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OK everybody, here's your chance to brag or complain about your DAW. We get a lot of questions on this forum pertaining to DAW hardware as to what works and what doesn't so I thought this might be a good starting point for anyone building a DAW.

Please list as much info as you have on your PC or MAC, Soundcard, Software (Cubase, PT, etc.), type of recording (Audio, MIDI etc) and track limits with plugs.

This should give those looking to buy or build a DAW a reference as to what type of performance to expect from a similar machine. So if you love your DAW or hate it and can't wait to upgrade tell us about it.

Here's mine

Main DAW (Audio and Video editing)

AMD 3200+ Socket 939
Gigabyte K8NS Ultra - 939
1 GB Corsair Twin X PC3200 RAM CAS 2
ATI 9600 XT
Maxtor 80 GB PATA HDD (OS and Apps)
Maxtor 120 GB SATA HDD (Audio)
Maxtor 250 GB SATA HDD (Video)
Maxtor 400 GB SATA HDD (Audio and Video Backup)
PLEXTOR 708A DVD/RW
Antec True Power 430 watt PS
Full Tower ATX w/ 5 fans
NEC 19 inch Multisync
Layla 24/96 Audio Card
Adaptec AVC 2010 Video Capture Card
Cubase

Layla 24/96
Alesis AI3

Mobile DAW (Location recording only)

Intel P4 2.4GHz
Asus P4P800S Mobo
1 GB Corsair PC3200 RAM
N'vidia MX440 dual head Video Card
Maxtor 40 GB PATA HDD (OS and Apps)
WD 80 GB SATA HDD (Audio - Removable for copy to main DAW)
PLEXTOR Premium CD/RW
4U ATX Rackmount case

Adding LCD and 1394 to mobile DAW to use with Mackie 1620 for location recording.

I record all audio (rock and blues) and once in a great while a key or horn sample. I will be benching both units soon and will post the results.

OK, Who's Next :D

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MC3DPCS Sun, 05/24/2009 - 22:25

Asus Maximus Formula
Intel Q6700 @ 3GHz
Thermalright IFX14 CPU HS w/2: SilenX 9dB fans
2GB Mushkin Redline DDR2
ATI 3870 GPU
Zalman HP-850 power supply
WD Raptor 74GB OS HD
WD Raptor 150GB working HD
WD 400GB working HD x 2
Seagate 1.5TB archive HDs x 2
WD 1TB NAS
Customized Thermaltake Armor (steel) w/ SilenX fans and Zalman fan controller
Dual 22" Samsung LCD monitors

XP Pro SP3 32bit
Cubase 4.1

Yamaha n12
many various monitors & mics, cheap to midrange

FastLane Thu, 06/04/2009 - 02:13

First time posting here so thought this would be a good place to start

Here's mine

Asus P6T
Intel Core i7 920 @3.5Ghz
6GB DDR3 1866MHz OZC RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9800GT
2 23" wide screen acer monitors
1 500GB Hitachi HD
2 500GB Seagate Barracuda HD's
2 320GB Samsung HD's
900 watt power supply
2 LG DVD burners

All the machine is noise but I am lucky enough to have a spare room to keep it in and run the cables to the control room (for want of a better word)

Audio interface
RME Fireface 800
Digidesign Mini M Box

all running Cubase 5.01, protools LE 8 which I only ever use for opening other studio's pro tools sessions so I can import to Cubase

Plugins
BFD 2 Premium Acoustic drum module
55Gigs of multi sampled drums
BFD 2 JEX Expansion kit
BFD Premium Acoustic drum module
BFD Deluxe
55Gigs of multi sampled drums
Andy Johns Classic Drums
65Gigs of multi sampled drums
BFD Yamaha Oak Custom
BFD 2 8 bit Kit
Superior Drummer 2.1 Professional multi microphone drum sampler
EZ - Drummer
Waves SSL Bundle
Waves JJP Bundle
Waves Silver Bundle
Abbey Roads Brilliance Pack
Sonnox SuprEsser
Sonnox Inflator
Antares Evo
Antares Autotune 5
Galaxy II Pianos
Galaxy Steinway
Drumagog v4
Altiverb
Reason 3
Reason Pianos
Halion one
Voxengo Plugin's
Akai Quadcomp

