Music Recording workstation

[Khalil]

I am building a workstation to use in a recording studio with Software like ProTools, Reason and Solar 7 as well as DJ software.

Its going to be in a 4U Rack mountable case.
It will have the following hardware:

Adaptec Raid Controller http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816103062

3 x 150GB 10k RPM Raptor Hard Drives in Raid 5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136012

2 x 1TB Seagate HDD Data Drives http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148278

Dual CPU Asus Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131140

2 x Opteron CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819105162

2 x Video Cards for 4 monitor display http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121084

Seasonic Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151028

Sony DVD Burner (fastest I can get)

4 x 17" LCD Monitors http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824254018

I would apprciate any suggestions or ideas.
Thanks

[Lespaul20]

RAM??

How are you planning on using the Raid array? Are the 1TB drive going to be mirrored?

[Khalil]

The 2 x 1TB hard drives will not be mirrored they will work seperate. The Raid 5 is for the system hard drives (Raptors)
they will work a lot faster in Raid 5 with that controller.
Ram I will use 4 GB of DDR2 667 Registered ECC, more than likely Kingston or Crucial.

[Lespaul20]

The reason I ask is because I personally would rather have the archived data on a Raid array and have the workspace drives mirrored.

[glc]

I know your feelings, but you need to check carefully what the current Pro Tools requirements are. Last time I looked, they had issues with everything except certain Intel chipset boards with Intel processors. If you are building this for someone else, I would not like to see you in a position of having to support something that's not going to work right.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by glc I know your feelings, but you need to check carefully what the current Pro Tools requirements are. Last time I looked, they had issues with everything except certain Intel chipset boards with Intel processors. If you are building this for someone else, I would not like to see you in a position of having to support something that's not going to work right.

I see what you mean, I checked with propellerhead and Cakewalk and they both will work however I am not sure about pro tools. I am going to try and email them see if they respond.
The workstation I am building I will own, my friend will own the software. I am going to try and convince him to stay away from protools, since the others are so much more affordable.
The protools he wants is $7k.
How do you think this machine will perform though if we can get over the compatibility hurdle?

[quartet-man]

Tell you what. I will be glad to try it out for you for several years and let you know how it works.

[glc]

Most of that stuff will work acceptably on any modern PC built to "normal" specs, so I don't see a problem with high end stuff. Only issue I see is a RAID 5 with less than 4 drives, that leaves no room for error and it won't perform well. I would also prefer a single 4 head video card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133165
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814129104

Memory? OS?

[Khalil]

At this point I am thinking of going with Windows XP X64 and 8 GB of DDR2 667 ECC Registered memory. 2 x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134329
You are right about the 3 drives so I will go with 4 of those raptors.

I am a little leery of using Vista 64 at this point due to issues with drivers.
Those video cards are really nice but are kinda pricy and if the card goes out, the machine is out of business till i replace it, but with 2 cards at least I can still run 2 monitors.

[glc]

I'd recommend XP. Not all that software will play well with Vista.

It would be no big deal to buy a dirt cheap dual head card to keep for a spare.

[cuog]

you may also want to get a good soundblaster or other workstation sound card to probably get a little cleaner sound quality. You'll also want whatever drives store your created music on to be backed up somehow probably with mirroring or raid 1. Especially if you're working for clients, the last thing you need is them to call for their music, and you say, uh the HD crashed last night... its gone.

[Khalil]

I plan on using a 1TB External hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148278 in this enclosure http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817145167

As far as sound cards, I have very limited experience, the last sound card I bought for myself was in the year 2000, I have installed a ton of them for other people but I never used them.
How does this look? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132005

I will be taking pictures of the set up when it is all done.

[Lespaul20]

Your audio interface is one of the most important parts of a recording PC. Here is some general info on interface. http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards...ome_studio.htm That card you linked is nothing but a glorified gaming card, it probably would sound ok but there is a lot higher end gear out there specifically made for audio work, at least with more extensive inputs. It seems almost like you have an unlimited budget but why not look at an Quad core Intel build? You could save a little or put money elsewhere such as storage or recording equipment.

[Khalil]

Thanks for the input Lespaul but for reasons I prefer to keep private I do not buy any Intel products unless it is absolutely the last resort. An Intel Quad would be a great rig otherwise. I will check out that article and see if I can find a better card, do you have any suggestions of high end professional cards?

[Khalil]

http://www.emu.com/products/product....&product=15189
is that more of what you suggesting?

glc, I am going with a 4 head card for video like you suggested and keeping a space cheap card as a spare.

Lespaul our budget is pretty open, not unlimited but we do want a very good rig to record with, so far I am still under budget with all the hardware I have described.

[glc]

To choose a sound card, you need to research recommendations and compatibility with your software packages.

[Lespaul20]

Originally Posted by Khalil http://www.emu.com/products/product....&product=15189 is that more of what you suggesting? glc, I am going with a 4 head card for video like you suggested and keeping a space cheap card as a spare. Lespaul our budget is pretty open, not unlimited but we do want a very good rig to record with, so far I am still under budget with all the hardware I have described.

Yeah something like that. I don't know which particular brand is good at what but there are several out there to choose from.

Look through this.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navig...ore%7c1&page=1

You might want to PM Hi Ho, Tin or SonicVanguard for their opinion.

About the actual build, I think a server board might be overkill for this. I'm sure ( as in I'm guessing) there are professional studio that have much less in terms of computer power.

[Khalil]

I may start with a Phenom build and see how that goes. I can always sell it or keep it here we can always use a poweful machine for other purposes.

I am just not sure which chipset to use for right now with the Phenom.
The Asus M2N-E is an awesome motherboard but I am not sure I can even get one anymore.
I also like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131234

Thing though is that the guy I am partnering with has a machine right now with Core2Duo E6600 with 4 GB of DDR2 667 and Abit AWD9 motherboard but its not cutting the mustard. So I am not really sure how well the Phenom will do, no harm in trying it.
I already ordered all the parts for the build I mentioned above.

[Lespaul20]

How was it not cutting the mustard? What kind of software was he using? Just curious. I never asked but are you planning on renting your services out like a professional studio or is this for personal use if you don't mind me asking?

[Khalil]

We wont be renting it out, my partner is a DJ and produces local talents. He was using his old rig with Cakewalk Sonar 6, Adobe production studio Premium and Steinberg Nuendo 3.

His E6600 rig was very slow once he went into multi track production especialy with Steinberg

[cuog]

It sounds to me that the problem there is again the sound card, it matter a lot with sound production, CPU and RAM make things go better but without a decent sound card you're gonna have problems no matter what, look around for what sound cards professionals use with the software you're using and what they recommend.

[Khalil]

I am going with this card, it is approved for all the softwares we are interested in and it has won many awards. http://www.rme-audio.com/english/madi/hdspmadi.htm

[jmaniglia]

All i have to say is WOW

[gods_son_is_me]

XP Pro x64 is awesome. All you need to do is make sure the drivers for your equipment are good. Sonar 7 is even x64 native now. You can use all of your RAM. Akia is good. Some sound cards don't work. Just check this sites driver page. Some older MIDI cards aren't x64 compatible. But all your software will work. I have all those programs, PLUS Acid and FL Studio.

[Khalil]

Some of the hardware got here yesterday and the rest will be here in the next few days..

I am going to go ahead and build a Phenom machine first and test it, I have my doubts though since the E6600 did not cut it and that is a powerful processor.

I will use the same case and hardware but with the Phenom 9600 and M3A motherboard instead of the dual opterons.

I would like to test both machines and post the results here.