What goes in my PC for a good recording setup????

I'm finally going to build a recording setup. Nothing fancy, but something small and powerful.


Here is a list of the things that I'm thinking about building into my new PC. The case will not be going on my computer, too old school. I'll get something inspiring to look at.
https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=7079851&WishListTitle=at





For an interface, I think I will use the Mackie Onyx Sattelite, and a small Mackie mixer.

American Music Supply has a package deal: www.americanmusical.com

Part # MAC ONYXSAT PAK



What else would I need?

A better sound card? I'll be using an interface and mixer, so I'm not sure how much to spend here.

I will get a better video card when I get some more money.

I read another thread from MMJP6 about sound cards. Everybody suggested M Audio.

Is this a good one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829121122

If you use an interface, it replaces your sound card, so there is no need to have a good sound card and an interface. The onyx comes with Tracktion 2 recording software, which IMO is a rock solid software. There is a Tracktion 3 available, which has many new features, most of the bugs seem to have been worked out now, but you will have the option to upgrade to T3 for cheap if you choose to do so. So all you will need is some mics, maybe a dynamic and a condensor. And maybe some nearfield monitors. That should be all you need to get started.

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks Strategy,

The recording pak from AMS has 2 monitors, and a condensor mic. I have tons of SM57's & SM58's.


I opted for a 2nd hard drive (for backups) instead of the sound card. The onboard audio is 7.1, don't know how good it is though.



Would a better video card help when editing?


Is 2 Gigs of Ram enough (sounds like a stupid question, but you never know).

An upgraded video card probably won't be necessary with the tracktion software. The problem that most people run into is CPU. When you start using lots of plugins, your computer may struggle to keep up with the demand for processing power, and you'll start hearing clicks and pops, (which is common to any software) so the more ram you have the better. 2gigs should be sufficient, but really, that all depends on how you process your recordings.

Here is an excellent resource to some of those exact questions. You could probably find better answers there, than I could give you.

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

I was planning on using the following:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Brisbane 2.7GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor

GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AM2 AMD 690G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory



Should be a pretty ballsy computer.

As long as you have dual core and at least 2 gigs of RAM, you should be fine. You don't need to buy a good video card since that is mostly for games but a good audio card would help.