I do have USB 2.2 slots all over the place, my understanding is that Firewire is a lot faster, correct?
Yes. Strictly the USB2 has more capacity or bandwidth (480 Mbits/s) than the FireWire 400 (the usual FireWire, it has 400 Mbits/s, also there is a FireWire 800) but really the FireWire bus runs faster than USB2. For "normal" use, the USB2 is enough. For example, I usually use the FireWire for accesing to an external disk to nearly internal disk speed or for realtime video (when capturing to 30 frames per second) but audio doesn't need such requirements.
My recommendation is as RAM memory as possible and also a fast hard disk but not neccesary big. These two components are used while you record your music and sounds and they could be a bottleneck. You always can buy a second or third external disk and connecting it to the computer via USB or FW for data storage. For example, my girlfriend gave me an Iomega 500 GB by Christmas and it is enough fast, however it is not my fastest disk.
Finally, there is a "best choice" for the disks comparing how is the cost per mega or giga. For me, the disks always cost 150€, some years ago I got 80 MB and now 80 GB :lol: Sometimes if you double the price you don't get the double of "whatever", gigabytes in this case.
Good luck! :D
First bump in road...
Will this work?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190083814168&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009
I'm having memory troubles, mainly trying to figure out what the hell my system takes. Like I've said before, I'm a computer idiot.
I started looking for more memory and now I've got a bad case of sticker shock, prices ranging from $100 to $400! Compatability issues. Types!
My understanding at this point is that my Motherboard supports 16d(bit?)RDRAM RIMM ECC modules. Somewhat unique to P4s, installable in pairs, total maximum can be 512 X 4 for 2GB total.
I've gone to Newegg, one setup for about $175 for 512MB, this site above for a start of $100 (expecting this price to go way up before it's all said and done), and MemoryX(who ran a memory analysis and recommended the above for,oh hell, I can't remember right now, too many numbers, all high.
I think that one of my first comments IS going to be true, this is going to cost a little bit to get started.
Does anyone know if I can sub the RDRAM with XDR DRAM? Or am I locked into RDRAM? Lack of availability is going to be a problem also, I think.
Any ideas? Thoughts? Bad jokes?
When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming......
like the passengers in his car.
Downloading now....
Listened to a couple so far and they're more than good enough to impress the heck out of me. I'd be thrilled if I could put together an album of stuff like that. 8)
Hey TR!
Just got in from a hard days work and wanted to turn my brain off for a while, Clicked on your site and am REALLY grooving on it! Great stuff! Perfect tone, perfect groove, perfect vocals, on and on and on.......
MAN, this s@#$ IS COOL!
Much kudos and love, this is why I wanna play! :D :D :D :wink:
Thank You! You guys are too kind though. It's not that good but it sure was fun and I'd encourage anyone to give it a go. I need to get back at it and write some new stuff. The beauty or writing your own songs is you don't have to learn to play them. It's all stuff you already know how to do. :lol: It's amazing too that as long as you are in the same key the different parts mesh together and make new sounds. It is too much fun to be legal! That is my boy on bass by the way and he is good. All the songs except "My Little Girl" He didn't want to play that day so I had to do it. :?
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Does anyone know if I can sub the RDRAM with XDR DRAM? Or am I locked into RDRAM? Lack of availability is going to be a problem also, I think.
Any ideas? Thoughts? Bad jokes?
My guess is that you're locked in.
But I'm no expert, as I only build my own systems. When I first started out it was still possible to keep a computer for a few years and do upgrades on various bits. But these days the specs change so quickly that real "upgradeability" is often not practical, except for minor changes like adding a bigger drive or more of exactly the same type of RAM.
Anyway.... if I remember rightly RDRAM was fast but expensive and never took off in a big way, probably mostly because of the price. There were also some commercial fights between manufacturers involved, and I think it pretty much fizzled out. I think it also needed its own special motherboard slots too. I seem to remember that there were some motherboards that provided slots for more than one type of RAM, but I think that most were designed for only one type.
Can you get more info from the guy you got it from? Everything I say could be completely wrong as I never got involved with RDRAM.
If it's going to be hugely expensive just to upgrade the RAM it might be better to spend the money elsewhere. If TRGuitar can do such a good job on a system that's lower spec than yours, then maybe you could leave it for now.
