I have looked at the pricing of the Sweetwater machines and wondered if I would pay that and be happy that I did.
I have looked at the pricing of the machines sold by people who sell station automation software and wondered if I would pay that and be happy about it.
Let me tell you of the battle I am currently in, which gives me a new view of that price question.
I bought a new machine last year. 8 times as fast as the previous machine. TWO processors!!!!
I was busy so I installed it quickly and began using the built-in on-board sound card. Not bad. It even stepped up and said "I'll do 88.2 and 96 khz sampling if you like." SWEEEET!
Then I caught it misbehaving at 96 khz!. So I got out the tools and moved my Audiophile card over to the new machine. I had two sound cards in the old machine. Now I have two sound cards in the new machine. Then I asked the Audiophile to record at 96 khz. Oooooops! Sounds like a table saw going through a piece of fine oak. Mix in the whine of angry hornets. Now think of the Charlie Brown TV specials where the conversation comes out "Wha Whhha wah wa."
I have been living with the Customer Support department at the computer manufacturer and at M-Audio. They have been helpful, but the conversation quickly comes back to: "We don't support the combination you have."
I have always assumed that when you pay the big bucks to Sweetwater or the automation companies, you will then have access to support people who HAVE the ability to support the combination you are working with.... people who can tell you from experience what will work well and what will not.
We are in for some turbulent times in audio until the vendors all get on the same track.
Here is what I know today I did NOT know a couple of weeks ago.
The industry is moving from the PCI cards and slots to the PCI-Express cards and slots.
The sound card industry HAS NOT come to grips with PCI-e yet.
The new computers with PCI-e chipsets give priority to the device in the Express slot, and tell the devices plugged into the old fashioned PCI slots: "Just stand there on one foot for a moment, I will get back to you as time permits." Even if the PCI-e slot is empty, the processor apparently has to check and see if a guest has checked into that room and needs some priority service. Eats up some processor power. Leaves your sound card overflowing it's buffer is a possibility.
The sound card people have a real problem to deal with. The PCI-e slot is fast and has priority. So why not design a sound card to set in that position and everything will be great. Well, not so fast. Part of the plan is to move data in BIG BLOCKS so don't bother me with that constant little stream of data. Hold it up until you have a truck-load and then hand it off to me. Sound is very perishable data. Very time sensitive. It doesn't like to sit around and wait. I think I found ONE sound card on the market that claims to be PCI-e ready.
I'll let someone else try it first.
Next issue. Even though you are not buying or building a "Media Center Edition" machine using XP-MCE, was your motherboard manufactured to accomodate MCE for those who want to install it? If so, your motherboard may not talk to you professional sound card in the same language it was designed to understand.
And if your machine comes with XP Media Center Edition, expect the help desk at your sound card manufacturer to hang up on you!!!!
One message here talked about using a QUAD processor. Have you talked to anyone using a Quad processor with the sound card you plan to use? They may like each other, and they may not!
If you decide to build your own, or do as I did and buy a very low priced machine from a major vendor that looked like it had all the right components..... Would you rather be recording, or playing "test Pilot" When you pay the big-bucks to Sweetwater or someone like them, you are paying them to be your test pilot.
In my case, I enjoy playing test pilot and folding the parachutes now and then. And I have folded a lot of parachutes in the last two weeks!!!!! (I have almost memorized the trail to find RESTORE POINT in the XP menu system.)
I used to sell computers to the people who run 'mission critical' server centers. They paid about 10 times as much for memory as we pay for our machines. There is such a thing as memory that is designed and tested to work with greater reliability. There may be a grade of memory that is more appropriate for handling sound. To me memory is memory is memory. It works or it doesn't work. If I ran a studio where musicans flew in for a recording session and it would be very expensive to get them all back together again, I would insist on AUDIO GRADE MEMORY just in case.
This past week my wife and I sapped office/computer/workroom spaces. I had the custom built armoire that hit the wires and quieted the machine. Now I have my machine in the larger open space, sitting bare with no enclosure. I had no idea how noisy that thing is! If someone is going build a custom machine for youl, make sure he/she has the same definition of quiet that you do. If they work in one of those mission critical server rooms where every machine has a super-duper cooling fan, their idea of quiet may not be the same as it is for those of us who sit facing that super-duper mic in the room with the computer.
