• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Best setup for a musician ? Sound card? Software?......

H

HardwareAddicted

Golden Member
Ok, I have a friend that is a pretty good musician and not that PC talented.

So when I asked him if he was burning his own CD's he looked at me funny and said, can I do this with my PC ?

Well, he will need a burner, but after that.....what would be best ?

Is there a good add-on card for inputting live music...? and what about the editting software ?

Will a good gaming sound card be enough ? How about full size input ports for a guitar ?

I need some input here from some of the more musicly inclined Anandtechers here....

Thx in advance.....

~ HardwareAddicted
 


<< Ok, I have a friend that is a pretty good musician and not that PC talented.

So when I asked him if he was burning his own CD's he looked at me funny and said, can I do this with my PC ?

Well, he will need a burner, but after that.....what would be best ?

Is there a good add-on card for inputting live music...? and what about the editting software ?

Will a good gaming sound card be enough ? How about full size input ports for a guitar ?

I need some input here from some of the more musicly inclined Anandtechers here....

Thx in advance.....

~ HardwareAddicted >>

Does he want to do anything other than music? More importantly, anything 3D? Also, how much ($$$)?
 
I would stay away from gaming cards, but it all comes down to money. there are a lot of good cards for recording, but they are quite a bit more expensive than the traditional sound blasters, turtle beach's etc.

www.echoaudio.com makes good stuff ranging from $180-750

www.digitalaudio.com i've heard makes good cards

same with www.rme-audio.com. Most of them have XLR or other balanced inputs, true 24 bit sampling etc.

I am not a musician, but soundforge and cooledit are pretty popular software wise.

jt
 
Anyhow, here's what I think (on a reasonable budget)
Antec SX840 Case (includes 400W PSU)
Soyo Dragon+ mainboard
Athlon XP 1700+ CPU w/ Vantec FCE-6030D heatsink/fan combo attached with Artic Silver II or Nanotherm
IMB Deskstar 60GXP hard disk, preferrably two or three in RAID 0
2x256 mb Crucial DDR 266MHz PC2100 SDRAM (preferrably ECC registered)
Matrox G550 graphics card if not doing any 3D, GeForce Ti200 OEM or Radeon 8500 OEM if doing 3D
Yamaha SW1000XG sound card
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system (and Bose headphones if he wants headphones)
Korg Karma synthesizer
Yamaha CRW3200 CD-RW
Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM
Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical keyboard/mouse combo (pricey, but nice to have)
Samsung SyncMaster 700NF (or 900NF if you want 19")
Generic floppy
Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox MP3 player
Boeder Computer Microphone

I hope I didn't leave anything out--if so, tell me.
 
Good hardware setup. I would also suggest that you try BeOS at http://free.be.com for your audio operating system. Once you have the os setup then head over to http://www.bebits.com for the audio software. The reason I mention Be is because it is the best and fastest os for audio. If you are looking for the lowest latency Be is the only way to go.

Also for recording sound on the go, or to get sound samples, a Sony minidisc recorder with a decent mic out is the best/most affordable way to go.
 


<< Good hardware setup. I would also suggest that you try BeOS at http://free.be.com for your audio operating system. Once you have the os setup then head over to http://www.bebits.com for the audio software. The reason I mention Be is because it is the best and fastest os for audio. If you are looking for the lowest latency Be is the only way to go.

Also for recording sound on the go, or to get sound samples, a Sony minidisc recorder with a decent mic out is the best/most affordable way to go. >>

BeOS has some great features, but it'll be gone soon. Actually, macs are very good for audio (not gaming audio).
 
I can't possibly see recommending any OS for audio other than a Windows platform or possibly Mac. Simply for compatibility reasons.

Also, recommending the Yamaha card for "prosumer" audio isn't really a great plan. It's decent, but not as good of a card as you should look at for recording.

Look at Midiman, Aardvark-Pro (I have the Direct Pro LX6 and LOVE it), Echo, RME, etc.

Check out Bayview Pro Audio for decent prices and good service.

As far as software, I love Sonic Foundry's Acid and Vegas - very user friendly and fun to dive right into.

Check out the results in my sig. 😀
 


<< Also, recommending the Yamaha card for "prosumer" audio isn't really a great plan. It's decent, but not as good of a card as you should look at for recording. >>

Thanks, I'm not really a professional audiophile. I make do just fine with the nForce south bridge, a CS 4630 based card, an Audigy, or an Acoustic Edge.
 


