Good Pc's for music production

[stjohn]

i picked up that esp 1010 .... and i love it,... you have the right idea steve...learnig a bit of kit is much easier when uve forked out, and reaktor is now my new favorite thing!! :)

but ur still a hardware incestastor andl a moany bollix masslplank

[massplanck]

hmmm. now im thinking upgrading myself.

I have a question.. is there any point in going for an AMD 64 X2 chip? Am I guaranteed that all my existing apps and plugins will run on my new system? I dont want to have to spend ages reconfiguring but the specs/price look nice on those dual core AMD's.Anyone have one?

[rhythmtech]

there seems to be a lot of compatability issues with 64bit and older programs.. i'd check it out thoroughly first.

[massplanck]

thats what i thought. I have seen bad shite happen with a dual core laptop needing a 64bit version of Adobe Acrobat and loads of other apps etc. Its not tried and tested.

I'll prob go for the best 32bit chip i can find.

[stjohn]

i have a 64 bit chip in mine..altho its not dualcore...

my OS is still running on 32 bit and ive had no problems. im not too sure whaty the story is when it all upgrades to 64 bit... but i thought itd be safer to get a more upgradable chip

[massplanck]

its not the dualcore i am worried about.. its more th 64bit thingy. Dint know i could run a standard copy of XP on it though without issues. Are you using AMD or Intel Rory?

[stjohn]

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz Socket 939

thats the 1

[massplanck]

how does that 2Ghz compare to a standard 2GHz chip though? I have a 2GHz Sempron at the moment but what difference will a 64bit 2GHz have if I'm only running 32bit windows & apps?

[stjohn]

2 ghz 64 bit is about a 3.6 32 bit

[TechnoNRGKid]

2 Biggest things to look for when buyin cpus is the front side speed and the l1/l2 cache size.
The biggest changest youd see on a 32bit machine with a 64bit cpu is um speed, The l1/l2 cache size. The more memory on those things the faster the cpu will go cause it can store information on the cpu and access it much faster than ram memory and deff far away harddrive.
Sizes of l1 and l2 cache are much better on 64bit cpus. You dont need to have a 64bit operating system and applications to take advantage of the new cpus.

Dont shake your finger at me young man... ;)

You arent really telling the truth are you now...? It also depends on what platform you are on, Cubase SX3 can take advantage of hyperthreading, but isnt a 64bit application, and also you'd better have a 64bit version of windows xp if you want to take advantage. Besides i hadnt mentioned 64 bit as its pretty pointless unless you know of plugins that can take advantage of 64 bits. ;)

The majority of people who know much about computers will recommend AMD over Pentium.

Tsk, Tsk... thats not true either. Pentiums are good chips, as are AMD - im not interrested in the battle over saying which is best, you know full well its all about the code, NOT the chip.

Look @ my above.


Cpus i'd say go with something like a 939 chip with a AMD X2 dual core or even a 939 3500+ or higher.
If you can wait till these new cpus models come out, Conroe, the prices are gonna be halved for the AMD X2 i heard!

My other even better option would be the AM2 Chipset/motherboards. They are da hottest right now.
They use DDR2 and correct memory latency issues that the past DDR2 had ( Intel ). Suppose to be a memory speed improvement with DDR2 but wasnt. That's been corrected with these AMD AM2 chips.
They already have em in AMD X2 Dual core etc..
Check newegg.com for the AM2s.

Anyhows, Deff pick a 64bit cpu over 32bit, or you'll be maybe havin to upgrade again. Like i said, 64bit has better l1 and l2 memory cache, and when 64bit hits ( and it will give it time trust ) you'll feel like your running a pentium 2 or 3 compared to a 64bit.

:cheese:

Btw, AMDs chips archeticture has wider front side buses than Intels wich allows more data to go through the bus ( or pipe ) wich is y AMD has different readin cpu numbers than intels. So AMDs speed can be greater at lower reading speeds.
Like mentioned, when you relate the 2 cpus it comes down to just numbers.

In Short, AMD can push more data through there wider Pipes, sorta like a ho.

[TechnoNRGKid]

Doubled...

[dirty_bass]

Dont listen to them -> drum machine & hardware synth come first. If you want any tips let me know.

A 2ghz second hand PC is FINE unless you are one of the "lets load up a million plugins to try & make our shitty wav samples sound better" brigade. Getting heavliy into Reaktor is the only thing i'd buy a better pc for. Every cabbage has pc and thinks hes a producer these days. Take a leaf out of landstrumms book. Yes PC's are essential these days for the finished product but make if you make a financial commitment to piece of decent hardware and it will really stand to you.


The only apps on a PC which can rival hardware for INTUITIVENESS\INVENTIVNESS are Reakor/Bidule in my opinion. (abelton too i guess)

Sound card -> I HIGHLY recommened the ESI ESP 1010 - only about 250 euro with ten in and ten outs two headphones sockets + rock solid MIDI timing. Lets me rip sample straight from DVD which is handy too. Savage card pisses over the delta with all its stupid cables hangng out of it (i dunno maybe they have a breakout box for it now)

http://www.musicmarketing.ca/products/es_esp1010.asp

IMHO -(

What a bizarre comment.

buying hardware will not make you any more creative.

I hate all this, buy this, it`s better, use that it`s better crap.
It`s total elitist bullshit.
Anyone with dollar can buy a bunch of hardware, it won`t make them creative.

Use whatever you need to get the job done. these days it`s easier to use software, but it`s not any better, or the right way.

A crap uncreative person will always be crap and uncreative whether they use a Jews harp, or a massive full midi studio with 64 channel desk.

[TechnoNRGKid]

^ I Goto try the Jews Harp, Jewish Acid Techno mmmmmmhmmm. :lol:

[massplanck]

bwaha- if buying hardware drum machine doesnt make you more creative then buying a midi controller doesnt either.

lets stick with a mouse. Even better lets get rid of the mouse it cant possible make you more creative. ;) Lets just stare at the screen.

I never said anything about having an eltist 64 track jew harps studio.I'm talking about committing yourself financially to somthing which has 'instant' hands on controll and doesnt need to be booted/defragmented/have drivers loaded/have knobs assigned etc... Its incredible being able to make music without having to stare at at a screen or boot it up .. i hate when people overlook this.

[massplanck]

Its all about TOUCHING the music.

And yes better tools make better (electronic) music.

You dont see AFX twin making a full lenght jews harp album do you? He prob has a 64 track Midi steup!

[RDR]

Its all about TOUCHING the music.

And yes better tools make better (electronic) music.

You dont see AFX twin making a full lenght jews harp album do you? He prob has a 64 track Midi steup!

I doubt that... not with the amount of control he needs.

[dirty_bass]

Its all about TOUCHING the music.

And yes better tools make better (electronic) music.

You dont see AFX twin making a full lenght jews harp album do you? He prob has a 64 track Midi steup!

Touching the music.

Haha

Whatever.

Hardware or software, it`s all button pushing.

Get over it mate, just make your music, everyone will find their own comfortable way, hardware, software, or both, you can`t enforce your idea of "intuitivity" or "creativity" on someone else.

Personally, I learned my trade in a 100% analog studio.
Everything was analog. Including ALL the damn sequencers. Horrible.
I could never go back to owrking that way, much much too slow.

But for some people that would be like a dream.

So I say again.

there is no better way.

[eyeswithoutaface]

shouldnt it be the music touching you?

64 channel midi setup, all pc setup, tin of broken biscuits, milk bottles with water

whatever

just make some music

[RDR]

You got any of those biccies going spare scott?

im hungry...

;)

[massplanck]

like whatever. ;)