Stand-alone or computer for cheap home-demo studio?

[thefuzzy]

I plan to start recording my music pretty soon (and maybe some music for a couple small bands I know). Anyway, I was just wondering if it would be better to get some stand-alone equpment (multitracks, mixers) or to go the computer way. No matter what, I've decided to go digital (as I worry about the generational degredation of analog sound). I have about a $4,000 liquid budget to work with...and I'm planning on spending some of it on a computer regardless (cheaper PC if I don't use it for recording, more expensive if I use it)...thanks.

-thefuzzy

p.s. I'm thinking about a Mac...maybe even a Cube with MacOs X when it comes out. Would that be a decent base for my "recording studio"?

[Jeff Barrett]

The Computer option is definetely a way to consider. Be it Mac or PC. Mac youll end up spending alot more on the computer end than PC so if your on a limited budget then PC would prolly be the best bet. For a 4k I would prolly recommend a fairly half decent computer, P3 600mhz+, 128+ Ram, a Sys and a 20.4+ Gb Audio drive. For sound cards there are many options from M-Audio, Aardvark, and others that may or may not suit your needs. The Aardvark Aark Direct for instance has 4 Inputs and 6 Outputs but each input has a mic preamp, or instrument input so you can bypass having to get a mixing board should you not have one. Software is dependant on whether you plan to do midi or not but Cubasis VST is a very low cost decent place to start. Total your looking for the above is maybe 2500 tops depending your computer. Leaving you money for some mics and playback monitors, headphones etc.

Post more info on what your looking to do/need. I or others will be able to give you better suggestions that way.

Jeff Barrett www.dawconnection.com (http://www.dawconnection.com)
info@dawconnection.com

[thefuzzy]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jeff Barrett:
[B]The Computer option is definetely a way to consider. Be it Mac or PC

**I was leaning toward mac because windows is just plain unstable given my experience...and there's nothing worse than a crash that takes out all of your hard work**.

Mac youll end up spending alot more on the computer end than PC so if your on a limited budget then PC would prolly be the best bet. For a 4k I would prolly recommend a fairly half decent computer, P3 600mhz+, 128+ Ram, a Sys and a 20.4+ Gb Audio drive. For sound cards there are many options from M-Audio, Aardvark, and others that may or may not suit your needs. The Aardvark Aark Direct for instance has 4 Inputs

**how many of these can be used for recording at once?**

and 6 Outputs but each input has a mic preamp, or instrument input so you can bypass having to get a mixing board should you not have one. Software is dependant on whether you plan to do midi or not but Cubasis VST is a very low cost decent place to start. Total your looking for the above is maybe 2500 tops depending your computer. Leaving you money for some mics and playback monitors, headphones etc.

I already have access to the some monitors, studio headphones, and a few good mics, so I need not include them in the $4k...however, I do need to include a CDR for a good distribution format for my demos**

Post more info on what your looking to do/need. I or others will be able to give you better suggestions that way.


**Sorry for the lack of specifics...I had only just recently even considered the idea of recording using a computer...I had just assumed that I would have to purchase a mixer and a multitrack and the other components as I grew to need them. Anyways, I decided it was best to get some advice on which trail I should focus on further as I begin to narrow my choices down. I eventually hope to expand my little "demo closet" into a decent digital home recording studio (with all the necessary tools & even good acoustics) I am looking for something that will be cheap, but yet good enough to retain usefulness in my studio. I plan to record a number of different types of music and audio in general, for local production (probably on CDR, cassettes, Minidisc, and the necessesary computer formats like Wav, mp3, and ogg-vorbis). That is as specific as I can think of at the moment.

Thank you.
-fuzzy

p.s. please forgive my utter lack of knowledge in audio...I'm trying to learn about it as I go.

[This message has been edited by thefuzzy (edited 11-03-2000).]

[Jeff Barrett]

You can use up to 4 Aark Directs simultaneously in a system. Or a combo of 4 Aark products, Aark24 (8 in/out, + spdif, and an adat interface),Aark TDIF, or Aark Direct (also a new one coming soon).

Im my experience a well configured PC for recording can be very stable. Its a matter of building the proper system. System crashes are inevitable at some point be it Mac or PC. But crashes that take out your hard drive are rare but do occur on both platforms as well, a good file backin up plan is wise always. But a well configured system will run very stably with very few problems. Ive been running Nuendo with an Aark2020 card for quite some time and cant remember the last crash windows has exhibited to me.

With 4k to spend on computer and card.

Pentium3 800 or faster.
256+ Ram
20 Gb System Drive
20+ Gb Audio Drive (or RAIDED drives)
Matrox G400 Dual Head Video Card
2 17" or 19" monitors
8x CDRW
Good Motherboard, some ppl recommend different brands. Ive had great success with ABIT boards over the years.
Sound Card - 2x Aark Direct?
Software - User dependant. too many different choices for user to really recommend any one particular software to someone.

Jeff Barrett www.dawconnection.com (http://www.dawconnection.com)
info@dawconnection.com

[euphonic]

to the original question: I really think stand alone daw is the less frustrating and more efficient way to go. that's just my opinion after my research and experience in freind's studios. check out the aw4416 links. for your budget that's close and considered by most so far as best stand alone daw

[bigh]

I agree with the stand-alone/AW4416 direction, especially if you're only talking about audio recording and no MIDI sequencing or anything. If your needs grow, you can always add a cheap computer later.

If you decide to go Mac, don't get a cube. It's a cool machine, but no way to expand at this point. That means no way to add a nice audio card. You might be able to use one of the newer USB-based I/O boards, but they're pretty limited.

The dual-processor 450 Mac would be my choice, although the single-processor 400 will do fine. I really expect great things from OS-X, especially when combined with multi-processors and AltiVec. But that's a ways down the road.

The stability of the Mac is one thing (and debatable), but the biggest advantage is the lack of configuration headaches. Things just seem to work smoother on the Mac (I use both).