<<
Yamaha SW1000XG sound card
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system (and Bose headphones if he wants headphones)
 >>


heh, thats funny, bose-
audio workstation
yeah, really funny 🙂
 
he should definitely get a pro level soundcard if he wants to do anything real. when you try to use a consumer sound card to record music, it sounds not so great (i know from experience). be prepared to drop money on the soundcard... and 400-500 for vegas(sonic foundry) or sonar (cakewalk)
 


<<

<<
Yamaha SW1000XG sound card
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system (and Bose headphones if he wants headphones)
 >>


heh, thats funny, bose-
audio workstation
yeah, really funny 🙂 >>

I'm hardly an audiophile, but aren't Bose headphones the best headphones on the market?
 


<<

<<

<<
Yamaha SW1000XG sound card
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system (and Bose headphones if he wants headphones)
 >>


heh, thats funny, bose-
audio workstation
yeah, really funny 🙂 >>

I'm hardly an audiophile, but aren't Bose headphones the best headphones on the market? >>


heh... your funny 🙂
 


<<

<<

<<

<<
Yamaha SW1000XG sound card
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system (and Bose headphones if he wants headphones)
 >>


heh, thats funny, bose-
audio workstation
yeah, really funny 🙂 >>

I'm hardly an audiophile, but aren't Bose headphones the best headphones on the market? >>


heh... your funny 🙂 >>

It'd be nice if you could enlighten me instead of making condescending remarks.
 


<<

<<

<<

<<

<<
Yamaha SW1000XG sound card
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system (and Bose headphones if he wants headphones)
 >>


heh, thats funny, bose-
audio workstation
yeah, really funny 🙂 >>

I'm hardly an audiophile, but aren't Bose headphones the best headphones on the market? >>


heh... your funny 🙂 >>

It'd be nice if you could enlighten me instead of making condescending remarks. >>


I'm sorry 🙂 It was too much fun 😉
I'll be nicer
One, I dont even think that bose makes headphones
and two, bose speakers are quite possibly the worst pieces of overpriced garbage in the world.
Check out off topic sometime for discussions on why bose are bad speakers.
 


<<

<<

<<

<<

<<

<<
Yamaha SW1000XG sound card
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system (and Bose headphones if he wants headphones)
 >>


heh, thats funny, bose-
audio workstation
yeah, really funny 🙂 >>

I'm hardly an audiophile, but aren't Bose headphones the best headphones on the market? >>


heh... your funny 🙂 >>

It'd be nice if you could enlighten me instead of making condescending remarks. >>


I'm sorry 🙂 It was too much fun 😉
I'll be nicer
One, I dont even think that bose makes headphones
and two, bose speakers are quite possibly the worst pieces of overpriced garbage in the world.
Check out off topic sometime for discussions on why bose are bad speakers. >>

I know why Bose speakers aren't great, but their headphones are outstanding. Overpriced as usual, though. Still, the noise-cancellation technology makes them very useful. I suppose though, that in a quite house, you wouldn't need noise cancellation technology. I basically use Bose headphones when I'm flying to cancel out engine noise so that I can my copilot better through the earphones, and at home I use...a Klipsch ProMedia 5.1
 
Agreed on the remarks... :|

More to the topic - there are "beginner" Pro audio cards from companies like EgoSys and MIDIMan that only cost a couple hundred bucks but have 2 or 4 input jacks for live recording of multiple sources. Excellent place to start for someone who's recording a live guitar, drummer, vocalist, etc. Best of all, these good cards are usually hardware supported by excellent recording software and get better performance for it. That's something you'll NEVER get from a Live/Audigy, Acoustic Edge or Santa Cruz (or any other "game" card - no matter how good it may be on paper.)

If this person is into more instrumental/orchestral work, the same audio card coupled with a software sampler like Nemesys Music's GigaSampler/GigaStudio is untouchable! (Listen to the MP3 demos!!)
For rave/synthy stuff, Roland Korg & Yamaha make some neat-o external synthesizers that are usually better than sampling/software.