It might even be worth thinking about getting an external 4 track or 8 track to do the recording and just use the computer for burning CDs, playback, storage and general fiddling about.
I don't know what prices are like in the US, but I just did a quick Google for RDRAM locally and 1gig looks like it would cost more than what I paid for my 8 track recorder/mixer. :shock: It's a good little machine (includes a heap of effects, a drum machine and so on). It cost a few hundred Aussie dollars but, to put it in perspective, still less than I could spend on a latest generation Graphics card for the computer. I'll dig out some details.
Hope somebody has some more reliable info about your RAM.
Cheers,
Chris
racetruck1,
Have you tried crucial.com . That is where I get most of my RAM. I built my own PC and a few others for friends and one for my mom. Sometimes Crucial RAM is cheaper at newegg.com. What I do is get the specs from the PC and then go to Crucial.com and find the part number and then go to newegg and see if its cheaper. More often than not its cheaper at Newegg. The last stick of RAM I installed this weekend had to be bought from Crucial, cuz Newegg.com was out of that particular part.
Chris C.,
I agree with you about specs changing quickly. Lots of people ask me for advice on RAM and I tell them to get more than they think they will need. Cuz if you wait 2 years there may not be any RAM available for your machine. I have 2 GIGS in mine and it almost never uses more than 700 or 800 MBs.
My dad would always talk about retirement, and allude to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And I say all you've got at the end of the rainbow is death. You're riding the rainbow right now. - Mark Borchardt
Does anyone know if I can sub the RDRAM with XDR DRAM? Or am I locked into RDRAM? Lack of availability is going to be a problem also, I think.
It is better to follow the manufacturer specifications or recommendations. You could use a different memory but the computer could be hanged. Note that you are changing to a faster memory (the XDR RAM) so hardware could not refresh the data to the required speed. It could be Ok or it couldn't.
Try it but you are not 100% sure to reach a correct functioning, so tell to the salesman to "resend" the memories. (Sorry I don't know the English word or expression. EDIT: I found it: "return policy".) If not, try the cheaper solution (to minimize the risk).
Good luck and keep me informed! :)
Use this site to find ram that's compatible with your system:
http://www.upgradememory.com/configurator_1.cfm?Link_ID=2 &
Intel tried to force people to use their more expensive style of memory in the early releases of the p4, which I'm guessing you have.
Like everyone else, I recommend at least a gig. It really depends on what software you ware going to be using and how many plugins/DSP-type things you want to run simultaneously.
As far as a sound card, this also depends on what you want to accomplish. Are you looking to make professional-quality recordings that will be heard by millions of people or are you just a guy trying to make the best possible recordings for the least amount of money? I fall into the latter category and purchased the M-Audio Mobile PreUSB. I did a lot of research and for me, this was a good buy. It has 1/4 inch and xlr inputs (useful for both guitar and microphones), stereo out, phantom power, and doubles as a stereo (not a 5.1) sound card.
Technically there are two firewire specs, and USB 2 is faster than the older one and slower than the newer one. In reality, it doesn't make THAT much of a difference where it will be noticeable to a novice.
Technically there are two firewire specs, and USB 2 is faster than the older one and slower than the newer one. In reality, it doesn't make THAT much of a difference where it will be noticeable to a novice.
Actually, the advantage of Firewire is on the backside architecture. USB is (potentially but rarely actually) faster on a single device, but if you chain the devices together, Firewire will be faster (though have a much lower maximum number of devices)
USB is architected as a client/server and introduces latency that can impact home recording. Firewire is archected as peer-to-peer and does not have that problem.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
Situation update!
Rambus RDRAM is obscenely expensive, I've researched at all the sites and places mentioned and for what I would pay in memory, I could buy a newer machine. But, that's not the point, like I said this is a project to see what I can do and learn from it. So, I'm going to live with 256 MB memory for the time being and see what happens and if I can upgrade at a later date, when and if a deal comes down the road, I will.
I have installed Fire Wire ports and an additional 40 GB portable hard drive. (price was right, free!) My USB ports are the older ones, but for now that'll do, they won't be expensive to upgrade. Sound card gots to go! Really horrible. But, not too bad to fix! Still waiting on the monitors, they'll be here in a few weeks. I'm also carefully considering what kind of guitar interface to use, there are a few options....
