I'm looking at a Dell Studio XPS 7100, Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit, AMD Phenom II X61045T Processor, ATI Raedon HD 5450 1GB Video Card, 6GB DDR3 RAM, and a 1 TB 7200RPM HD with a 16MB Cache. I plan on putting an M-Audio 1010LT in it. For software I'll be using Pro Tools (M-Powered) and Reaper.
My budget is $1000 and everything listed above (excluding software and the 1010LT) is $879.
Do you guys forsee any problems I may encounter? The only thing I think would be a problem is the processor. This will be my first dedicated DAW, and I've read a ton on here about different DAW's people are building.
I mostly am recording vocals and a MIDI keyboard with hopes of recording guitar soon.
Any opinions?
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TheJackAttack, post: 362408 wrote: Fourth, perhaps this is what
TheJackAttack, post: 362408 wrote:
Fourth, perhaps this is what you meant by 1TB HDD, but you need an external hard drive for destination audio. It doesn't make an iota of difference how big the internal drive is. You can't read and write to the same drive at the same time.
I'm not sure I agree with this part. Obviously if you're recording lots of channels at high samplerates you will want a dedicated audio drive, but tracking vocals and guitar with just 1 or 2 mics at a time shouldn't be a problem at all.
To put things into context: my internal laptop drive can record 16 channels @ 24/44.1 with no problems whatsoever.
What I would recommend however, is to partition your HD so you have a separate smaller OS partition, plus a larger partition in which you will store your projects. This makes your system much easier to manage if you ever need to re-install your OS, or if you decide to add another HD in future. This also allows for dual boots if you ever need it: my laptop drive is split into 3 partitions: a main data partition, plus a Vista OS partition for general use (due to become win7 as soon as I have the time!) and a stripped-down audio-only XP partition for location recording.
TheJackAttack, post: 362408 wrote: First, you need to check Avid
TheJackAttack, post: 362408 wrote: First, you need to check Avid's requirements for whatever version of PT you think you want. I can guarantee you will be up and running much faster but skipping PT and going whole hog with Reaper. This has nothing to do with liking or not liking PT. This has to do with PT being quite finicky with hardware and you are a novice.
I've dug through the forum about Reaper, and I think I'll only run that for software.
TheJackAttack, post: 362408 wrote: Second, if you can see yourself into Win7 Pro that would be superior to Home Edition of ANY flavor.
I upped the OS to Professional, that puts me at just over $1000, which is okay.
TheJackAttack, post: 362408 wrote: Third, while the 1010 full version has been a tried and true interface in the past, it's kind of used up in this day and age. The headroom on the line inputs is on the low side and the conversion circuitry is blah. The red headed buck toothed stepchild called the 1010LT was never as good as the big brother.
If you do not recommend the 1010LT, what would be another option?
TheJackAttack, post: 362408 wrote: Fourth, perhaps this is what you meant by 1TB HDD, but you need an external hard drive for destination audio. It doesn't make an iota of difference how big the internal drive is. You can't read and write to the same drive at the same time.
I have a Seagate 2TB external, and I'm going to partition my drive as well.
First, you need to check Avid's requirements for whatever versio
First, you need to check Avid's requirements for whatever version of PT you think you want. I can guarantee you will be up and running much faster but skipping PT and going whole hog with Reaper. This has nothing to do with liking or not liking PT. This has to do with PT being quite finicky with hardware and you are a novice.
Second, if you can see yourself into Win7 Pro that would be superior to Home Edition of ANY flavor.
Third, while the 1010 full version has been a tried and true interface in the past, it's kind of used up in this day and age. The headroom on the line inputs is on the low side and the conversion circuitry is blah. The red headed buck toothed stepchild called the 1010LT was never as good as the big brother.
Fourth, perhaps this is what you meant by 1TB HDD, but you need an external hard drive for destination audio. It doesn't make an iota of difference how big the internal drive is. You can't read and write to the same drive at the same time.