Sound System Question

[AYYASH]

Good day every body,

This my first post in this great forum. I'm sorry I've to start with a question and I'm willing to see how you could help me.

My friend is working as sound engineer. His computer supplier advised him a PC with the following features:

* GENUINE INTEL DUAL XEON P4 2.4GHZ PROCESSOR
* SUPERMICRO P4DC6+ MAINBOARD (USA):
\INTEL 860 CHIPSET
\400 MHZ SYSTEM BUS
\DUAL INTEL XEON 603PIN 2.4GHZ+
\UP-TO 4GB RDRAM
\1,4X AGP PRO SLOT
\2,64-BIT PCI SLOT
\4,32-BIT PCI SLOT
\ADAPTEC 7899W DUAL CHANNEL ULTRA 160 SCSI
\1,10/100MBPS LAN PORT
\2,USB PORTS
\INTEL 4MB FLASH ROM
\PC HEALTH MONITORING
* 1GB ECC RDRAM (512MBx2)
* 1.44MB, 3.5" FDD
* SEAGATE CHEETAH 36GB UW SCSI HDD 15,000 RPM
* IBM 146GB SCSI UW320 HDD 10,000 RPM
* IBM 180GB EIDE HDD 7200 RPM
* MATROX PERHILIA 128MB 3D DISPLAY CARD W/TRIPLE MONITOR CONNECTIONS
* KEYBOARD + MOUSE + PAD
* SUPERMICRO CHASSIS SC:-760P4:
\400W POWER SUPPLIES
\AUTO-SWITCHING 100/240 SC POWER
\6, 5.25" DRIVE BAYS + 3, 3.5" DRIVE BAYS
\1X 12cm & 1X 9cm EXHAUST FANS
*PHILIPS 15" DIGITAL MONITOR
------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL PRICE US$ 5,100

This offer has no sound card included. He told me that he has his own.
I'm not that good to know which parts he really needs. This the first time he use computer in this filed. So, what is your advice to him?

Thanks for all advance,
AYYASH

 

[knutp]

That would be a great computer, and reviews I have seen have noted that rdram is alot faster than ddr ram for p4 chipsets. But it really depends on the soundcard. If you got a mid-end pro card you have no need for that kind of power. And especially the scsi harddrives.

 

[AYYASH]

Thanks knutp,

If you could give me a web link to that that kind of Sound cards.

I appreciate it,
Ayyash

 

[knutp]

There are alot different sound cards for different uses. If he already god t mixer he wouldn't need to have to input all the channels. And if he uses some sort of midi equipent it doesn't need that much hardware either.

It really does come down to what programs he will use, and what kind of music equipment hes got.

 

[AYYASH]

He is going to use Samplitude producer. He needs to deal with multi tracks. may be more than 20 at the same time.

Thanks

 

[knutp]

Im not sure if that particular program are optimized for dual cpu's. If it isn't then you should go for a single p4 2,8 ghz with a 850e chipset and then same some money.

There are absolutely NO need for a scsi harddrive with 20 tracks in samplitude. You should be fine with a modern 7200 rpm ide drive, hopefully with 8mb of cache. EG: Western Digital 1200jb, 2000jb or similar. And it is very nice to have a different boot drive eg: Western digital 400jb. If he cares about the data on the save drive he should get a raid 1 with to similar drives. Then if one of the drives get damaged the other drive has exact the same info, and he doesn't loose a thing.

If he are going to record 20 simultanius channels he will no matter what get into problems. But be sure to get a nice sound card with stable drivers. I like the RME Hammerfall cards (now Nuendo audiolink (Nuendo multiset 96) note that the link is just the break out box, you would need the sound card as well). I also like the Echo cards EchoAudio

 

[AYYASH]

Thank you verry much for your help. I really appreciate it.