Four (4) words! Opus Is The Man. P.C.'s are the way to go (IMO) and he's the guy to build and configure it for you. If you're on a budget, Cubase is a great program but if you have a few more bucks and you want to go full pro, Nuendo is fast becoming a defacto standard. Both programs support file transfer to just about any other program, which to me is very important. In many circles Nuendo is beginning to give Pro Tools a run for their money... That's all I can offer on this subject, talk to OPUS.....Fats

Thank you fatts! Hopefully OPUS will read my post and give me some advice. I am willing to spend a good amount on a computer.

Greetings...just got back from a computer consulting gig and am also re doing my system since it was at the AES show and a couple of Guitar Center training events.
Salesman really screwed it up...they are mostly Mac geeks who "think" they know about PC's!! lol
Anyhue, Anubis....I do not recommend Carillon in any way...IMHO you will only be robbed. They don't configure them properly in any way..they usually have to be reconfigured and you can't get good aupport from them....I have had to hold the hand of one of Apogee's sales staff in repairing it since it crashed or failed every other week.
Yes, they ran their systems at the AES show for Steinberg but what you don't know is that Steinberg truly doesn't endorse them that highly...The Carillon system they were using at the AES show was re configured by my hardware and OS optimization specs.....I know this for a fact too!
Anyhue, email me at gary2@opusaudioprojects.net and we can discuss what you are looking to get for a system.
Opus

Hi,

I went through the same quandary 2 months ago and decided after weeks and weeks of research (reviews, websites, chatrooms, applestore, pcstores etc) to do what most in this forum have done.....build your own pc. I had never built my own pc until now, and was debating between apple, diy, or have a small shop build the pc to 'my' specs. Just a few of my findings and opinions.
1. Cost! Apple that I looked at was a 2x1Ghz DDR, 512MB RAM, SuperDrive (Pioneer DVD-R),80GB HD model w/o monitor was $2,499. (15" TFT $600 extra)
2. Cost! Having a shop build it for you. A 2.4BGhz P4, 1 GB DDR, 1x20GB and 1x120GB HD setup w/o monitor was around $1800 excl tax
3. Cost! Building it myself, picking up the parts from mwave.com, including tax and 2 TFT monitors $1950!!
4. PC v Mac. Mac's pro: less hassle and more stability if you are afraid of computers. cons: expensive, outdated hardware technology (until IBM supplies them with the up and coming PowerPC970 chips - not until next year), make sure you like the handling of the OS (I am more comfortable with W$), slower then pc (check out some websites on head to head tests - not mac's standard sales pitch)
5. Search on forums for other opinions, check out sites on how to build pc's step by step, but with the help of eg Opus' experience my first pc booted the first time and has been running like a charm.
6. There are now faster chips (P2.8)available and better Asus boards then I have, but you have to start sometime. I went with DDR memory instead of rambus because of the $350-400 difference in build costs.
My setup:
- ENERMAX FS-710B W/330W POWER SUPPLY & 80mm CASE FAN x 3
- ASUS P4B533-E INTEL 845E CHIPSET ULTRA ATA133 ATX FORM FACTOR 1xAGP(PRO)/6xPCI/3xDDR W/IEEE 1394, RAID, USB 2.0, LAN & AUDIO
- INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.4B GHZ (BX80532PE2400D) W/512K CACHE 533MHZ 478-PIN RETAILED
Incl
-KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/512 512MB PC2100 266MHZ CL2.5 DDR
-MAXTOR 20.0GB DX6L020J1 EIDE ULTRA-ATA 133 8.5NS 7200RPM 2MB BUFFER
-WD 120GB WD1200JB EIDE ULTRA-ATA/100 7200RPM SE W/8MB BUFFER
-KINGWIN KF-21 IT ALUMIMUN INNER TRAY FOR 5.25" IDE REMOVABLE MOBILE RACK
-KINGWIN KF-21 IPFB 5.25" EIDE ULTRA ATA100/133 ALUMINUM ALLOY INTERNAL REMOVABLE DRIVE KIT
-MATROX MILLENNIUM G550 DUAL 32MB AGP 2X/4X
- SONY 1.44MB FLOPPY DRIVE
- SAMSUNG 15"/15V SYNCMASTER 152T Digital
- SAMSUNG 15"/15V SYNCMASTER 152B Analog

Hope that helps.
Cheers.

forgot to mention that it included 2 sticks of 512MB for that price.

Thank you to everyone that responded to my post. I am going to be talking to opus on this subject and I will let everyone know how I do!! :tu: