The Recording Thread

[Seshmeister]

I've been using Chrome here for months with no problems.

[Diamondjimi]

You on high speed connection?

I think HR is out in the sticks with a low speed connection, if memory serves...

[Seshmeister]

Yeah pretty fast connection here.

If you do a side by side comparison Chrome is faster at loading complex pages than Firefox. Where it falls down is on some sites stuff like buttons don't work or it can act strangely.

Here it's been fine but I work between the two of them plus Safari on my iPhone.

I never use Internet Explorer these days if I can avoid it.

[chefcraig]

Yeah pretty fast connection here.

If you do a side by side comparison Chrome is faster at loading complex pages than Firefox. Where it falls down is on some sites stuff like buttons don't work or it can act strangely.

Here it's been fine but I work between the two of them plus Safari on my iPhone.

I never use Internet Explorer these days if I can avoid it.

I switched over to Chrome when Firefox started having issues last year. I think FF has had about six or seven upgrades since then, and still hasn't been able to straighten out it's issues with Adobe for Flash. I am back to FF, but still maintain Chrome as a back up, as FF has a wonderful habit of crashing at the worst possible time. Oh, that's right, FF Support has changed the definition of what is taking place. Now the idiots refer to it as a "hang", instead of a "crash".

[Hardrock69]

I still am not 100% sure it is Chrome, but seems every time it happened it was when I was using Chrome.

Thing is, yes, I am in the stix and I STILL do not have broadband. So I have to take every last molecule of speed I can get.

I decided last year to try Chrome, and is way faster than FF where I am at. Though I like FF, and still use it for certain things, I tend to use Chrome most of the time these days.
If I had broadband, I would probably stick with FF, but then, I dunno. When I do get broadband, I may stick with Chrome then for all I know.

[jhale667]

Not quite the easy change-out I thought, but...

I'm using FF over here with no issues.

So I found out the upgrade to PT 9 will require also upgrading to Windows 7 (have been being stubborn and sticking with XP, especially after reading PT 8 had issues with Win7!) so at that point - I may as well just build a whole new computer. It's about that time anyway, this one while still running great (and fast) overall, is having some motherboard issues of late. It served me well, but it's like any other part of a system or instrument, every few years they wear out and need to be replaced. Shouldn't be too big a deal, just copy my program files from the current C drive and add them to the new system, transfer licenses, migrate my storage drives to the new system. Done.

I went and checked out motherboards and processors yesterday (gotta love having a Frys in the neighborhood) on a fact-finding/pricing expedition, and the sales guy I got was apparently also a musician and assured me I could easily get away with running Pro Tools 9 on a Quad-core CPU no problems, and going full six-core would be expensive overkill. Gotta appreciate sales people trying to actually save you money instead of trying to get you to go for the big-ticket item. So I'll upgrade the motherboard and processor, and will have to pop for a new video card too (which means I'll be able to run both monitors on DVI cables now instead of the DVI/VGA set-up. Dual HD, bummer! ) When all is said and done I'll probably end up spending almost as much as I spent in '05 and having another machine that'll have a good 5-year lifespan and totally smoke the first one. It'll be fairly easy too since unlike the last time, I've done it before.

But all things considered, the PT 9 upgrade will be the final piece of that puzzle. And though it'll cost, it's alway fun and educational to do...

[Hardrock69]

I am running Quad Core Phenom 9600. I am finally at a point where I have a machine that cannot be bogged down. 32 bit, so I have maxed out the physical memory, but still have upgrade room.

You running 32-bit or 64? I have not been running 64 bit yet, though my Phenom is 64-bit capable.

Memory limitations for Win7

Here they are, for the 64-bit editions (32-bit editions will all be capped at the standard 4GB):

Starter: 8GB
Home Basic: 8GB
Home Premium: 16GB
Professional: 192GB
Enterprise: 192GB
Ultimate: 192GB

You will have a killer system when you get it going!

I have plenty of room on my setup for upgrades. I have an AM2+ socket on my mobo that will also run AM3 CPUs. When I first bought my hardware, I got 4 single gig sticks of Geil Black Dragon gaming ram (1066), then after I got it all put together I discovered the mobo won't run in Dual Channel mode unless I use (2) 2-gig sticks, one in each channel. It also will not run the memory at 1066 hz unless I use that setup, so my memory for right now is single channel, running at 800 mhz.

And someday I will upgrade to 64 bit.