I also have a few local computer geeks looking into a possible motherboard swap that will support my P4 and run cheaper memory. But I'm not going to hold my breath on that, also, the price will be right, they all drive cars! And I will barter service for service!
If anybody runs across any RDRAM RIMM memory chips that they don't want or need please contact me and I'll deal!
Haven't run across any major problems yet and I'm kinda having fun with this, even with 256MB RAM it still runs circles around my other machines, but I haven't really worked it yet.
Stay tuned, same Bat time, same Bat channel, and keep the ideas coming!
Next stupid question, is there any interfaces that anyone can recommend that will be cheap? No bells and whistles just the basics. Lets see how cheap I can go and still be functional with this machine......
When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming......
like the passengers in his car.
Technically there are two firewire specs, and USB 2 is faster than the older one and slower than the newer one. In reality, it doesn't make THAT much of a difference where it will be noticeable to a novice.
Teoretically USB2 is faster than FW400 but in reality FW400 is faster and noticiable. My PowerBook includes USB2, FW400 and FW800 (I don't check it, I don't have any device.)
I also have a hard disk in a box with dual interface. Moving a file (large file) is much faster using FW400.
At work, we use FW cameras and we capture 30 frames per second. We don't reach that framerate using USB2.
Racetruck1, sorry for my question, interfaces for what?
One important thing different between firewire and usb, usb is considered safe to hot swap (unplug/plugin while the computer is on) and firewire is not considered safe and may damage either component. For something that will remain plugged in all the time (a hard drive for example) it's not a big deal and with a desktop computer you'll almost certainly have anything that does plug into it all the time (with the exception of maybe a usb memory stick or digital camera plug etc).
is there any interfaces that anyone can recommend that will be cheap? No bells and whistles just the basics. Lets see how cheap I can go and still be functional with this machine......
Are you looking to record just guitar, rt? Or guitar and vocals too?
bb
Don
Right now, just guitar, maybe down the road for vocals.
When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming......
like the passengers in his car.
First...I don't know diddley about recording...i'm studying the manual now that came with a Tascam us-122L audio interface i got at a local guitar store. Bought it partly because of some of the information i've picked up here. It came with Cubase le. this unit has a sound card in it and i'm just going to use the usb. needs 512 of ram and at least a gig processor.
Can't tell you how it works yet....be at least two months to study the 560 some page manual (that's probably not near enough) :idea: :idea:
They said it was on sale for 150.00 .... don't know.
KSblu
If I don't remember it....It didn't happen
i'm studying the manual now
Hey KSblu,
It's a good idea to be familiar with your equipment, but I wouldn't go crazy with it, these things really aren't that difficult. They're pretty much made plug 'n' play (you just have to download the most current drivers).
One of the main things to be aware of are all the different volume controls there are in the chain. Start with the guitar's volume control > individual pedal levels > amp volume > soundcard's channel level > recording software's input level > master volume. (I excluded the mixer because it sounds like you really don't need one at this point.)
It may sound like a lot, but you can break it into 3 basic sections. Total amp output, soundcard's channel input level and the recording software's input level.
Most of this stuff stays the same, depending on the sound you're going for. If you have "your tone" already, then the battle is a third complete. From there you tell the card how much of it you'll allow in and the same for the software. The object is to prevent clipping at each of these stages. You'll have meters that allow you to see what everything's doing and...... if you really want to have some fun, you can get a Spectrum Analyzer that will show you in great detail what exactly is happening and you can correct certain frequencies accordingly.
racetruck1,
Regarding the interface, if you plan on doing vocals in the future you'll need an interface that has phantom power (that's if you get a condenser mic, a dynamic mic doesn't need power). This can be supplied in the interface or you can buy it separate later. Your best bet (and cheaper in the long run) is to get one already equip.
I (and a few others here) have the M-Audio MobilePre USB audio interface (probably @ 150 by now). It's nice and quite and I've never had a problem with latency. Also, if your software allows, you can record both your guitar and your vocals at the same time while inputting them into separate tracks.
Some come bundled with software worth using, some don't. What software you purchase (or not) will also depend on your daily demands.
