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I know I've posted on this subject before, but I'm just so mad at myself for not doing my homework before buying a new computer. :(
I bought a new HP desktop with Media Center, thinking it'd be a hot recording pc with my Cakewalk GTP 3, only to find the troubles that have been well documented here.
Just for fun, I made a recording on my HP laptop (P4 2ghz, 512, 40G, XP Home), saved as a bundle file (.Bun) and uploaded it to my new desktop.
The same crap, jittery playback. It amazes me that the demo song in GTP3 plays back as well as it does.

I should've been smart and returned the pc right away, but noooo.

I recently got a great deal on a 1010lt interface soundcard, and am looking for a pc with XP Home or Pro, to install it in.
I'd use it strictly for recording. As far as me, I record by myself, one instrument at a time. I guess the 1010lt is a little overkill,
but the price was right, and I like to leave things hooked up, ie, keyboards, mics, processors. .

I am old (50), and don't really understand midi, or VST. I wish I did. I've been playing guitar since I was nine. In my 20's I bought a TEAC 3440 4 channel reel-to-reel tape deck, and recorded that way for years.

I was at Guitar Center the other day, and these two kids were constructing a song, I saw no instruments, but they were clicking on things, and I'd hear an acoustic guitar play a phrase in the key and tempo of the song. Then they'd click again, and I'd hear a piano play another phrase, again, in key and tempo...They were using an Apple computer, and the salesperson told me they were using garageband, and that it came standard with Apple computers. .it all really blew my mind.

I wish I knew which direction to go...Apple?...pc recording with the 1010lt?...different software?. stay with my laptop and GTP3 and get say, a 1616m interface and use it strictly for recording?...are firewire interfaces as fast/good as soundcard interfaces, PCI or PCMCIA?

In the mean time, I'm using my laptop with GTP3, and an old desktop ( PIII 760ghz, 512, 40G, Windows 98 ) with GT2 for recording. .and on that I use a TEAC analog mixer into the factory soundcard's line in jack.

I know the answers are long and depend on certain things, and I don't expect anyone to take the time to write out what has probably been discussed over and over, I'm just frustrated and thinking out loud.

Sorry. :oops:

Arnie

Comments

hueseph Fri, 03/30/2007 - 08:28

Why don't you just buy a second hard drive and an OEM version of XP home. (You can't buy OEM software unless it's sold with hardware. Usually a system). Install that onto your HP and things should be fine.

On the other hand if you decided to go Apple, you would need to look into at the very least a USED Power PC G4 or G5. Preferrably something running OS X. An iMac won't cut it. This is of course if you plan on continuing to use the Delta 1010LT.

Something you might want to consider is that what you heard at GC were loops. Working with loops their are the obvious limitations. That being, you're ability to create will be limited by the size of your loop library. That being said, Garageband is an amazingly capable software. For most hobbyists, it's more than "good enough". The effects are simple to use and sound surprisingly good.

One warning though, once you've grown accustomed to a Mac, you may never want to go back to pc. Save for gaming and out of necessity.

Do your research. Don't make the same mistake twice! Many of "last years" software don't work well on Intel Macs. Thus the suggestion toward a Power PC G4 or G5.

RemyRAD Fri, 03/30/2007 - 12:33

In August of 2006, I purchased a Hewlett-Packard laptop that had Windows XP media center edition. I wanted it purely for certain features that it had, in spite of the fact that it did not offer a line level input but only microphone and SPDIF.

Of course, I didn't do my homework either thinking that a product by Microsoft of an updated operating system with the words "Media Center Edition" would work more flawlessly with other software/media production tools. Nope! NOT! As it turns out, companies like Adobe and others will not run on Media Center Edition, nor support it and are making no plans to do so.

So you could opt for Windows XP Professional? I have that and could load the XP Pro update but I've discovered that I'm quite happy using some of the previous version software's that run quite nicely under Media Center Edition. I'll probably update the laptop to Windows XP Pro, next year when my warranty expires. I purchased an extended warranty and don't want to screw with the machine too drastically until its expiration. Plus, I have no desire to upgrade to Vista as it sounds like a worse version of Media Center Edition? Plus, you need to know whether you want the 32-bit version or the 64-bit version? Just because you want the 64-bit version doesn't mean it will run on a machine that has 32-bit processors.

Thinking inside the tiny box
Ms. Remy Ann David