Re: FN-FORUM [OT ish] Computer Music & John Major

date posted 1st October 2002 21:32

Stuart,

I commiserate with you... i acquired three GL wave8/24x when they came
out, as at the time there was nothing that could touch it for quality...
after only being able to physically install two of the cards (stupidly
large!) in a humungously sized full tower case i started to have
doubts... then after three months of blue screens and PC deciding not to
boot-up at random intervals i'd returned them to gadget labs - job perk
at time - as they had given me no end of grief. then after toying with a
yamaha DSP setup, a terratec (abysmal - even worse than GL), and a
couple of other things whose names i forget, i ended up with a pair of
midiman delta 1010s and have NEVER had a problem - except on one of the
rackmount boxes which was a pre-release version, the PSU kept frying,
but promptly fixed... - gives me 16 balanced +4dB analogue in/outs plus
two stereo SPDIF in/out and recording up to 24bit/96k (fantastic for
acoustic instruments like winds, brass, and vocals)...

anyway, all i need is a means to get audio in - minimum of 8 tracks
simultaneously - and back out again for post-production via the desk. i
don't even try and run a midi/audio sequencer like cubase/logic on the
recording machine as it's a recipe for disaster with that amount of
inputs - latency, drop-outs etc... when i need to use a sequencer (very
rare at the moment) i use either an old PC with cakewalk pro 9 on it, or
my trusty Amiga4000 running Octamed (yep still works... just... know it
backwards so can get results in a quarter of the time it takes on a PC
style sequencer, especially good for precussion sequencing btw), either
of these are midi'd up to the synths/samplers etc which are themselves
fed into a desk and then back into the recording PC running cooledit...

i'd seriously suggest separating the two functions of MIDI and audio
into different PCs. problems will be far easier to track down that way,
you'll never have a latency issue with your soundcard as you're not
feeding audio all round the houses in the one PC, and you can sync up
the MIDI PC in whatever way you want, via SMPTE if you have the
capabilities, or MTC if you don't. for example i never need to sync the
two PCs to sample accuracy as i never overdub using MIDI... i may record
with a MIDI backing playing, but that's just a guide in the majority
of cases...

oops... i'll shut up as i can waffle for hours about this...

hth

ade


Stuart Wright wrote:
> Ade said
>
> i wouldn't swap a 16 in/out 24bit/96k PC setup for a cassette based
> multitracker though... ;-)
>
> You obviously haven't got a Gadget Labs 8/24 running with Cakewalk Pro Audio
> setup then. Many times I feel like dragging the old Fostex A8 out and
> actually getting something recorded.
>
> I jumped into PC based editing when the first versions of SAW and Cakewalk
> came out. I ran them on a "top of the range" 486. Since then everytime I
> upgrade my PC I tryout the latest soundcards etc. Spend all my spare cash
> and then end up with a system that drops out at the most inappropriate
> moments. I'm beginning to think that the machinery is casting a vote on my
> talent.
>
> I must say that Cooledit never gives me any problems, but I only use it on
> stuff that's already been recorded.
>
> I used to love my Tascam 244 Portastudio. It never ever gave me a blue
> screen of death. :)
>
> Stuart.