new hardware vs. old software

[Paulji]

Is it possible to buy a new CD burner to use with an old program? I'm running Samplitude 5.3 on a pent 2 and I can't seem to find a CD burner that will work with this setup. I'm getting the feeling that if Sek'd doesn't provide a driver for that particular burner it won't work. Does one have to buy the latest software version to use the current hardware sold on the market.

[bubba freaktree]

they are completely unrelated topics. your data on a windows pc is written to fat32 or ntfs, depending on your setup.

the burner simply takes this data and converts it to the iso 1660 standard (or whatever it's called) and throws the data onto the cd.

i'd recommend this burner/software package: http://www.aicmicro.com/productdetail.asp?id=17866

it's a sony burner 52 speed with nti cd maker software. completely rocks. great for audio cds, great for data cds. price just dropped from $60 to $48.

make sure you are using a 80 wire ide cable, not 40 wire. all ide wires on modern computers should use the 80 wire ribbon cables. you get better data transfer.

[bubba freaktree]

one quick thing.

i saw "pentium 2". you're not using something completely outdated like windows 95 are you?

if so, you may be on a fat16 data standard, which might not be supported with modern cd burners (i'm not sure).

if you're on windows 95, you really have to get with the times. i'm not one to preach, but anything pre 98se is freakin' ridiculous.

[Paulji]

Thanks Bubba. I have windows 98 se. From reading various topics in the forums I got the impression Samplitude works only on certain burners. I'll get the Sony if this doesn't work. I was hoping to upgrade when the 64 bit computers come out but I've got to burn now.

[Herman Munster]

Originally posted by Paulji:
Thanks Bubba. I have windows 98 se. From reading various topics in the forums I got the impression Samplitude works only on certain burners. I'll get the Sony if this doesn't work. I was hoping to upgrade when the 64 bit computers come out but I've got to burn now.


Actually, Paul, I believe your original assumption is correct. Samplitude has its own CD burning capability and thus, needs to be able to support the burner in question (same as other cd burning software). If Magix/Samplitude doesn't offer support for your burner, you're probably out of luck.

If you do buy another burner, it should come bundled with software and you could use that. Not as elegant as Samplitude's built in burning, but it does the same thing. (Before buying, make sure you check the burner/software's minimum system requirements to ensure it'll run on yours).

Herm

[This message has been edited by Herman Munster (edited 08-16-2003).]

[bubba freaktree]

herman knows a lot so his info is good to think about.

but here's a "basic" idea to think about too:

in any audio application, you burn two types of data: one type is the actual mixed-down two track audio that you are hoping to get to play on a standard cd player. every software application i know has a "bounce to disk" feature which converts your files to a stereo two track. a stereo wav file is the best solution, but others exist.

samplitude should be able to get you to a stereo-bounced file, which a burner should then be able to grab hold of and burn an audio cd from. the sony burner accepts quite a few different formats for this.

the other file to burn is a data file to save your project sessions so you can open them back up and work on the tracks again at a later time. this is pretty much a pure file-management situation. you should be able to save your files in a windows explorer folder. then you should be able to drop this folder into the cd burner software window and have it archive everything in that folder to a data-cd rom. this "should" work just fine. win98SE uses Fat32, and that is definitely accepted by the sony burner.

regarding 64-bit...how long do you want to wait? it's going to be at least a year before all the software and plugins migrate over to that and then you will have to get version updates and stuff, and there *will* be stability issues as sure as the sun comes up in the morning.

check out unitedmicro.com you can build an athlon xp2600+ system *now* for under $500. and then simply hook up your existing monitor and keyboard to it.

if you're living in pentium II land, you must feel *really* limited and want to go all the way to the most cutting edge area that hasn't even arrived yet. but if you haven't been in the "here and now", check out what you can get in the athlon xp 2400-2600 range with a gig of pc2100 or pc2700 ram. you can do *lots* of work with a setup like this. ton's of heavy plugins, tons of tracks. and the components are cheap and reliable. life is good!

life is real good *right now*.