Audio is definately my thing - I just wish I could afford the goodies. I'd Love, LOVE, LoooOOOOOVE to get my hands on GigaStudio + some awesome orchestral samples!! Beware, though, some of those sample libraries can run into the $thousands! They're huge libraries spanning several CD's and are simply gooooorgeous! *drool*

It's been a while, but check Harmony Central for audio gear... they used to be one of the best sites out there for that kind of info!
 
Let's get the basic system down to this:
Antec SX840 Case (includes 400W PSU)
Soyo Dragon+ mainboard
Athlon XP 1700+ CPU w/ Vantec FCE-6030D heatsink/fan combo attached with Artic Silver II or Nanotherm
IMB Deskstar 60GXP hard disk, preferrably two or three in RAID 0
2x256 mb Crucial DDR 266MHz PC2100 SDRAM (preferrably ECC registered)
Matrox G550 graphics card if not doing any 3D, GeForce Ti200 OEM or Radeon 8500 OEM if doing 3D
Yamaha CRW3200 CD-RW
Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM
Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical keyboard/mouse combo (pricey, but nice to have)
Samsung SyncMaster 700NF (or 900NF if you want 19")
Generic floppy
Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox MP3 player

Now, why don't you audiophiles figure out the rest?
 
WHO CARES what the basic system specs are at this point??? As much as you want to build a system, concentrate on what the GOAL is first!
The system could vary WILDLY depending on the software/hardware audio setup he's going to need.
EG: MIDI work could be very content with a Celeron + 5400RPM drive, where multi-track audio recording would benefit from huge, fast SCSI hard drives and the fastest CPU you can throw at it.

Another thing, not to bust the AMD crowd (Tbirds are awesome, okay?) but Pro music software is almost always tested w/ Intel CPU's. Double check the software to make SURE it's 100% tested and compatible with AMD CPU's before putting together a system.
(one more reason not to jump on the system-building right away.)

It's allllll about System Analysis and Design, folks. 😉 Nothing worse than jumping the gun and finding out you've gone in the wrong direction AFTER you spent a bunch of cash.
 


<< WHO CARES what the basic system specs are at this point??? As much as you want to build a system, concentrate on what the GOAL is first!
The system could vary WILDLY depending on the software/hardware audio setup he's going to need.
EG: MIDI work could be very content with a Celeron + 5400RPM drive, where multi-track audio recording would benefit from huge, fast SCSI hard drives and the fastest CPU you can throw at it.

Another thing, not to bust the AMD crowd (Tbirds are awesome, okay?) but Pro music software is almost always tested w/ Intel CPU's. Double check the software to make SURE it's 100% tested and compatible with AMD CPU's before putting together a system.
(one more reason not to jump on the system-building right away.)

It's allllll about System Analysis and Design, folks. 😉 Nothing worse than jumping the gun and finding out you've gone in the wrong direction AFTER you spent a bunch of cash. >>

Wait a minute--we're just doing all the research for some other guy...
 
I have been recording for several years now, here is what I use and it works well:
PC - Get the fastest he can afford

Sound1: I use a Delta 44 (4ins & 4 outs) for recording audio - all depends on how many inputs you need
Sound2: SoundBlaster Audigy OEM - I use it for MIDI only works fine, plus with all the soundfonts available out there, you get a decent library of sounds for free right off.
Keyboard: Some generic, no name keyboard ($120) with no sounds - I get all my sounds from VST instruments or soundfonts. Obiously you can spend a couple of grand here.
Mixer: Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro - definitely need a mixer - most pro sound cards do not come with onboard amplification like the consumer cards do.
OS: a lot of recording folk swear by Win98, I'm using XP and it works fine - its all in the drivers.
Software: I'm running Cubase VST32 - I like it, its flexible, easy to use and you can get a ton of VST plug-ins (virtual instruments). A lot of the high end effect plug-ins are only available for Cubase or Digidesign stuff (i.e. Waves, etc.) Of course there is Sonar, Vegas, Cool Edit, depends on what you need. Get demos, try em out.

Your friend needs to decide exactly what he wants to do with this. If he is PC illiterate, he might be better off spending $1200 or so on a hard disk recorder. Its a lot more intuitive and you don't have to worry about the PC side of things. Of course with one of these you lose flexibility. He's got some thinking to do.
 


<< One, I dont even think that bose makes headphones >>



Bose does still make their noise-cancelling headphones. But for less money, you can get a set of Sennheisers that perform equally as well if not better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top