I need some advice on custom building a pc for recording/editing audio.

The bearded clam · 02-03-2013 04:45AM #1

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum. I'm looking to buy a good pc to record and edit songs, i'll be using cubase 6. I'm trying to find a store that will build a good rig for me for around 1200-1300 euros. If anyone knows a bit about computers maybe they could tell me where i should go, or maybe even recommend a good ready made computer. I need around 16gb ram, a good/fast processor, solid state drive with a 1tb harddrive to save files to...more that i'll add if anyone gets in touch.

Oh yeah, the mixer i'm using is a mackie onyx 1640i...so i'll need firewire connectivity too.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Neurojazz · 02-03-2013 08:43AM

Phone up and chat with Scan.co.uk - they deliver to Ireland, top notch service, no fuss returns.... I'm on my 3rd box from them.

Very solid systems - either build your own (which is pretty easy these days) or custom builds available there through the 3xs part of their site.

The bearded clam · 02-03-2013 11:11AM

Thanks Neurojazz! I'll take a look and see how they hold up price wise.

I was trawling through a few threads and i found a link for pcpartpicker, so far it looks like it'd be a good idea to find all of the parts separately and then get someone to put it all together. I had picked out most of the components got to around 860 euros...still have to figure out which motherboard i should pick and i need to find the right sound card.

Any suggestions for a sound card? I'm drawn towards the creative sound blaster ZxR, but i'm open to suggestions if you know of a reliable card with good overall sound clarity...also need to be compatible with asio.

studiorat · 04-03-2013 07:51AM

The bearded clam wrote: »

Any suggestions for a sound card? I'm drawn towards the creative sound blaster ZxR, but i'm open to suggestions if you know of a reliable card with good overall sound clarity...also need to be compatible with asio.

Figure out what you are going to connect to the sound card first. A mixing desk? Plug the mic straight in? What? Then choose a sound card.

You could look at Echo and RME cards. If you are going for a card on a cable like USB or Firewire you should consider using ASIO4all instead.

The bearded clam · 04-03-2013 08:32AM

studiorat wrote: »

Figure out what you are going to connect to the sound card first. A mixing desk? Plug the mic straight in? What? Then choose a sound card.

You could look at Echo and RME cards. If you are going for a card on a cable like USB or Firewire you should consider using ASIO4all instead.

Thanks man, i'm using a mackie onyx 1640i. It connects trough firewire so i was looking for soundcards that run well with asio. I'm leaning towards the asus Xonar essense stx soundcard.

http://ie.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_STX/

Do you have any prior experience with this card? Also, while i have the opportunity i need to ask about certain issues that some people seem to have with windows 7 and pci firewire cards. Some people were complaing about unwanted noise and latency problems being caused by windows 7.

I was thinking about getting a texas instruments based card because a lot of people said they were reliable and sorted out the problems they had encountered. On the other hand, i found a motherboard with a built in firewire port which i'm hoping wouldn't suffer from any problems that an installed pci card might cause. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Here are some links in case you need some reference points.

Motherboard: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme6/
Firewire PCIe card: http://www.amazon.co.uk/PCIE-FIREWIRE-IEEE1394b-CONTROLLER-CARD/dp/B002ZI41EQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1362385895&sr=8-11

fitz · 04-03-2013 09:53AM

The bearded clam wrote: »

Thanks man, i'm using a mackie onyx 1640i. It connects trough firewire so i was looking for soundcards that run well with asio. I'm leaning towards the asus Xonar essense stx soundcard.

http://ie.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_STX/

Do you have any prior experience with this card? Also, while i have the opportunity i need to ask about certain issues that some people seem to have with windows 7 and pci firewire cards. Some people were complaing about unwanted noise and latency problems being caused by windows 7.

I was thinking about getting a texas instruments based card because a lot of people said they were reliable and sorted out the problems they had encountered. On the other hand, i found a motherboard with a built in firewire port which i'm hoping wouldn't suffer from any problems that an installed pci card might cause. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Here are some links in case you need some reference points.

Motherboard: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme6/
Firewire PCIe card: http://www.amazon.co.uk/PCIE-FIREWIRE-IEEE1394b-CONTROLLER-CARD/dp/B002ZI41EQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1362385895&sr=8-11

The Mackie is your sound card.
Thats what an audio interface is, an external sound card with additional I/O and mic pres...

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 04-03-2013 10:54AM

make sure the firewire is TI and built in to the board

OR

you can put a TI PCI-e CARD in it

or ( if you have an older pci ti card )
the board needs to support NATIVE PCI for normal older pci cards

most modern boards do not support native pci anymore - they use a bridge
which causes havoc on the firewire.

The bearded clam · 04-03-2013 01:35PM

fitz wrote: »

The Mackie is your sound card.
Thats what an audio interface is, an external sound card with additional I/O and mic pres...

Cheers, i really should have known that. Just saved me around 160 euros!

I need some advice on custom building a pc for recording/editing audio.

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