Anyways, fuck all that. Congrats on the decision to go for a new machine. Yes, I think 6-core is overkill, as the prices do not justify the purchase right now. Hell, quad core CPUs are down under 75 bucks these days new. Like all else, it will eventually drop in price. See if you can find a mobo that will have a socket pinout that the quad cores AND the 6-cores can use, so someday when the 6 core stuff is cheap you can just swap CPUs.

Trying to create a system with massive room for upgrades is so difficult, as the fucking technology improves at such a fast (and getting faster) rate. In 20 years we will be running 99,000 peta-herz CPUs with 100 billion cores, and we will laugh at our current shit quad cores, lol.

[jhale667]

Thinking the new system will be 64, may as well crack it out bang-for-buck wise if I'm gonna redo the whole thing. I could probably get away with the right barebones system w/ Win7 already installed from like Tiger Direct or somebody, if I find one with a big enough case to add my storage drive (unless I want to convert it to an external) and at least 1 firewire port to run my external PT storage drive. Or maybe find the right system and ditch the tower it comes with for one of the expandable gaming ones (with the extra cooling fans and whatnot).




But do you recommend AMD or Intel? My current one's an Intel, no issues until the recent mobo warning signs...

[Seshmeister]

I advise strongly against Windows 7 64 bit for now even though it's now being supplied as default.

It's a fucking pain in the ass. I have it on my main laptop plus I have had to deal with it in a couple of work things recently and it's just a real fucking hassle because I constantly keep coming up against compatibility problems. There are all sorts of bits of software that either won't install or go wrong. I've also had a few blue screens with it. Maybe I use some obscure stuff but still. At least check in advance that whatever you are planning to use has a 64 bit version.

Windows 7 has some nice features but I would be tempted to put XP on as it's really reliable and just works, if not put the 32 bit version on.

[jhale667]

Hmmm...

Definitely something to ponder, Sesh... if it looks like I'll have mass compatibility issues I'll just stick with 32. Here's the cheapest way to go with my current license...

http://shop.avid.com/store/product.do;jsessionid=1D12FA2103D37969F83A509DEF136536.ASTPESD2?product=324639693075136

Cool thing is it supports up to 32 inputs and whatever I/O device you want, (which hasn't been the case in the past) so I could conceivably also integrate my old ADAT long enough to fly some crap off of it, as well as my UX-2 (instead of it being chained to my Mbox as it is at the moment) interface. So when the new system's done, $249 improves it's capabilities by leaps and bounds...

[Hardrock69]

Concerning AMD vs Intel, I have always viewed AMD as the easier for overclocking (though in my current rig I feel it is fast enough why bother with overclocking), and lately they seem to be better at coming up with low-wattage versions of the CPUs they put out.

While most of the quad-core CPUs are 125 watts, my Phenom 9600 is only 95 watts. I prefer lower wattage to make it easier to cool.

That said, I cannot really say Intel or AMD is better than the other. Do your research. One thing I like about AMD, they consistenly beat the shit out of Intel on price.
For example, cheapest Intel 6-core processor on Newegg is $879.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115066

Cheapest AMD 6-core is roughly 1/4 that, at $179 with free shipping:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851

AMD has 9 quad-core Phenom II CPUS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%2050001028%20600005574&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

This might be your best bet....being a 'Black Edition', it is totally unlocked so if you want to overclock it you can easily do so (though I do not recommend overclocking for DAWs). Only 95 bucks, (cheapest of the Phenom II [newest series] quad cores) and is an AM2+ CPU, so you would have to buy an AM2+ motherboard, which WILL accept AM3 CPUs if you want to upgrade the CPU in the future. Just a sidenote: The new 6-core AMD CPUs are AM3 sockets, so will run in an AM2+ motherboard.
Does not include heatsink/fan and is 125 watts:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103644

Second choice: It is only 95 watts (better cooling), but slightly lower clock speed (2.8Ghz vs. 3.0Ghz above) and is 34 dollars more. Does not come with heatsink/fan. Also, it is an AM3 socket. AM3 motherboards will not accept AM2+ CPUs, though:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103656

On the Intel side, the cheapest Quad-core Newegg has is $149 - 95 watts - heatsink and fan included:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115207

There are several CPU series from Intel that have quad-core configurations, the Core-2 Quad, the Core i7, and the Core i5, most of them if not all over $100 more expensive than the lowest priced AMD quad-core CPUs.

