Hey dude. Where I'm going to fail you is in having the least bit of advice about computers. I've been writing songs and playing guitar for 30 years, but I'm only an end-user where computers are concerned. And I really don't give a hang about what's inside my computer anyway, as long as it does what I want it to do. (I don't work on my car, either, but I can drive it as well as anybody!)

So after a lot of searching around the internet and asking questions, a sizable wad of money and I said our good-byes the other day in exchange for which I will soon receive the following rack-mounted, push-pull, click-clack, razzle-dazzle X2i DAW from Sonicalabs.com:

-64 bit Intel Pentium 4 640 Hyperthreading LGA 775 @ 3.2Ghz 2MB cache / 955X / ICH7 chipset
-System bus: 800/1066Mhz
-Dual channel DDR-2-667 1Gb
-Win XP Home "tuned for audio" w/service pack 2
-System drive: 80Gb 7200 SATA2 300Mb/s 8Mb cache
-Audio drives: Dual 160Gb 7200 SATA2 300Mb/s 8Mb cache
-Plextor PX-712SA 12X SATA dual mode/dual layer DVDRW/CDRW
-PATA: 1 x ATA 100 up to 2 devices
-SATA: 4 x SATA2
-System noise level 22dB or lower
-IEEE 1394 Firewire: 3 ports 800/400
-USB 2.0: 8 ports

I don't even know what a lot of that crap means. Some of it is upgraded from the stock system they sell, and there's a bunch of other stuff to it. No, I can't recite any of it from memory, either. Oh, and I had 'em throw in Cubase SX3, since I'm still using the old Cubase VST 5.1. I'm in the market to completely upgrade my home studio, since I've totally outgrown most of the beginner's gear that I bought three years ago. I have no doubt this DAW will serve my purposes, and then some.

BTW, I looked at several websites and companies who specialize in dedicated DAWs, all of which I'm sure work just fine, and while it's too early to say whether I'm going to be a satisfied customer of Sonica or not, I can say that their salesman, Guy, called me at around 8 pm his time, and spoke at length about this system, my needs, compatibility issues, and how other DAWs compare. He never once attempted to talk me into buying anything. I liked that.

Ramble on.

Hey its that guy again, i again apologize for my other posts but I thought I might be some help on this subject. First question would be what software are you planning on using or have you not chosen that yet? The reason I ask is that most softwares have systems that are compatable with them, and non compatable systems just don't work. If you're going with pro tools le I'd go with a mac, everything is nice and smooth on macs and some pc's have issues with pro tools. Logic only works with macs, Cakewalk is PC only and Steinburg products can work on either. I personally use an Imac 20" g5 with a gig or ram and a 160 gig hd. You'll want at least a gig of ram no matter what kind of computer have, I'd even suggest 2 although I've heard much past 2 is useless for now. What do you record with now, just curious?

Thanks guys! I'm using a 24 track recorder. It's a Mackie SDR 24/96. It's got 2 hard drives. And it's a durn nice recorder. But a back up never hurts. And I surely don't know what software I will be looking at in the near future. I'm a little too green at this point. :mrgreen: Sorry guys!

Just to add a little, the motu firewire interfaces are really nice, and if you go with something like that I'd look into Cubase. I personally never liked cubase but that was mostly because I had no Idea about setting up drivers and all that fun stuff involved with pc's. I wanted an easier option so I went for digidesigns 002r and the Imac I mentioned before. All that involved was pluging the firewire cable into the Imac and viola. Pretty much anyway you go Cubase, Nuendo, Sonar, Pro Tools, will get you quality results. If you're curious about pc's check out sweetwater.com's lineup, they build custom pc and I believe will even download the software on there for you, and their customer service is incredible.

If your resources are unlimited, then go ahead.
But i advice everyone else to buy the next best thing when buying computers :D All the new parts enter the market with a extra high price untill the next new thing comes along. And this happends FAST in the computer hardware market.

hi ITGA,
Mac G5 Dual, you should look into the software you might be wanting to use, i personally highly recomend DP or Logic Pro (both are damn powerfull in the audio and midi world) and Peak as a stereo editor / "mastering" software... all running 'native' on a Mac...

or you go PC if you want to spend time making the IT learning curve to custom build and fix permanently your system.... hmm sounds like fun to me instead of making or recording music. but that's just my 2cents.