Outboard
Neve 1073 DPA
Avalon Vt 737sp
2 Chandler Germanium
Focusrite ISA 848 with digital board
Boss Digital Delay RDD-10
2 Alesis S31Q
Korg DTR 1000BL Rack Tuner
2 Art 4x4 Power Conditioner

Mics
Microtech Gefell Um92.1 s with 1966 Telefunken Tube Mod
Royer R121
Se Electronics Gemini
2 Beyerdynamics MC930 Matched Pair
2 Sennheiser MD421 -II
Se Electronics se2a
Shure Beta 52A
Shure Beta 57a
3 Shure sm57
T-Bone RB500

Monitors
Tannoy Precision 8d on atacama stands

Control suface
Tascam US2400

Mixer
Soundcraft Spirit FX 8 ( for latency free monitoring )

Instruments

PRS 20th aniversary custom 22
Fender Standard Stratocaster with SCN Strat American Deluxe Pickups
Fender Standard Telecaster with SCN Tele American Deluxe Pickups
Epiphone SG with Seymour Duncan custom bridge pick-up
Yamaha Pacifica
Fender Precision bass with Seymour Duncan SPB-3 1/4 Pounder pickups
Simon and Patrick acoustic
Roland TD 1 Electronic Drum Kit
M - Audio Pro 88es midi keyboard
Roto Toms
A whole load of various other precussion instruments

Amps + Effects

Marshall JVM 410H
THD Univalve
Marshall JCM C410a cab
Marshall MG10CD
Hughes and Kettner Attax 80
Boss GT8
Jimmy Dunlop Cry Baby
Boss DS-1

A humble enough studio but it all sounds great :)

anonymous Sat, 07/18/2009 - 16:32

I never thought to write all this down in one place. Here we go (along with some comments) ...

Computer stuff:
Macbook Pro 17"
Intel Core 2 Duo @2.33 GHz
3GB DDR2 RAM @667 MHz
OS X 10.5.7
Best Connectivity eSATA express card (it was hard to track down a compatible eSATA card - this one works great even though it says NOTHING about support for OS X)
Glyph GT 050Q external drive
various other drives for holding samples and doing backups (yes, I do back up)

Audio interface:
Digi 003 rack (mediocre preamps)
Pro Tools LE 8.0
MBox (original)

Outboard audio stuff:
PreSonus Digimax FS (I'm happy with this and also use it as my word clock - I'll use these pres before the ones in the 003)
Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster Pro w/ S/PDIF I/O card expansion (has some nice features for vox that I use sometimes)
TL Audio FatMan 2Fat (not a fan of this, it just doesn't do much for me and I wish I would have saved up for a "real" tube preamp instead)
Behringer Powerplay Pro-XL headphone preamp (cheap, but it gets the job done)
Mackie Big Knob "studio command system" (people just love turning up the Big Knob)

Plug-ins:
SoundToys Native (pretty specialized - you can get creative with them, but I rarely use)
T-Racks mastering suite (not a fan - Ozone sounds better to me)
iZotope Ozone 4 (like it)
Reason 4 (I can't imagine life without Reason)
TL Space (my favorite reverb plug)
Smack!
Hybrid
Digi Factory plugs
probably some others I can't remember

Reason Refills:
Reason Pianos refill (great)
Reason Drums 2.0 refill (also great)
Reason Strings refill (unnecessary - I could get by with the built in Orkester refill)
SR Triple Bass refill (decent)
SR Retro Keys refill
SR MelloTron refill
Jason McGerr Sessions refill (drums - I like this one a lot - very reasonably priced)

Various mics, instruments, amps, drums, etc., but I don't think I'll list all that here. My setup is a home/project studio that gets me by. I can get my ideas out, and I can also track a full band if needed.

Cheers,
Dave

anonymous Sat, 05/29/2010 - 00:46

Currently Deployed to the middle east and not in my studio to give specifics on certain items, but from memory.
Akai Dps MK2 intergrated to PC via ADAT and RME 96/52 Sound Card
Yamaha HSM 80
Audio Technica ATH-M50 studio headphones
ART Pro Channel
ART MPA Gold
Digitech Studio 100 Reverb Unit
Alesis MEQ 230
Digitech Legend 2
Audix D6 Kick Drum Mic
Shure SM57's
Audio Technica 4033 and 2020
Oktava MK012 MSP6 Mods by Michael Jolly Oktavamods.com
Ensoniq ZR 76 Digital Workstation
Les Paul, Ibanez,Schector C1,
Pearl Reference
Bugera Amps
Waves GTR 3
Waves Platinum
Waves Ren
EZ Drummer
Reason 4
Rewire
Cubase SX3-yes old, but works well, possible update when I get back to the latest edition

I use the Akai as a stand alone all in one with great results. I also track to it, transfer time stamped wave files to the pc for editing in which I like my dual screens and a mouse. Not to mention plug in apps.
Occasionally, I will use the Akai for its killer pre's and A/D converters and go right into Cubase.
I have just discovered MIDI and when I return home I plan on using my keyboard to trigger EZ Drummer and Reason 4.

