Building a system for music recording

[MrBen]

Hey, I'm building a system so i can record midi and audio music at home. I'm still in the early stages but im going with an EMU 0404 PCI SOUNDCARD as it is a good budget sound card. More info on the card can be found here:-

http://www.dawsonsonline.com/live/rhtProd.php5?dept=1&cat=5&subcat=4&page=1&prodId=00051545

I'm trying to decide between which of these two Barebones towers would better suite my needs.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=23034028891&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=100873

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=23023146763&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=110472

Any input would be usefull.

Ben

[Nikolas]

Ben,

Depends on many things...

If you are going to do any microphone recordings then you need silence fans...

If you are going to deal with samples, it's almost certain that you need at least 2 hard disks (4 is heavily reccomended though !!!!!) :
1. the system hard disk
2+3. RAID system two 10,000 rpm disks as sample disks. Don't need to be extra big. at around 80-100 Gb you're fine.
4. The audio projects disks. Again no need to be big.
If you don't do this, you'll end up with clicks and pops on your recordings becasue you rhard disk won't be able to withstand what your sequencer will be asking of you. Not even real time will save you...

Both towers seem ok to me (but I'm not the expert on that)

Make sure you have enough CPU power and enough RAM, depending again on what you're after. Electronic music and plug-ins will need CPU power, but don't really mind low RAM, while samples only need RAM (and minimum CPU power). Plan ahead.

I don't get much information from the link you provided for the soundcard. E-mu is a well know company, not so sure about soundcards though... :-/ Does it have pre-amp inputs for the mic? One, two? do you need it actually? (I personally don't use a mic for example). I wouldn't think that with 60 quid you can get a decent soundcard really. Not even a semi-pro one... BUT I could be wrong on that. Don't know for sure.

A place you will need to check out is: www.kvraudio.com . Full of information, official companies are represented there, and tons of free plug-ins and other lovely stuff

Another place you will want to pay visit: www.northernsounds.com . THE forum for musicians dealing with orchestral stuff. Most developers (Gary Garritan, Chris Heins, Francis (Bela D. Audio), Jason Windsonr (Notion) and many more) hang around there. I also hang around there as well ( ). Further more Microsoft has a dedicated forum there with everything related to windows (vista included) and other stuff.

Also right now EW (www.soundsonline.com) is having a 50% sale for almost anything it's got. While EW is best known for orchestral stuff, it's got some neat synths, the DFH (drumkit), EZ Drummer, more synths, choirs, pianos and well... 50% is 50% after all also there is a clerance with 90% on some (older) items.

On KVRaudio, make sure to check the buy/sell forum. Many group buys, and people who want to sell buy, with guidance and feedback. More trustworthy than e-bay I reckon.

That's all for now.

(Do check www.turnkey.co.uk for prices. Not always the best ones around but you can quote them the price and have them beat it, which is always neat for those idiotic policies "No matter what we're the best!"... tee-hee-hee...)

[MrBen]

Thanks Nikiolas. The Emu soundcard i was looking at is actually the same soundcard that one the college im ats technitians use, he assures me that for home recording purposes its very good value. I have searched through turnkey before but i will be sure to check out the other sites you have mentioned.

[ManicMatt]

If you are going to do any microphone recordings then you need silence fans...

Or a good microphone that doesn't pick up background noises, like mine. 

[MrBen]

Thats true, i suppose if i bought a decent quality Cardiod Mic i might be able to avoid the noise of the fan.

[Nikolas]

BTW, what happened to the laptop plan after all???

[MrBen]

Lol, i eventually decided to build a pc instead (which i belive you first suggested) and ive been getting some money together since then.