If you want to blow some extra coin on an Intel CPU, this one is only 65 watts, but has 12MB of L2 cache....for the low, low price of $349.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115210

But if you wanted to splurge, the very best AMD 6-core CPU on Newegg is only $229:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849

Here is a review of the Intel CPU, but one of the comparison CPUs is the AMD 940 Black Edition.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/core_2_quad_q8300_review/

And lastly, if cooling is an issue, here is one of 2 AMD quad-core CPUs at Newegg that consume only 45 watts, for $138:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103899

As I mentioned in an above post, before you buy a motherboard, be sure to check out what is required to run in Dual Channel mode. Can it run if you have 4 sticks of 1 Gig each? Or will it restrict you to running 1 2-gig stick per channel? Are there any restrictions on running the memory at the fastest possible speed in that particular motherboard?

As for Windows 7, the problems with 64-bit are the reason I am not even running XP 64-bit.
Sure, it (Xp 64-bit) supposedly can run software in 32-bit mode, but again, the hardware manufacturers seem to be having a tough time providing good 64-bit drivers. And I have so much software on my machine that is absolutely essential to my existence right now that I do not at present want to have to deal with re-installing it only to discover there is a problem with the 64 bit OS.

So for now I remain on XP 32-bit.

Might be worth it to check out user forums for ProTools and see if people been having any particular problems/conflicts running PT9 on any particular brand of motherboard, or CPU, or chipsets on motherboards or whatever.

Hope the above info helps. Like I say, with quad-core CPUs and DDR3 memory, etc. pretty much any setup you get could work well.

Any of you guys out there who know about this stuff (like Sesh) and/or know about DAWs and their requirements, feel free to chime in. I certainly do not know everything there is to know about this stuff.

[jhale667]

Pretty fun afternoon...only one PT crash...lol

I noticed when I was tracking some stuff earlier today my bounces are actually going at 24-bit...not even as cool as I thought... guess I could get away with 32 easily then. Thanks for the AMD vs. Intel comparison HR, that's pretty helpful.

I was playing around with the scratch tracks I'd recorded today and was messing around with the speaker emulations after the fact...I tried using a 1X10 combo cab from shall we say "another manufacturer"'s free trial (loaded as an IR via MellowMuse same as I would my usual) and the track just sounded ...dull. Lifeless. It was my Purple Strat through an AC30 mod, there should have been sparkle and jangle aplenty, yet there wasn't. So I switched out the trial cab for the Recabinet 1x10..DING exactly what I was looking for. So far I've got two Strat tracks through AC30 mods with different cabinets, and the Koa Strat doing power chords through a Soldano and a 4x12. I have to tighten up the parts some more but then I'll post 'em...

Meanwhile for giggles here's from the post scratch track wind-down...I was playing my Ash Drop-D Strat through the PODfarm JCM800 mod with an Echoplex and an "Cavernous" reverb emulation, and Recabinet's "Green 4x12" with the 3-mic emulation set up: Royer 121, Shure SM57, and the Audix D6...there's a couple of clunkers, but overall it turned out kinda cool IMO...

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9901732

[Seshmeister]

I don't keep such a close eye on hardware these days but all things being remotely even I would buy AMD because

a) I like to support the underdog
b) The world needs Intel to have competition
c) Intel are a bunch of price fixing crooks.

[Hardrock69]

Sounds cool Jay.

I originally got into AMD back in about 2000 when I built my first custom box from the ground up. Mainly because you could overclock, and I could not afford the overpriced intel stuff (and of course, the AMD stuff was cheaper even back then). So I got an AMD K6-2/550. Being cheaper to begin with, and then being able to overclock it meant I REALLY got more bang for the buck than anything Intel could even dream of offering.

And it has sort of held true to this day. To repeat myself, even though these days I don't think it necessary to overclock anymore due to the current brute force capabilities of the AMD Black Edition unlocked CPUs, at least I can say it is possible if I should want to.

For years I ran an AMD Athlon XP 2500 Mobile processor, because the Mobile versions were unlocked. I ran it overclocked so that it was the equivalent of the top of the line Intel CPUs for awhile. Cranked that bitch UP!

Really just have had no use for Intel, as AMD has done me right on every box I have ever built (at least a dozen over the past 10 years now).

[jhale667]

Content bump

Here's a link to a cool Berklee tutorial about setting up a basic Pro Tools home studio and the various possible configurations...

Set Up Recording Studio Using Pro Tools
Author: David Franz

http://ow.ly/3schQ

Seriously considering looking into some online classes in mixing, mastering and production techiniques...wanting to expand my knowledge base beyond what I've learned from Avid's (and DJ's!! ) tutorial vids and through trial-and-error. Berklee has an online PT class as it turns out:

http://www.berkleeshares.com/production__technology/set_up_recording_studio_pro_tools