This is my first post to the site. I am new to the forums and look forward to learning from you all and sharing anything I have learned.

Ron Ducharme

anonymous Mon, 10/11/2010 - 00:19

Production Home Studio
M-Audio Fastrack Ultra (audio interface)....unfortunately.
Daws Reaper 3.6, Reason 5, Nuendo 3, and Protools M-Powered 7.4..unfortunately, FL Studio 9
VSTi NI Komplete 6..fortunately!!, Colossus, EastWest:Gold Edition, IK Sampletank, PS Symphobia, RP Albino
VST/Rtas/Dx Waves Native Gold Bundle, URS Bundle, SSL Bundle, and too many others to name....fortunately!! :)
favorite plug-ins Waves Rchannel, REQ6, L3; URS 1970, 1980 Compressor, and URS Pro Strip; SSL SSLComp (Bus Compressor); Roger Nichols Plug-ins Finnis
M-Aduio BX5a's...unfortunately
Hardware Synthesizer/...now controller Fantom Xa
Dell Dimension E520 Intel Duo Core 1.8ghz, 4Gigs of RAM, 2 Sata HDs..2 External....fortunately...it still works.

gdoubleyou Mon, 10/11/2010 - 15:06

gdoubleyou, post: 126756 wrote: 1GHz 12-inch Powerbook 768MB RAM
MOTU 828
Pacific Pro Audio 80GB firewire drive

Logic7, DP4, Garage Band2, ReCycle, Final Cut Express HD, DVD Studio Pro. Because plugins are at system level all plugs are available to the above apps except virtual instruments.

Been using this setup for about a year, I'm inside the box use virtual instruments exclusively.

I use this machine for everything, hookup a second monitor for graphic design, web design, video editing and animation no problem.

8)

Now I have a first generation Intel Mac Mini and a Black macbook, rockin' Logic pro 9, and Live.
Just finished my CD project http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=g-bop+5000&x=15&y=18

Mo Facta Mon, 06/20/2011 - 11:03

Hi everybody.

I run a small studio in Johannesburg, South Africa. It's no Abbey Road or Ocean Way, but it gets the job done and it's a comfortable working space. This is our complete list of gear:

CORE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

• Carillon AC1 Windows PC w/transport
• Intel E6600 Core2Duo
• 3.0 GHz Pentium 4HT (Network PC running FX Teleport for external DSP)
• Lynx AES16e (Version 11 firmware with 64 i/o expansion)
• Lynx Aurora 8 AD/DA
• Apogee AD8000 AD/DA
• Steinberg Cubase 6 and Nuendo 5.1
• Steinberg Wavelab 7.0
• Full compliment of Steinberg software
• Waves Platinum bundle
• 2 x UAD-1 DSP cards
• Reason 5.0
• VSTi's: Complete Steinberg Collection; Spectrasonics Atmosphere, Trilogy, and Stylus RMX
• Native Instruments Komplete 4
• Roland PC-300 USB Keyboard/Midi Controller w/sustain pedal

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANALOG HARDWARE

• Console: Soundtracs MIDI PC 24
• Dangerous D Box
• Monitors: Mackie HR824
• Focusrite Penta preamp/compressor
• Focusrite Mixmaster stereo mastering unit
• Korg tuner

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MICROPHONES

• (2) Neumann TLM 103
• (1) Rode NTK
• (2) Shure SM58
• (4) Shure SM57
• (1) AKG D112
• (4) AKG C418
• (2) AKG C1000
• (2) AKG D870
• (1) AKG D3800

