Re: a geek plans a music studio (was pc stuff)

From: Steve Catanzaro (stevencatanzaro@sprintmail.com)
Date: Fri Feb 18 2000 - 17:01:45 MET

  • Next message: Peter T. Bense: "Textures.org broadcast / site update... February 19th, 2000"

    I agree with Elson that Linux is not the way to go for pro audio. My PC
    system rocks pretty hard now. P3 550 running Logic 4, + Recycle and the
    could-never-again-do-without Acid (unavailable on the Mac... how ya like
    that!). The key component is the audio card. Mine is called DS2416 by
    Yamaha, which is very cool because it gives you 16 channels of EQ, dynamics
    processing, and 2 fx without taxing the CPU. Not to mention all the cool
    direct-X plug ins you can use, like Magneto (a tape simulator) and all the
    reverbs and other plug ins that come with Logic and 3rd parties. Of course,
    you've also got to get good I/O, so there's a dedicated 24 bit D/A A/D box
    for the Yamaha card so you can plug in your old vintage gear as well. That
    whole system, could be had for, hmm, let's see..

    Logic 4... $450
    P3... $350
    Motherboard (BX preferred) $150
    Audio Card $800
    IO $800
    Memory (at least 128 meg, or forget about it) $200
    Recycle, Acid, Plugins, $600

    So, that's $3,350, which isn't cheap, but considering the functionality,
    isn't that bad! (And make sure you have a good, fast, video card.)

    Also, there's a LOT of software samplers out there now days that do away
    with the need for a K2000 or your various Akai s-whatevers. Matter of
    factly, once you get the audio in the computer, you can manipulate to your
    heart's content without ever taking it out to a sampler or whatnot.
    (Provided you have a MIDI controller like a keyboard, and a MIDI interface,
    like a Midi Timepiece AV.)

    NOW, the hindsight flipside part is to just start with a Mac and do it right
    from the beginning. Why do I say that? Well, the fact is stuff that's made
    for the Mac works for the Mac, whereas PC stuff works for certain CPU /
    motherboard chipset combos but, since there's so many, not for all. As an
    example, the MOTU 2408 audio card will NOT work with AMD CPU's, which you
    won't find out until you call the company and they say, "Yeah, it doesn't
    work." Go figure. So believe me, no matter how modern your PC system is, you
    will spend time tweaking, redirecting IRQ's, messing with compatible VGA
    cards, etc., unless you're REALLY lucky, or REALLY smart (neither applicable
    in my case.)

    The Mac does have some quirks with the extensions, etc., but generally
    speaking, installs go much faster (so I've heard.) Plus, Pro Tools is on the
    Mac primarily, some really cool plug-ins are available only on Mac (check
    out www.bombfactory.com for instance) and both Logic and Cubase have
    slightly bigger feature sets on the Mac. (Also there's Digital Performer,
    which is probably even easier to use than Cakewalk, and is only for the
    Mac.) Plus, when you finally *do* get a record deal and the company wants
    you to record to Analog 2 inch, most studios have a Mac so you can just take
    a CDR of your settings and rock it without having to carry your whole
    machine.

    But then again, the PC is evolving faster than the Mac, as far as I can
    tell, and alot of my Mac friends are worried that S. Jobs and co. are not as
    interested in the audio market as they once were. Plus, as of yet, Sonic
    Foundry still makes Acid just for the PC, which causes never-ending pain and
    misery for the Mac crowd. (heh heh heh.)

    Either way you go, these are great days for Digital Audio on the computer,
    and hey, you got to admit it's getting better, it's getting better all the
    time. Just remember, in music the key word is "compatibility." A system
    that's compatible with a lot of devices (and a lot of friends) is the way to
    go.

    -----Original Message-----
    From: stephanie <nnine@yahoo.com>
    To: Elson Trinidad <elson@westworld.com>; june@tough.com <june@tough.com>;
    acid-jazz@ucsd.edu <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    Date: Friday, February 18, 2000 1:50 PM
    Subject: a geek plans a music studio (was pc stuff)

