suggested
Graphics: ATI Radeon DDR 256MB with dual display option..good enough for gaming too..
Media: Dual layer DVD Writer..(Brand up to you)
Sound card: for starters like you, can go with PCIe (Note this !!) based sound cards from M-Audio, ESI or FW based options from Presonus, M-Audio or the cheapest Behringer FW card FCA 202 (100+ only)
DAW: I suggest Cubase is a wise choice as it can accomodate VSTi synths and this will work flawlessly in this systen build..
Casing & PSU: Dont be fancy in these.. have a 600 w lian li aluminium casing with 4 cooling fans inside (make sure that they are quiet)
KB & Mouse: buy decent brands like logitech or microsoft.. look for PS2 ports as you can save some USB ports for other purposes..


For DAW, there is a pretty high chance I'll get Cubase. Gonna spend some bucks for DAW though.

For the PC specs, I'm looking to play some games + DAW set-up. Do you guys think it is feasible or possible? My friend has recommended me a set-up for gaming purpose, and the speed is pretty good.

Phenom II Mobo (doesn't have firewire unfortunately).
2.8 GHz processor
4GB ram.
Palit 4850 1GB Gfx Card
Power Supply + Casing

He estimated approx. $700-$800. (How does this spec look to you? What else must I include to make a "fairly complete" DAW?)

Without firewire, am I still able to do recording? Which is better? USB or Firewire?

Thanks again!
 
question.

y do you need a firewire port? when u have a usb audio interface?

well depending what u wanna record? if u need record big stuff.. get firewire.. if just guitar and vocal... /keyboard and vocal... usb will do fine.

if u insist on getting a firewire.. fair enough... get a pci port for firewire extension...

2ndly u mention u wanna use for midi (and all) ... ur interface no midi..

the spec u mention is more for gaming...

with ur old comp.. u can add more ram... then what u do instead of using the effect.. audition the effect and apply it.. so to save some ram usage... but bad thing is once you do them.. it affects the file already... or u can use the freeze audio tracks in cubase..

and plze... buy original.. he he
 
Hi james,

thanks for the input. I'm not sure which port has a faster speed when it comes to recording.

I tried using the mixer i have with my laptop (it has some programs for guitar tone like an amp simulator which comes with it).

I can plug my guitar clean into the mixer, and simulate distortions, effects and etc. Problem is there is this short lag time. Maybe just 0.5 seconds difference, but you can roughly hear it. Thought it could be because of USB and firewire thingy.

When you say interface, do you mean the M-audio mixer?

And lastly, yes I'll be getting original? lol.

Thanks!

Rgds,
Newbie
 
hey bro,

hope my input "help" you.

interface is the m-audio fast track... it's not a mixer.

anyway.. what you wanna do is change ur buffer size to smaller.. so that it compasate quality with the latency that you facing.

you can do that in the settings of m-audio fast track, or in the guitar program think.

so anyway, do you wanna do midi or audio or both?
if you want both, you need to get a midi interface.. or a new interface that supports both.. or a controller which has usb connection to your laptop.

yeah, Good support what you use, i've seen studios making money out of pirated stuff and they are proud of it.
 
Hi James,

Thanks for the input. So technically what you mean is;

Guitar -> Guitar Effects (Can be counted as pre-amp for this case? To boost vol or add color to tone) -> M Audio Fast Track -> PC USB Port (Programs to do recording and layering)

That's the set-up for just recording guitar and for vocals, just use the mic input?

What about MIDI? What sort of midi interface would you recommend for a starter like this?

Thanks

Newbie
 
if u are really the thrifty type, this should serve u okay if u are just using it for tracking. For its specs its okay already. But an upgrade in the ram might be better. If u are looking to do a proper layering like 15 or more tracks and mixing etc, you probably cant do it with this system. but u can always send it to a studio if u want to, juz do the recording on your own.
 
Newbie said:
Hi all.

I noticed most of the recommendations is to upgrade or if not, get a new CPU.

I'm still in the midst of saving for one (gonna take sometime :() But alright, rather than creating a thread again, maybe I'll include the questions for specs (DAW set-up PC) here.