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSTRUMENTS AND AMPLIFIERS

• Tama Rockstar 5 piece drumkit
• Yamaha Maple Absolute 13 x 4.5 snare drum
• Mapex Black Panther birdseye maple 14 x 6 snare drum
• Pearl standard steel shell snaredrum 14 x 6
• Paiste, Bosporus, and Sabian cymbals
• Marshall JVM50 guitar head
• Laney GH100L 100W guitar head
• 1973 Marshall 4x12 loaded with Celestion Greenbacks (100W)
• 2 x Marshall 1960A 4x12 cabinet (300W)
• Marshall 100W Valvestate Head
• Gibson SG Standard (red) *
• Hohner L-90 Custom goldtop
• Gibson Les Paul Custom (black) *
• Fender American Baja Telecaster *
• Washburn double cut with Seymour Duncan pickups (customized)

* available on request only

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MISCELLANEOUS GEAR

• Mackie SRM450 Powered Speaker
• Spirit Notepad mini-mixer
• Sony MDR7506 Professional headphones
• (2) Sennheiser HD202 professional headphones
• Fostex UC8 digital format converter

There are pictures and more information on the websites in my signature.

Cheers :)

audios Tue, 06/21/2011 - 04:45

Here's all to date. The old G5 is slowing down now. But ya know, it's a workhorse and it ain't broke so not fixing it...

Recorders:

MOTU Digital Performer v-7.x
Digidesign Pro Tools LE v-7.x
REAPER v.4.12 MIDI & orchestration scripting
MIXBUS v.1.1 Harrison DAW for mastering and mix-to-pix
Tascam DA-30 MKII DAT (w/SMPTE lock)
Otari 5050B 1/4" analog 2-TRK

Control Surface

Mackie Control Universal - HUI controller through ProTools/Digital Performer for all automation and VST/Plugs control.24 faders and external sync for archiving to HDCAM or D-2.
VST Wrapper - Plogue Bidule

Computer Hardware:

MAC G-5 2.5GHz dual-processor w/8GB of RAM, 1GHz front end bus and over 7 Terabyte of RAID storage. Also, networked to a G4 for VST samples.
LaCie 200GB fire wire HD (4)
Western Digital ATA 300GB HD
Iomega 5TB firewire backup storage (4)
4X Sony Firewire 200 GB hard drive
SONY DVD/CD burner
SONY Trinitron 17" Flat Panel LCD Monitor (2)

Synth Keyboards, Modules & VI's
M-Audio Keystation Pro-88 MIDI controller
Ensoniq EPS 16+ Sampler
MOTU MX-4
Ethno Instrument
REASON 3
Omnishpere
Stylus RMX
EWQLSO Gold complete
EWQLSO Stormdrum-2
EWQL Voices of Passion
EWQL Ministry of Rock
Dan Dean Solo strings
GPO
Kompakt-2 player
Kontakt 3 with Native Instruments full librar and the following libraries;
Sample Logic - SYNERGY
Kirk Hunter "Diamond" Orchestra & Orchestra Strings 2 with solo strings Impacts & Rythms
Kirk Hunter Scoring Strings II
Intimate Guitar 12-string
Pettinhouse acoustic and classical guitars
9-volt "TAIKO" drums
Stickbreakers, multiple toms and concert drums
The Elements
TOONTRACK-EZ Drummer
TOONTRACKS-Superior Drummer
loaded with; Jazz kit, NY Avatar kit, Music City, Percussion and Cocktail kits.
Plugs:
IK Multimedia "T-RackS"
Wave Arts Master Resolution Suite "MR Noise"
Wave Arts Master Resolution Suite "MR Click"
iZotope RX-2 Advanced
Denoiser
Declicker
Dehummer
Declipper
Spectral Repair
Master Works Mastering suite;
compressor (stereo & 5.1)
multi-level compressor
Limiter
8-band parametric EQ
Neve 8038 channel strip
Noise Gate
LA-2A
ProVerb (convolution reverb)
Ray Space spacial Verb (convolution) stereo and 5.1
SIR-2 convolution Verb (with over 300 IR's)
Audio Ease;
Altiverb 6.5 convolution verb
Deep Phase Nine
Periscope
River Run
SSL-1 compressor

PSP Vintage Warmer (compressor/limiter)

OutBoard-Patchable:
Lexicon MX 400 surround reverb
Yamaha DDL-4 delay line-stereo (2)
Symetrix stereo compressor (4)
MOTU Time Piece clock synchronizer