    >I think actually the story goes that atari came up
    >with the gui, and then mac picked it up, but that's
    >heresay and ancient history so whatever.
    >
    >Has anyone experimented with finding music stuff
    >written for linux? I've heard of like one thing, but
    >haven't looked.
    >
    >I'm working on a master plan for setting up a mini
    >computer lab and studio. all studio stuff would start
    >computer based till i got the hang of it and decided
    >if I wanted other hardware (LIKE A NORD!!!). I'm
    >thinking I could put everyting except music on a cheap
    >linux box, and for music, put w98 or something on the
    >400mhz machine I have (since, as i understand, there's
    >not much written for NT). The music software i want to
    >start with is pretty basic, just cubase or something
    >similar, stuff that makes noise and manipulates it
    >like rebirth (as a scratch pad kind of tool), fruity
    >loops, a latin drum synth emulator a friend told me
    >about, stuff like that. at the beginning, my approach
    >would be pretty rudimentary: just sampling stuff and
    >tossing it into a sequencer to see what happens. I
    >figure I won't get signed to ninja tune or main
    >squeeze for a good six months or so. ;)
    >
    >I would stick them both on a hub and prolly run samba
    >so I could easily save music files to the linux box to
    >dump to cd, or move music software downloads from the
    >linux box onto the music box. I don't want to dual
    >boot, since quite often i'd want the functionality of
    >both at the same time, not to mention wanting to keep
    >them in 2 different rooms.
    >
    >so does this sound totally misguided, or somewhat
    >feasible? money isn't an issue (heh, it can't be cuz
    >i don't got none) since i already have the one
    >machine, and I can get a second for cheap.
    >
    >
    >--- Elson Trinidad <elson@westworld.com> wrote:
    >>
    >>
    >> june@tough.com wrote:
    >> >
    >> > >>>>>i'm thinking bout getting a PC to
    >> > >>>>>replace my trusty ole atari.
    >> >
    >> > >> first, get a mac!!! ;)
    >> > >> june
    >> >
    >> > > Then go ahead and BUY him one.
    >> > > :. elson trinidad
    >> >
    >> > hey, it was just the feeling i had at the time
    >> i read the mail... i was thinking all musiproducers
    >> are using more Mac? i mean, at first it was Atari,
    >> or Amiga, but now? Am i wrong? what r u using,
    >> Elson? and others people?
    >> > peace and respect
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >> For the longest time Ataris were popular wuth
    >> musicians, because they had
    >> built-in MIDI ports on the computer, no need to buy
    >> an interface. Then Macs
    >> became popular because they were the first to have a
    >> user-friendly graphic
    >> interface. But after Win95 came out, Windows PCs
    >> soon caught up. Now, there's
    >> more software available on PC.
    >>
    >> Macs are still popular in the studio because of
    >> tradition, most especially in
    >> the Pro Tools realm, which is largely Mac-based, and
    >> that platform had the time
    >> to develop and propagate in the studio scene.
    >>
    >> Nowadays, realistically, there's not much of a
    >> difference. Technology has
    >> advanced enough that you can get a real good
    >> MIDI/digital recording studio on
    >> either platform. Neither is necessarily better, and
    >> it also depends on software
    >> and your particular hardware configuration.
    >>
    >> A lot of the time, when people are getting into
    >> something, they ask around and
    >> simply get what everyone else is getting, so they
    >> don't have to make their own
    >> decisions (that's not a slam against Macs, it's just
    >> reality), that's why a lot
    >> of people just grabbed Macs at the time (so much for
    >> 'Think Different' eh? :))
    >> Also, there wasn't much of an alternative at the
    >> time (late 80s - early 90s)...
    >> PCs used either DOS or the horrible Windows 3.1
    >> which wasn't very good for
    >> multimedia. And Ataris were perfect for MIDI, but
    >> their use as a digital audio
    >> recording tool was limited.
    >>
    >> > june (working on Adobe Illust and Phtshp,
    >> Macromedia stuff... on Mac!)
    >>
    >> Sure. Even moreso than the music/audio scene, Macs
    >> have traditionally been the
    >> choice for graphical work and multimedia, mostly
    >> because Mac monitors were the
    >> first to offer large screens to work with. Nowadays,
    >> it doesn't make much of a
    >> difference, and IMHO graphics look more sharper on a
    >> Windows PC than on a Mac
    >> (looks too "creamy" and "cloudy" to me).
    >>
    >> So what are better, Macs or PCs? Well, both are
    >> computers, and all computers
    >> WILL crash, so...from a completely rational,
    >> objective viewpoint, it's pretty
    >> much a draw (Though devout Mac cult members will
    >> tell you otherwise...)
    >>
    >> If you want to know what I use for my music, I have
    >> a relatively fast Windows PC
    >> system, running Cakewalk 9.0 and a variety of audio
    >> editing programs. It's not
    >> the "trendiest" system (most people favor Emagic
    >> Logic these days) but I'm
    >> familiar enough with Cakewalk so that I can
    >> concentrate on the music rather than
    >> trying to learn the software.
    >>
    >> In the end, it's what you can do with your toys, not
    >> what kind of toys you have...
    >>
    >> Elson
    >> (Typing this at work on his Mac...hah)
    >>
    >> - 30 -
    >>
    >> :. elson trinidad, los angeles, california, usa
    >> :. elson@westworld.com
    >> :. www.westworld.com/~elson
    >>
    >> "funny how frustration breeds desire" - meja
    >>
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