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Posts: 1374
| I'm playing with my box of lego computer parts.. and have some high end workstation stuff here... but older.
I've just finished re-building an old dual/twin sequential 1000 mhz processor PIII with a gig of 800mhz rambus ecc rimm, an emu 0404 interface with midi, spdif, 1/4 ins and outs, and optical connections..
I can set the memory to nocheck, parity, ecc, and ecc scrubbing in bios... which is fastest? and safest?... the modules are rock solid.. but want to get as low a latency as possible.
also on the video end it has a quadro fx1000 256mb cad/cam card w/dual dvi and svhs out.
freshly loaded w/xp pro and all updates in place..
the processors have a ton of overhead on them with a lot of the load being processed away from them on the 404 and the vid card..
I have a couple of questions on software. and am looking for recommendations..
I currently have protracks on it...
anything better for older hardware?
should I keep all of the exe and os on a separate disk from the work, patches, and wav/mp3/ogg/flac etc???
or is this machine maybe better suited for one of the Linux DAW solutions? Musix, Jacklab, JAD or ?
or is it just a good boat anchor :(
it actually tests and benchmarks out pretty well.... even comparing it to top of the line current 64x2 machines w 3gigs and scsi it hits against them at a solid 50%
thanks for any help or suggestions.
Glenn |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | An old copy of "Acid" might work well on it . . . |
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November 2004
Posts: 1374
| actually I've got sonar and cubase running on it now with no problems.. some vst plugins and amplitube for the guitar.. system doesn't even bog or flinch.
next hurdle configuring the soft-synth and my midi controller..
Thanks, this might just work.
Glenn |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Stick with Cubase and Sonar if they are working ok.
Cubase is the stronger program if you plan to get into a lot of midi programming. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12754
Location: Boise, Idaho | geeks |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | ambulance chaser |
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November 2005
Posts: 4827
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia |  |
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Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | And here I thought I was fairly fluent in English...perhaps a translation for those of us not native to this particular neck of the woods? Never mind; I'd probably end up even more confused. Hope it was profitable, though.... ;)
--Karen |
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December 2003
Posts: 13987
Location: Upper Left USA | So... who wants to come fix my VCR and stop it from flashing "12:00" all the time?
The best I could do is get it to say "12:03" and then I tripped on the plug... |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . ambulance chaser . ."
That's not very nice . . . |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | . . besides, . . "Denny Crane" woulda' been funnier . . . |
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March 2005
Posts: 12754
Location: Boise, Idaho | I had to look him up. I've never watched that show. Since I almost always defend lawsuits, I don't get the ambulance chaser label much.
when I first moved here I carpooled with this Texas ex-cop turned lawyer that was always scary when he drove. One time traffic stops for an ambulance and he gets in behind it and starts passing all these cars. I told him I could see the morning headlines: "Two lawyers injured when ambulance they were chasing stops suddenly." He slowed down a little. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I've been using SOnar since it was Cakewalk and was a DOS program. A few years ago, my studio machine was a 400mhz machine. Could easily record 8 tracks at a time.
FWIW, Drive speed is one of the most important parts of the equation for recording. Memory and and CPU speed make it better, but using a fast drive (minimum 7600 rpm) will have more affect than doubling the amount of memory on the same machine.
If you start running into playback issues from stacking too many effects or such... just save the mix and import it in. I actually do this anyway because is preserves different versions in an easy to label format and saves a gaggle of time.
Most of the soft-synths are very sloppy when it comes to memory. I have used them, but for the effort, you can drive a synth with midi or just record it like any other instrument and you'll be better off. Of course you need the synth in the first place... but just a thought. You could also assemble a basic machine just to be a "softsynth" which may be handy. Doesn't need to do much. For a softsynth, memory is your friend. |
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March 2007
Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | I know what you mean! I've really been dissing my APC52 recently - so much so that I'm thinking of getting a 1200dx to spruce up the performance a little. I can get a DR42 for 4.83 zorgs but where will that leave my IR345/0808/12345 ? Any ideas? |
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June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Originally posted by sycamore:
I know what you mean! I've really been dissing my APC52 recently - so much so that I'm thinking of getting a 1200dx to spruce up the performance a little. I can get a DR42 for 4.83 zorgs but where will that leave my IR345/0808/12345 ? Any ideas? I had one of those too, but the wheels fell off. |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | I've just finished re-building an old dual/twin sequential 1000 mhz processor PIII with a gig of 800mhz rambus ecc rimm, an emu 0404 interface with midi, spdif, 1/4 ins and outs, and optical connections..
Been spending a little time with the old technical journals there, eh Scotty??? |
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November 2004
Posts: 1374
| nope.... been re-building old white boxes that I get from our freecycle groups and giving them to families who either don't have a primary computer... or need a second box so the kid and mom/dad have their access.. gotten pretty good at throwing some systems together..
collected up some nice parts... learned a lot about linux, unix, bsd, and microsoft os systems..
it'a amazing the stuff people toss in the trash just because......?
most of it's toxic... at least the electronics..
just trying to delay the inevitable and help a little.
Glenn |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Well, Trekkie joke aside, you sure seem to know what you're talking about. |
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April 2007
Posts: 318
Location: Slightly northwest of Trader Jim | UUUUH...is the answer 4? :D |
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Tinkering... DAW on a Strong Dino.. opinions?