Monitoring:
Ashly 120SRA stereo near field amp (2)
Altec Lansing 2444SA 300 power amp
Tannoy Gold Series near fields
JBL Model 100 studio monitors [vintage -1970]
Alesis Pro, Active DOLBY Pro Logic II, DTS/THX 5.1 digital/analog for spotting 5.1 mixes
HDA-4 4-way headphone amp with talkback

Additional Computer Software:
Apple Final Cut Pro 4.5 HD NLE system w/livetype (off-Line only)
Adobe After Effects 6.5 pro, Boris Red font package
Minnetonka Audio SurCode DOLBY Pro Logic II surround encoding system.
DVD Studio Pro 3.0 DVD authoring software
Roxio Toast & Jam 7.0 Titanium
QuickTime Pro V 7.x

Todzilla Mon, 06/10/2013 - 08:12

I use MOTU's Digital Performer software. I started using the MIDI only version back in the early 90s and stayed with it to reduce my learning curve. It's really wonderful software, and has recently made a strong push for expansion with cross-platform support, completely recoded software (to accomodate multi-platform), a downloadable demo from its website and all the features you'd expect from an ambitious DAW. The workflow is very good and the MIDI manipulation is world class.

I record mostly Audio with a fair amount of virtual processors. I do lots of MIDI w Virtual Instruments, although for my own convenience, I typically commit those to audio tracks at some point.

I use up to 64 tracks, most of which have compression and EQ on them, with a couple of convolution reverbs. I have yet to hit a wall with performance, thanks largely to the MBP and Digital Performer running in 64 bit mode and leveraging the copious RAM (16G) I put in.

I love/hate Apple, but went with a MBP. As a creativity platform, it's great, but as an IT professional, I wouldn't want to use it in a business enterprise setting.

BTW, the RAM is cheap Corsair memory which has performed like a champ, and the SSD is a Crucial M4. I will put a bigger SSD in when I start to run out of space and the prices on the 512G units drop even further.

My computer: late 2011 15" MacBook Pro, w 2.2GHz quad core i7 processor, 16G of RAM and a 256G SSD.
Other SW: Native Instruments Komplete 8, Arturia MiniMoog, Waves Musicians One bundle, Molot and other feebies
Room: standalone 16' X 23' X 14' (cathedral ceilings) sand-filled cinderblock building w OC703 and Ethan Wieneresque bass traps
Mics: Neumann U-89, pair of Peluso P12s, lots of dynamic mics too.
Preamps: Seventh Circle Audio Neve clone and two API clones, Demeter HM-1 stereo preamp+DI
A/D: Apogee Symphony I/O 2x6 and MOTU 896HD
Monitors: DynAudio BM15As, Audix Monitor Ones, old Panasonic boom box w aux in
Spouse: indulgent

Mo Facta Fri, 03/07/2014 - 01:05

Hi guys and gals,

So I got a new partner, moved into a new studio and combined my gear with his. This is the result:

Main Host:

- Mac Pro
- Intel Xeon quad core processor
- 32GB RAM
- OS X 10.8

Mixing Consoles:

- TAC Matchless 36 input (28 Preamps, 24 bus, 8 Groups)
- Chilton CM2 (9 Preamps)
- Chilton QM1 (12 Class-A, transformer balanced discrete preamps)

Audio Interface and converters:

- Lynx Aurora 8 AD/DA
- MOTU 24io/PCI-424 AD/DA
- Apogee AD8000 AD/DA
- Dangerous DBox

Outboard:

- TL Audio C1 Preamp/Compressor
- Universal Audio LA610 Preamp/Compressor

Monitors:

- Yamaha HS80
- Event Opal
- Event TR8XL
- Event S250 Subwoofer

Microphones:

- 2 x Pearl Priority
- 1 x Manley Reference Red
- 2 x STC 4038 (vintage, pre-coles)
- 1 x Shure SM7
- 1 x Groove Tubes AM52 Multipattern
- 2 x Shure SM57
- 2 x Rode NT1
- 1 x sE Electronics z3300a
- 2 x sE Electronics sE1a
- 1 x sE Electronics Voodoo VR1
- 1 x sE Electronics X1R
- 4 x AKG C518
- 1 x AKG D112
- 2 x AKG C1000

Software (DAW):

- Cubase 7, Nuendo 5
- Wavelab 8
- Logic Pro X
- Pro Tools 10 HD Native

Plugins:

- UAD-2 Solo Powered Plugins
- Native Instruments Komplete 7
- Steinberg/Yamaha Vintage Collection
- Waves

Cheers :)