Hi,
I'm a serious guitar player who is interested in recording music. This won't be for commercial use, only for my personal use. I plan on recording guitars, drums, piano and vocals and any other effects that would come along with the software I plan to purchase. I have a tight budget of around 1000-1500$. This includes the hardware as well as the software. I would really appreciate it if anyone could answer any of the following questions:
1- Desktop or Labtop? Would I be able to afford a decent labtop that has all the requirements?
2-Should I buy a "Name" computer such as Dell/Sony etc.? I don't think I have enough money to buy a recording-specific pc. I was looking into buying a dell dimension until someone advised me to definitely not purchase that brand. Is there anything terribly wrong with buying a "name" computer?
3-If I do buy a dell or such pc, will the soundcard be the main modification I will have to initially make? Will this be good enough to keep me busy for a while? Will there be any upgrading possibilites in the future?
I plan on using software such as guitar tracks pro 3, home studio or maybe cubase. There seems to be endless possibilities when it comes to purchasing a pc and making a Daw. Is there any safe way to do this? I really want to get something decent up and running with my budget. I'm not looking for the highest quality material available.
Sorry if some of this information is already covered in this forum. I'm just having a hard time figuring out all this stuff. Thanks a lot for reading.
Pierre
Comments
Here is my opinion... Go desktop, your budget is too thin for a
Here is my opinion...
Go desktop, your budget is too thin for a suitable lap top. You can also build a desktop quite cheap or purchase one at a decent price. You should look into the future and get something a hair bit more poweful than what you need today. A suggestion is 2.0+ with at last 1GB ram possibly 2GB. Make sure you have 7200RPM hard drives, preferable a minimum of two - one for applications and one for your audio file storage.
I am not a big believer that you need to buy a "name" for PC since you can build your own. I know people who can put together a serious DAW PC for less than $600.
As for your sound card, there are many options. Here are a few suggestions:
1 - MAudio
>> http://www.m-audio.com
2 - MOTU
>>http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/2408CoreMk3/
The MAudio will be a great starter piece although its limited, but the MOTU will take care of you for a bit and provide the i/os you need.
Also, dont forget to look on eBay.
As for software, I was real happy with Sonar 3. I mean, real happy but since i went MAC, I chose Digital Performer.
In my past experience, I would choose something like Cubase SL to get working sooner than later.
Hope this helps.