[Ciaran]

The thread about ripping CD's got me thinking about audio on the computer and wanted to get some of your thoughts on my next projects...
The first one will be an audio/video workstation. I plan on using this machine to record audio (multitrack recording at a semi pro quality level) and to do basic video editing (home movies of vacations and such). This macine will not be used for e-mail or web surfing. It will only be used for audio and video. So far we are looking at:

CPU: P4 2.8ghz/800mhz FSB/1meg L2/HT (I prefer AMD but hey, it was free!)
Mem: 1 gig of DDR2 533. Eventually will be bumped to 2 gigs
Mobo: Undecided
HDD: All SATA. 40 gig drive for OS/APPS. 2 200gig drives for storage
Video Card: Undecided
Audio: Likely one of the Echo Audio cards (Gina or a Layla) or an ESI Juli@

I have a ton of pro level audio and video editing software so that's no issue. The machine will record and mix, monitoring via a power amp and two studio monitors. I will likely use a small (16 track) mixing board as well. Any thoughts on this one? Anyone have any experience with digital audio recording? I've done regular analog multitrack recording and have a bit of a studio and live sound background but haven't messed with doing in on the computer yet.

http://www.echoaudio.com/

http://www.esi-pro.com/viewProduct.php?pid=43&page=1


The other machine I would like to have is a high end audio listening station type dealie. I imagine that I should build this as a HTPC, and I'll check that thread for info, but I am mostly focused on the audio. We don't watch too many movies and aren't really concerned with surround sound and all that. Any thoughts?

 

[binary visions]

Don't have any experience with the mixing aspect, but for the other machine, if you're not really concerned with making it a real HTPC and just want it as a sound machine, why not just buy a SFF case/power supply, throw some cheap components in there, and just buy a high end sound card?

That way it'd be inexpensive (leaving more budget for your mixer PC) and compact enough to not be intrusive. You could still play movies and such from it since even the most basic PC is adequate for the occasional movie (I stream movies off my server through my 1.8ghz laptop with 256mb).

You could pick up a barebones special from NewEgg for little money. If you ever decide to really go nuts with a HTPC, you could install Linux on it, throw in a bigger hard drive and make it a fileserver.