Adding Ext. Hard Drive to increase performance- I need Suggestions!

[kazukirecords]

Ok- I have been running all live instruments (guitar, keys, vox) into my Korg D1600, then sending individual tracks to my SB Audigy Platinum EX (w breakout box) Optical input. After that, I use Acid, Vegas and Soundforge to mix and master my tracks. I use all sorts of Waves plugins, but, as you can see, I have a 1.6Ghz processor and filled my Seagate 120GB about 70 percent full within the last few months. My original reason for purchasing a MicroNet 120 GB Firewire/USB external drive was simply to archive the tracks on a different HD- allowing the Seagate and the rest of everything to work more smoothly. I know there are ways to greatly enhance the speed and accuracy of the mixes- but I don't even know where to begin. I have worked with dual drives before, but I am more of a producer/composer than an engineer. Could someone please make some suggestions on how I can optimize the things I am currently using? I want to be able to have more than 8 tracks playing at once! (that is just terrible)
Here is everything I have inside the all-too-terrible Sony Vaio right now. 1 GB ram, 1.6GHz processor, Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX, the MicroNet external hard drive and all programs and plugins. What should I do to my system to maximize the speed and accuracy of playback? I know this is long, but I am just confused- and you guys know a whole lot more than I do about this stuff! I really appreciate it!
Dave
www.davejenningsmusic.com

[akapaws]

I have a Sony Vaio which is working well for my audio applications. Biggest problem I had was the HD was partitioned in a manner greatly limiting space for software. I fixed that using partition magic. Some suggest no partitions at all, just use your external HD for audio data. My unit had an open bay for additional HD which I installed a 7200 rpm WD HD, 120G. Suggest you get a better sound card, echo Layla or Motu 828. The stock PC sound cards do not peform well for serious digital audio work. I routinely get anywhere from 24 to 36 tracks running with effects on this unit.

Also keep your programs and audio data on separate hard drives.

You will have to play around with your system settings (buffers vs latency, etc) to get optimal setting. Watch the CPU load indicator as you make changes to gage whether your settings are helping or not.

[Joe Hannigan]

Akapaws knows what he's talking about. Totally agree. (And Partition Magic saved my skin a few times, yes indeed!)

I'd also suggest you get a DVD burner to start archiving your stuff...unless your data is truly "Safe" somewhere else, you'll always be at the mercy of the performance of the HD. Someday, it will fail...hopefully never, but you can't count on that. Once you've got a project finished and out the door, backup all the pieces of it on a DVD-rom or two, and be done with it. You'll fill up those HDs again soon enough.

The SB Audigy should be ok for you for now, though, I have a couple of them for generic playback and stuff, and they sure do the job nicely. (For A/D interfaces and more serious recording, take Aka's advice and get something like the MOTU 896 or the M-Audio 410 firewire stereo preamp. )

I think you may need to up your Processor speed someday. You didn't mention (P3? 4?) what it was, but you should certainly be able to get your tracks recorded with what you're describing, and save all the CPU-hungry goodies for the mixdown side when finishing it up.

As for Vaios, I've got four out of five of them for production & office machines, and I'm very happy with 'em. Go figure. :-)

[revnice]

Dude:

I use and 18 gig 15,000 rpm SCSI 320 for the 'work' and offload everything else. If I want to work on something offloaded I just bring it back over, that way I keep all the power and resources where they count.

rev

[akapaws]

How is the IDE/SCSI comparison going these days? 15k and SCSI should be real fast. Can anyone recommend any resources for checking into performance comparisons between SCSI and IDE Hard Drives? I am using 7200 rpm IDE's and they seem to work fine, but compared to what, know what I mean?

[revnice]

Fast drives are an advantage when working with digital audio. Dual chips are an advantage when applying effects in realtime. Apart from being faster, SCSI drives can also move a lot more data in the same time so you really can't go wrong - the down side is they cost more.

rev

[Joe Hannigan]

Wow, 15k rpm SCSI drives.....you must be smokin!

I used to have a 10k rpm SCSI 32gig that cost about a grand at the time. It's long gone now, and I'm doing ok with the 7200's. Sure do miss that thing, though!

Just curious where you found the 15K RPM, and what it cost?

[revnice]

Joe:

You'd be surprised - check out the whole system:

* 15,000 rpm SCSI drive (18 gig)
* SCSI 320 controller
* I gig ram
* Dual Xeon 2.6 chips
* 5.1 Dolby surround
* 2 Firewire ports
* gigabit NIC
* 256 RAM agp graphics adapter
* Audiophile 2496 sound card
* 50 speed CD/Burner
* Floppy drive

The whole thing cost me just under $2,000.

10,000 rpm trailing edge SCSI 160 is even cheaper.

http://www.acmemicro.com/estore/merchant.ihtml?pid=1211&lastcatid=143&step=4

- shows the one I bought

rev