New PC-Based Studio: Multiple Track Recording?

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:12 am

Space wrote:

I'd work with Codemonkey, you don't need another obstacle in your signal chain at this point.

Heh, I don't mind obstacles at all ... as long as I can get my damn mics recording to individual channels! Laughing

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:17 am

Codemonkey wrote:

Space, I just got my head round mixer grouping, to hell with bussing. Anything I can't get hands on with is still 50% over my head so don't take anything I say for gold (if you haven't worked that out already lol).

Stick with the FP10 or something with sufficient pres and in your price range, Presonus seems to be all over the place with their naming over the years.

So you can support that an external mixer will only add to the confusion.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:18 am

TIGR wrote:

Space wrote:

I'd work with Codemonkey, you don't need another obstacle in your signal chain at this point.

Heh, I don't mind obstacles at all ... as long as I can get my damn mics recording to individual channels! Laughing

I very much appreciate all your help and I'm asking you all to not give up on me yet! Smile

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:33 am

Big thing about another obstacle is that when you actually go to record, it's
A) More knobs to worry about setting
B) More noise and hiss if you don't do it right
C) More stuff on your table
D) Less stuff left in your wallet, too, by having more gear.

The cheapest and easiest way is for definite, the Firepod/FP10, whatever it's called.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:37 am

That is where I was going all along Smile

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:52 am

Thanks guys, I'll seriously consider the Firepod.

I am prepared and even looking forward to taking the time to set everything right, as I'll have to do extensive "tuning" for my own ear anyway. Space is no issue whatsoever, so budget is the only limitation (though I recognize it is a significant limitation) here. I have time to learn, to tune, and space for anything. I'm not just looking for cheapest and easiest. Smile

Definitely not easiest, and I don't want to go so cheap that the quality of my recordings suffers.

What about the MultiMix 16Firewire (just want to consider any possible options)? Will that provide me with only a stereo out as well, like the 16USB?

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:01 am

I just purchased a FireStudio, so i've been reading up on all kinds of Presonus threads and such to make sure if I want to go with them. in the end I decided it would be the best route to go, BUT read up on it.

Make sure your IEEE1394 card is NOT a combo card and made with a texas instraments chipset. Presonus reconmends using SIIG cards.
Also, I hear XP Service Pack2 can cause some issues, as well as Vista.

It is strongly suggested to dedicate a PC Just for your recording.

I've heard of people using something called "Mad XP". Its s striped down version of XP. Im planning on using OSX 10.5.1 on my Hackintosh. You might want to check out this page if your interested in that.

www.osx86project.org

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:14 am

Thanks Sethiroth, good info there. I actually do have a Hackintosh setup but my main computer is running XP SP2. I guess I'll just test and tweak until I find what works best. Also glad you mentioned the Firewire card. I believe mine is a SIIG but now I know to check.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:17 pm

Presonus's forums are a great place to get lots of info on their gear.

www.presonus.com

people have been very helpful over there with info.

I have an older XP SP1 enterprise edtion that im going to put on a partition that I am going to play with as far as windows apps go for recording. But I think im going to stick with Logic and stay Mac.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:27 pm

A separate drive is always better. Placing another partition on the drive doesn't really help much because the information is still transferred through the same ide cable.

But a separate drive on it's own individual cable will keep the information transfer between the two drives separate from one another.

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:32 pm

Lucky for me I own a small computer company. Smile

I'll be using a RAID 0 array for all my audio work, including temporary files, and have a few hundred gigabytes to dedicate to that. Configured properly, I have found that it is not necessary to use a dedicated computer for many things that people say require a dedicated system. I've been doing gaming, graphic and web design, audio and video capture and editing, and software testing all on the same computer that also stores my extensive audio and video archives, and to which my surveillance system is also connected, for years.

Some days, I love technology. Smile

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:53 pm

Sethiroth wrote:

I have an older XP SP1 enterprise edtion that im going to put on a partition ...

I hear ya. I was sorta talkin' to the other person :)(:

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:57 pm

My goal is to get Linux running (easy enough, minus Radeon 2600's having crap drivers) and use Ardour (bit harder, considering that "i386 architecture is not supported by Ardour 2" and to install it, I had to install Ubuntu Studio on top of Ubuntu 7.10 ... I tried dyneBolic but my mouse is nothing short of a joke.
I've tried virtual machines too, I say NEVER try and use a VM for audio recording, maybe mixes but NOTHING else, it's so slow and a nightmare with Linux anything as a guest OS.
And obviously I can't run it natively because of severe problems with drivers.

Besides that, great, keeping everything on one big partition is the way to go.
(For a year or more anyway)

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:46 pm

Can't agree with ya boss.

Think of it like your blank recording tape.

It is one of the easiest things that even a yahoo >can< do is to add a hard drive.

Or that yahoo knows a teenager that can do it. It can be done at no real expense or downtime.

Oh, I wasn't referring to any one particular person when I said yahoo.

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:31 am

??? I can add a hard drive no problem. It's driveRs I have problems with, for graphics cards and sound cards and mice.

And keeping everything on one partition, I meant Windows, the program files and everything that isn't media needing to be streamed into an editor.
Everything I have is on one drive, then my media files are on another drive along with a few games because they wouldn't fit on my first drive.

This topic sponsored by: