Advice on building a computer strictly for, music production

I don't know anything about computers when it comes to music production. I have an all analog "home studio" and have never used a computer for my music or have ever seen how it's done. that's why I need some advice

I have some money saved to finally buy a computer. A buddy of mine can build them and said it will be much much cheaper if he builds it then if I buy one from a store.
What I am looking for in a computer is to be able to do some video editing and also use it to help with my music production.

here is what equipment I am using,

2 turntables
vestax mixer
MPC 2XL -8outs
SP 303
keyboards, guitars..
Tascam Portastudio 424mkIII
and some other toys

So what is most important when building a custom computer for this??
Memory, Sound Card? lol I have no idea

any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time
-Chapped

alot of memory and a good soundcard will get you far

most of the newer pentium or amd processors will do you fine

make sure your motherboard supports alot of ram at least 2-3gb max

most newer ones do, and if your friend builds computers i'm sure he will do you good

for video editing you definately want a very good graphics card too

look at some of the "pro audio" soundcards with the multiple inputs and whatnot, choose what you think you will need and plan ahead if at all possible

most of the newer graphic cards have onboard memory, the more the better

so.... your main focus should be

memory

soundcard

graphics card

tell you friend what you are wanting to do and i'm sure he'll get you the proper motherboard/cpu/chipset

Strong CPU
1gb PC2700 or above DDR (memory)
Strong FSB (Frontsidebus) motherboard

120gb Hard Drive 7200rpm or better
(preferably 2 HDD's, one for OS and one
for music/storage/work drive)

PCI Soundcard 16bit/44khz multiple 2channel
ins (left right)or better

CD Burner

yeah these dudes got most of it. Just make sure lots of ram, 2 hdrives. a soundcard that has asio support ( maduio deltas are aight and pretty cheap on ebay)., a midi interface like the maudio midimans, and maybe a zip drive to transfer to the mpc if u got a zip for it.

Wow, thanks allot guys I really REALLY appreciate it !

any idea how much $$$ this might cost me to make a decent computer? so far I have about $1600 but I also am looking to buy a decent monitor,
so that leaves like $1100 I know it's not really that much but since I am getting somebody to build it piece by piece I will be saving allot of money?

do you think that should be enough?

thanks for helping me out and keep the advice coming

-Chapped

Buy a quality motherboard. After u choose a motherboard do a search on net for info/problems with it.

AMD will give you most bang for buck.

You can get by with 512MB of ram but 1GB is recommended.

m-audio Delta 24/96 should suit your needs

If you can afford it buy a flat screen monitor

2 Hard disks are recommended for audio/video work. If you cannot afford that...then partition your hard disk when you format it into 2 drives...1 for programs and 1 for audio/video. Won't make the drive faster but makes it easier to manage your files.

yep, everybody gave you pretty much what you need

that's why i love this place!
people are willing to help

like someone said, AMD is real nice, pentiums claim to have a faster clock but their bit with is not as wide as AMD, so they aren't moving as much data as Amd is, may be an issue may not

it's like highways

if you have a two lane highway with a speed limit of 90mph

and you have a four lane highway with a speed limit of 75-80mph

which is moving more traffic

sure the two lane has a faster limit but the amount of traffic is significantly smaller

however like i said, any will do you good

i'm still looking for a good soundcard so be sure to let us know what you end up with

you can do searches to see what costs you are looking at

Computers are running real cheap.... getting it built doesn't neccessarily make you save money. It does let you get what you want, but you should also look into getting you a decent Dell or Gateway or something and upgrade from there with what you want. I got a PC built specifically for my music, and it's dope, but I probably could've done the same thing for less money by getting a Dell with a lot of extra space, then picking other shit that I want....

Just a suggestion

I like Dell, but I love the excitement of building my own more.

Ok, to add to everything already mentioned, VERY IMPORTANT:

Choose components that don't make much noise. Noise in your studio is a very bad thing. If your pc sounds like a helicopter you won't be able to hear your mix, and you can forget about recording an instrument or vocal.
Stuff that makes noise in a pc:

1. Power supply. This makes the most noise in your pc if you buy a cheap one. Get a Zalman or a Silentmaxx.
2. CPU cooler. Makes a highpitched noise. Very annoying. There are silent cpu-fans available from Zalman too.
3. Harddisks. If you have more than one harddisk, they'll start to make some noise. Western Digital Caviar and Seagate Barracuda are pretty silent, and fast too.
4. AGP videocards. Some videocards have small highspeed fans on them, these are mostly cards for gamers, don't use them in your audio pc. You won't need a fancy card like that anyway, get a cheap one without a fan.
5. Cheap computer cases. If it's made with lots of plastic and thin metal, don't buy it. It will rattle and vibrate. Get a good case like a Lian Li. They last a livetimes and damp a lot of sounds. They look better too.

The reason specific pc for music are more expensive, is because silent components cost more. But for $100 you can get yourself a very fast and quiet pc. I've build my pc for about $600.

I bought my parts here: http://www.quietpcusa.com/

Another thing to watch out for is the different chipsets on you mother board. It seems like protools for example has known issues with certain VIA chipsets.

MAC!

NEVER!

itchyvinyl wrote:MAC!

MACs are EXCELLENT, but then you cant do the things WE do on PC's if u know what I mean, EG software etc...the odd Bandool now and then..lol