Computers

I don't know much about computers but I spent $1500 on this one about 3 years ago and it seems pretty decent. There is a point to this post and here it is. I am turning my storage room into a "studio" if you can call it that but I want to buy another computer to use just for music and surfing the web. I don't want to spend a lot of money and I have seen a few at Wal-Mart for like $499. Can you get a computer that doesn't suck for around this price, and if so what brand? What kind of computer does everyone use?

Thanks,

You can use pretty well what you like just as long as it has a fairly fast cpu,a good quality sound card and loads of RAM. I'd recommend AMD for a cpu and one of the older creative soundblaster cards to keep your cost down. I'd also recommend at least 1 Gig of RAM.

I think if you want a studio ready computer make sure you get a decent sound card. i would sear away from sound blasters and they do have some latency. My PC i spend tome on my sound card than the Video.

If all its going do to is music, you don't need a huge fast gaming computer. you don't need super good direct x video card. you need storage and sound. You want 1 Gig of ram or more if you going to use lots of VST plug-ins. Make sure you have SATA II hard drives for faster read right operation. processer wise i like AMD 64 i have a 3500+ and it works great, i have not had any issues recording with cubase or reaper.

If you want a good "Cheap" soundcard check out EMU 0404 PCI. it cost about $99 at guitar center. it does not have lots of in's and outs but as a side project thing works well. There are lots of options for sound cards and you can put lots of money into them.

So I could get by with a cheap computer and buy a good sound card. The only other thing I will be using it for will be Internet, so really as long as it has a good sound card and isn't slow on the net that's all I want.

Check out eBay for your sound card. There's some real steals on there!

yes you must have alot of ram ,you cant get a gig for about a 100.00 but you need it, a gig isnt quite enough.

@les_paul
Some of the new computers are coming with a 5.1 surround card preinstalled. not sure if they fall into your price range but look around, you never know. Ebay, i don't think so! (imo)
lots of ram. speed isn't really an issue anymore, you'd have to go out of your way to find a comp with less than 1.5mhz. my new vista comp has 3gig of ram and i'm happy now that i've disabled all the "hidden" vista processes. (I preferred XP but you won't likely find any comps with XP anymore)
I have an HP media center PC but you won't need anything this fancy to do what you are describing. try newegg for pricing ram and "extras"
http://www.newegg.com/Index.aspx
I have my sound card connected to a Sony 5.1 surround amp and out to some nice Axiom speakers. sound is very nice!

the problem with consumer sound cards it they have latency. for example i got the Phillips sound blaster copy card. i record some audio with my drum machine then put down bass tracks, but when I added some guitar tracks something sounded off.

so i went back and re-recoded the bass listened back and it was still off. I figured I'm a half assed musician who can't keep time. tried it 3 or for times burned the better part of a weekend and it was shit.

I did a little research and it's latency of the sound getting processed by the sound card then recorded to the hard disk. After i knew what the problem was i checked and that card had a 643000 ms latency. the card i have not (EMU 0404 PCI 53000 ms). all latency sucks but the lower the better at least it's not noticeable.

There are a whole lot of other thingks to keep in mind when recording with a comptuer. for example my computer is pretty loud and when i mike an acoustic guitar for example i hear the hum of the computer in the background. I wound up recording with a blanket over my computer (bad idea since it can over heat) then uncover it and let the pc cool down.

If you record electric, make sure you get a LCD monitor as CRT's have magnet that focus light to display the image and the byproduct is feed back very bad for single coils humbuckers not so bad.

Sorry about the frikin novel. i could go on and on and on but I'll stop.

so here is something i recorded with my sound card it has 1 midi track for the drums, 5 acoustic guitar tracks, 2 Vocal tracks.
(Don't make fun of my singing) It's a demo with a Verse and Chours

http://www.myspace.com/stonetrout (have to push play i have auto play disabled)

@telecrater
I'm listening to it now, the mixing is far fucking out! I gotta start playing with my toys soon. i'd like to mix multi tracks like you are doing.
excellent. two thumbs up!
uh oh here come the vocals...........Just kidding! lol
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