[RWP] good computer for recording?

Thu Oct 10 15:37:57 EDT 2013

Haha true enough Chris, I don't actually use any real time effects at
this point. My tallents lie more with audio production for radio and I
haven't run into any lag issues doing that yet. Heck, maybe I got
really lucky with my crappy box. :) I read up on the latency issues
surrounding the windows kernel and will keep it in mind if I ever
start up a recording business. cheers

Rylan

On 10/9/13, Chris Belle <cb1963 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I used to think that but I learned better.
>
> If you've not learned about dpc latency and just how windows works, you can
> make a costly mistake.
>
> Go read up on defered protocol, and read the tons of messages on forums
> about crackling audio and drop-outs, etc.
>
> There are fine machines out there which can eat the hottest games for
> breakfast but will suck on audio because the dpc latency is too high.
>
> Think of this senario.
>
> YOu have a big truck that comes by one a day, that's your computer.
> or processor.
>
> You have your hard-drives, interface,
> peripherals and such they all need attending to in a timely manner.
> Let's call them the little delivery trucks that bring packages to the big
> truck your computer.
>
> Now what if the big truck quit coming by once a day, but only every other
> day?
>
> YOur packages would pile up.
>
> That's exactly what happens when you get audio drop-outs, or you can't load
> very many plug-ins with out having to turn your latency way up on your
> interface, or any number of things.
>
> If your dpc latency on your computer is higher than say 100, you will have
> problems.
>
> Average is around 30,
> my new daw runs in the teens,
> I had a student who got impatient
> and had his computer fixed by some local guy, and they didn't turn off hpet
> and do other tweaks in the bios and even though the machine was originally
> configured as a daw, it did not perform well,
> so you need the right parts, as well as the right settings,
> specific motherboards will do well as a daw while others will suck.
>
> Certain settings in the bios are not available on certain motherboards,
> you might have issues with firewire chips, so it's not enough to say hey,
> just get an asio sound card and your golden, maybe if you have a mac you
> can, because
> it get's the blessing of one kind of hardware combo, and also apple's os is
> closer to a real time os than winblows, but don't count on great performance
> running a mac system on the windows side,
> with an immulated bios you can't tweak.
>
> ON the apple side, you don't have to deal with dpc latency, it's not the
> same deal with a unix based os.
>
> but with windows, everything low level has to ask for permission in the
> kernel, and if it has to wait too long, then the whole house of cards comes
> down.
>
> YOu might get lucky and get a machine which has low enough dpc latency where
> you can get some work done, but too many of us even old time cats who've
> been doing this for ever have made the sad mistake of buying an off the
> shelf laptop hoping to use it for audio, only to find out oh no, it won't
> handle it.
>
> I will concede the point that as computers get more powerful,
> the margin for error get's bigger, but if you want performance for a daw,
> that error is still pretty slim.
>
> YOu won't notice it just doing plain audio recording and not using lots of
> real time fx, if you are doing that, then just go ahead and use any old
> machine for basic tracking, but if you want to run real time fx, guitar
> chains, and drum modules that you can play with your asio card set to a nice
> low latency, and not have to bother freezing tracks all the time and such,
> then go get a daw built.
>
> Save your best buy computer for skype and emailing your grandma, and your
> mp3 punk rock library 'grin'.
>
> I'm here to tell ya, I bought lots of machines, went to custom shops even,
> but getting a purpose built daw is the difference between riding on the
> garbage truck, and going first class in a portche.
>
> Because you see, it's not about the power, or ram or drives, though that
> plays a part, ok, even if you get your fast ssd, what good is it if the
> drives are waiting on the processor which is hung up on that errant video
> driver you don't know about from that Chinese company,
> written by that first year computer programmer student,
> but your daw maker knows that the driver that came out last year is a better
> match and won't spike the dpc latency.
>
> If and when you find out and correct it, think how many hours you lost.
> and how many hit song ideas went away.
>
> Man, that's wort 5 bills to me for sure.
>
> So don't believe me, go out buy a cheap machine and if you get lucky, call
> old Chris a liar, but if it doesn't work and you have issues and are right
> back here asking us how to solve an impossible problem remember old Chris
> told ya so.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>   From: yRylan Vroom
>   To: Reapers Without Peepers
>   Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 3:28 PM
>   Subject: Re: [RWP] good computer for recording?
>
>
>   It all depends on your pariferals these days. A good computer is less
>   important than an ASIO equipped soundcard and whatever other midi
>   equipment you use. I for one am using a crappy Acer throwaway box I
>   got at bestbuy for $500, 12 gb of ram, quad core amd Processor, no GPU
>   to speak of, but it gets the job done. I do notice that after loading
>   10 or so VST's it gets a smidge laggy when you play a project, but
>   that's about it. HTH
>
>   Rylan
>
>   On 10/8/13, Chris Belle <cb1963 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>   > Go see Jim Roseberry at
>   > studiocat.com
>   >
>   > He builds the best daws in the us, for the best price, and you can get
> in to
>   > a very mice machine that won't frustrate you for much less than you
> might
>   > think.
>   >
>   > His project studio daw starts at a thousand.
>   >
>   > Don't get some bargain machine at tigerdirect or what-ever, you'll be
>   > sorry.
>   >
>   > You'll have high dpc latencies, and other compatibility issues, these
> guys
>   > are fine for gamers or office machines, but for a daw, do it up right
> you'll
>   > be glad you did.
>   >
>   >
>   >   ----- Original Message -----
>   >   From: Matt Turner
>   >   To: reaper
>   >   Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 1:04 PM
>   >   Subject: [RWP] good computer for recording?
>   >
>   >
>   >   Hay there, folks.
>   >   i am looking into getting a computer, that will be used mainly just
> for
>   >   recording.
>   >   I am not sure what i should get, as there are all kinds of computers
>   >   ranging from 799$, and higher.
>   >   I wood like a laptop, but i've heard there' not good for recording.
>   >   Any suggestions?
>   >
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