Help with converters & DAW...

[JvM]

Wasn’t sure where to post this…

I used a friends RME hammerfall card & ADI-8 DS 6+ years back. We used it with s/mux through lightpipe to record everything at 24/96. I think I remember having 2 busses in Nuendo through the ADI-8 at 24/96.

Now I’m piecing together my own setup & it looks like a lot of new RME stuff is out there. I don’t know much about the new RME firewire units or the MADI (I’m reading online)

I don’t know what I should get as far as the card & converters. I’m a songwriter & usually only record a couple of live inputs at a time. I do a lot of vocal & guitar doubling & harmonies, so the most tracks I can get at 24/96 is the goal.

Basically I want a solid card/converters setup that will give me at least 24 tracks at 24/96 & enough busses to not have to load everything into 1 or 2 at mixdown.

I’m also in the process of finding a DAW computer now. I looked at the specialized DAW sites & they want around 2,000 for a solid one.

Budget wise, I’m probably going to put the most money into the card/converters & get a “buget DAW” I can make work.

I’m looking into a Dell XPS 420 now (quad 9400, 4gb ram, X38 chipset & XP pro, not sure if Nuendo runs smoothly on the vista 64 bit OS) The Dell is a grand less that the pro built DAWs.

Thanks for any help!

JvM

[mellodge]

Beware of stores that offer pre built Daws, Ive heard that many of them aren't well tuned (such as OS tweaks) and the like, They often cut corners, far better to do your home work and build your own,or get someone to build it to your spec. There's a tonne of info on the web about this. Most cards these days offer up to 96khz, but like many people will tell you, unless your sound designing for cinema or something like this, 96 isn't worth the resources needed to generate it. Dont know anything about RME..sorry....

[dcwave]

Are you mixing in the box or are you mixing on a console? If you are a songwriter tracking a couple of inputs at a time, why do you need 24 inputs, unless you are taking the tracks out and into a console for mixing?

Give us a little more info as to your workflow. Maybe the RME stuff is overkill for what you are doing, maybe it isn't enough.

[JvM]

I might be remembering the converters function(s) wrong. I only record 2 tracks at a time & do the entire mixdown within the DAW.

I thought the number of converter in/outs dictated the number of available buses?

Anyway, if I was wrong (hopefully) that would mean I only need 2 kick butt ins & 2 outs that do 24/96 really clean (with wordclock like the RME had also)

Thanks again,

J

[dcwave]

Okay, based on that there are many options.
Okay there are at least 3 parts to your chain - mic pres, converters, and audio interface. You can get all three at once, or get any two or have 3 stand alone pieces.

Do you have mic pre amps already?
Would you prefer firewire, USB (external) or PCI , PCI-E (internal) cards?

Shortlists for all in one interfaces would include:
Apogee Mini-Me (used since they are discontinued) - 2 channel
RME Fireface 400 - 4 channel.

For just 2 channel ADC/DAC the Apogee Rosetta 200 would fit the bill, but then you need something like the RME HDSP card or a Frontier Design WaveCenter PCI.
Also check out the RME ADI-2 - again you would need a card with digital inputs - a M-Audio 24/96 might be okay since you are just looking for 2 channels of i/o

And BTW, Nuendo does not run well on 64bit yet.

[JvM]

Thanks!

My goal is to get a Universal Audio 2-610 pre-amp down the line. The fireface has pre's for now (till I can spring for the 2-610)

I noticed the fireface 800 only costs a couple hundred bucks more than the 400 for more inputs (might be worth it to have the inputs to "grow into") Not sure if I need Firewire 800 speed ports on my DAW or if 400 is fine.

BTW, I'm thinking of building my own DAW now (it seems way cheaper for more) Here's the parts list.. Thoughts???

Parts list. total: $1139

Processor: core i7 920 $299.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202


Mobo: Asus P6T deluxe X58 $299.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131346


Memory: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory – Retail $184.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

(I know I will only be able to use up to 4gb (with the 3/g switch) with XP pro. But I’ll have 6gb for when I eventually bump up to 64bit vista)


CPU: PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply – Retail $69.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011


Hard Drives (1 boot & 1 data) - 2 X Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $64.99 each = $129.98

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288


VID card: EVGA 512-P3-N956-TR GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $44.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130383


Optical Drive - 1 X SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM $28.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173


Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail . $79.99


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

[JvM]

Geez!

I just found out since I'm going with an RME Fireface 400 converter setup, my motherboard needs to use the Texas instruments firewire chipset. (preferably at firewire 800 speed)

The Asus p6t mobo doesn't. So I need to figure out what the best moboard is the does use Texas instruments firewire.

I saw this one: Intel BOXDX58SO LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121361&Tpk=DX58SO (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121361&Tpk=DX58SO)

& This one: GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362&Tpk=Gigabyte%20EX58-UD5

Can't figure out if they're firewire 800 or 400 speed.

Not sure which mobo is THE best or what.

Thanks for your help!

J

[dcwave]

I don't use the FW interfaces on mainboards. I have an Adaptec 4300 PCI firewire interface. NO issues running my mLAN setup.

Check your PM for some additional direction regarding your DAW search. :)

[JvM]

BTW.... Is it better to have a smaller seagate 250 or 320 gig boot drive that has a 16mb cache, or one of the seagate 500gig with a 32mb cache???

Because the 250 & 320 drives are only 5 or 10 bucks cheaper than the 500 & have half the cache.

Thanks,

J

[JvM]

Thanks all.

I'm hearing bad things about the Seagate barrucada's. Seems like people on here like the Western Digital Caviar Black series drives (but they are mostly into raid setups, I won't be)

I just want...

1 reliable (most important) fast & smaller OS/boot drive
1 data drive (for the 24/96 audio files)
1 backup drive (I already have a eSATA 1tb Cavalry (brand) consumer drive I've been backing up data to)

Gotta buy em in the next day or two, so any help is greatly appriciated!

J

[chrysb93065]

I'd go for the RME FF400, and an adaptec or other PCIE FW800 card. It's plenty fast at maximum track counts and clean. You can add more channels digitally, and the drivers are great. We also like Gigabyte mobos, and if you go for the dedicated PCIE card, you can use the onboard FW for external drives, backups, etc.