Joel has kindly adviced me with the following set-up.

MB : Gigabyte DLS45 (Onboard RAID, 64 bit compatible, intel 775 socket, to take quad core processor, 16 GB RAM capability)
HDD: Seagate Sata 2 , (160GB for primary and 1 TB for secondary) up to you to decide
RAM: DDR21066 - min 4GB suggested
Graphics: ATI Radeon DDR 256MB with dual display option..good enough for gaming too..
Media: Dual layer DVD Writer..(Brand up to you)
Sound card: for starters like you, can go with PCIe (Note this !!) based sound cards from M-Audio, ESI or FW based options from Presonus, M-Audio or the cheapest Behringer FW card FCA 202 (100+ only)
DAW: I suggest Cubase is a wise choice as it can accomodate VSTi synths and this will work flawlessly in this systen build..
Casing & PSU: Dont be fancy in these.. have a 600 w lian li aluminium casing with 4 cooling fans inside (make sure that they are quiet)
KB & Mouse: buy decent brands like logitech or microsoft.. look for PS2 ports as you can save some USB ports for other purposes..


For DAW, there is a pretty high chance I'll get Cubase. Gonna spend some bucks for DAW though.

For the PC specs, I'm looking to play some games + DAW set-up. Do you guys think it is feasible or possible? My friend has recommended me a set-up for gaming purpose, and the speed is pretty good.

Phenom II Mobo (doesn't have firewire unfortunately).
2.8 GHz processor
4GB ram.
Palit 4850 1GB Gfx Card
Power Supply + Casing

He estimated approx. $700-$800. (How does this spec look to you? What else must I include to make a "fairly complete" DAW?)

Without firewire, am I still able to do recording? Which is better? USB or Firewire?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I strongly suggest you to check up every single parts for your pc first. If not when you fix up all your gears together and find yourself with lots of hardware problems, you're gonna regret it.

This is my advice to you.

1) Do not get AMD Processor for DAW use. A lot of music making/audio companies etc do not usually build softwares or hardwares which are tested with AMD computers.

2) Look up on what audio interfaces you want first before deciding on the computer parts itself. If you are getting pci-e audio interfaces, you should also know that most of them they do not have a preamp. Meaning you will need a preamp before the interface. Firewire and USB interfaces, make sure that your pc's firewire and USB cards are compatible to the interface. If you are using firewire, try to get a card that uses texas instrument(TI) or agrea chipset.

3) Motherboard is the most important. Make sure that it is compatible with most audio hardware. Some motherboard chipsets are totally incompatible with certain hardware. Meaning if you have such a combination, your computer can just use for gaming liao.

The rest boils down to how much you want to spend on everything, and what kind of stuff you are doing on your pc, like composing, or pure mixing or mastering, etc.
 
AMD is on equal footing currently. It's a rare case for a "processor" itself to be incompatible with software. Maybe certain kinds of processing is not as good. But it's rare. Really rare.

If you didn't know, AMD was the one who kicked Intel's arsch into the Symmetric Multi Processing (SMP) market and out of the Hz race. Sadly, they've lost the customers' trust and everyone thinks their processors are now sub-optimal. That is not true. An Opteron can always beat a Core 2 Duo with its memory handling superiority (AMD manages memory differently; direct access as compared to Intel's "bridged access").

Motherboard incompatible with certain audio hardware? Possible. Rare but not that rare. Stay with the popular brands like Gigabyte and Asus. I refrain from MSI.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Looking to form a pop punk / alt rock band
Replies
1
Views
534
JayeJ
J
dinocaster
Music Production Lessons (Beginner to Advanced)
Replies
0
Views
167
dinocaster
dinocaster
P
WTB my old sold Jackson SL2H transblack...
Replies
0
Views
188
Portabelly
P
M
Acoustic Guitarist Looking for a Jam Buddy
Replies
0
Views
294
Morgan
M
output100m
J-Rod Sullivan Masterclass - My Drum School Singapore
Replies
1
Views
441
output100m
output100m

Latest posts

Share this page

Back
Top