ideally the more ram and hard drive space, the better. I'd say the minimum ram for what you want to do would be 1GB. aim for 2 gb if you can. and hard drive, try about 100 gb, but again more wouldn't hurt.

I'll agree with Nirvalica on the RAM. 1GB minimum, 2GB would be better. You say you're going to be writing beats, which tells me you're probably going to be loading samples, which uses a lot of RAM.

For HD's I'd say get 2 drives, both using SATA (SATAII if you can swing a mobo that supports it). Get a smaller (60-80GB) for your OS and program files, then a larger (100-300GB) for storing your audio files on. This will increase your performance big time. Also try to get HD's with a 16MB cache. Most HD's have 8MB. You'll see an improvement there. You may want to try for a third drive to hold your samples as well.

The Lexicon interface is ok. Not great, just ok. It does come with some great reverbs, but that's about the only strong point. You may want to look at stuff from MOTU and M-Audio. MOTU being the better one out of those two.

For PC software, Cubase is really popular. I'm a ProTools man myself, but I do all my recording on a Mac.

are you building a computer or buying retail? if you're on a budget you should be looking into building as you will get more bang for your buck. post a budget and how many tracks you'll be recording at once.

pc

build your own system then you know whats in the machine,if your writting hip hop then you will more than likely be using some form of soft synths these do tend to use shed loads of memory so put as much in as you can afford and also consider getting another drive for any softsynth libs,something like stylus needs alot of room, as for interfaces have you thought of any of the pro tools systems such as the mbox or the 002 both you get industry standard software,if you have never built your own machine dont worry its not hard good luck.

Hello,

when running Cubase, Nuendo or SONAR get a dual core processor.

2GB RAM, 80GB system drive, 200+ GB audio drive, DVDRW, dual display video card (nVidia or Matrox), Texas Instruments Firewire chipset.

Also, get a system board with an undisturbed PCI bus.

My best,

Guy Cefalu
Sonica Audio Labs

if your on a tight budget, here is the best you can get for cheap.

2 gigs ram.

get 2 harddisks. i recommed, an 80 for programs, and a 160, partitioned, for libraries, and, your tracks.

buy an ASUS board, with an intel chipset.

buy good name brand RAM, like Kingston. get a free or cheap tower somehwere.

dual output video cards are cheap now.

If you dont have a budget do the dual core thing, but, this system above, i built and put together, and, instead of going with the latest, chip, i went for like, for a 3.0 instead of a 3.2, so that will save you.

thats my 2 cents.

ok so I have found the computer I am going to get. Im going with 3 gb of ram. 2 hard drives 60/250. forget what the rest of it is at the moment. but Im getting that in the next few weeks.

next step.

what programs should I try for writing beats? I mean what do the pro's use the most. or what do you use.

Im thinking of running pro tools on the recording side. if I understand it right you can use a few different interfaces with protools and your pc. what do you recommend I use? thanks

-III