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ricevoice

I'm ready for a new PC... current one works fine but is kinda slow for the more processor-demanding work I'm doing now.... a lot of imaging and sound design, using Vegas, SoundForge, and Acid. Anyone have a PC they'd recommend for extensive audio work (and it'll be completely offline if that makes any difference). Among the ones I'm looking at are Sweetwater's Creation Station PCs... anyone have one?

Thanks in advance!
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bobsouer · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:58 pm Post subject:

Chris,

I know a couple of folks who have Creation Stations. All are very happy with them.
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Brian in Charlotte · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:38 am Post subject:

Chris, if you don't have a contact over at Sweetwater, you can email me and I would be happy to give you the name of a guy I trust over there...have been using him for a long time. (I make nothing on referrals...I simply have had great service and experiences with him)

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Deirdre · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:29 am Post subject:

The best advice I've heard is to keep your audio-editing PC offline completely, so there's no chance of trouble from outside, and no spyware/virus protection software RAM hogging going on.
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ricevoice · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:30 am Post subject:

Thanks Bob, always reassuring to hear of satisfied customers before making a major purchase.

Thanks Brian... I've got a guy at Sweetwater too that I've used for the past year and am pleased with... for a non-techie like me Sweetwater's customer service really is a good selling point.

I'm the same way Deirdre... I keep my prod box completely away from the internets. Paranoid? Maybe, but that's one potentially disastrous variable I like to eliminate.

Thanks all!
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CarynClark · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:43 am Post subject:

I didn't even read the rest of the thread once I saw you were considering a Creation Station.

DON'T DO IT!!!!!

Do not buy your PC from Sweetwater. I have a Creation Station, and I don't like it. I've had a number of issues... the fan was too loud (forget the whisper quiet they advertise, it's bunk), I've had to add RAM, and two weeks ago, my monitor died... but now it appears that it might not just be the monitor... there's something up with the video card on the mother board.

To their credit, most of the guys there (one in particular... there's one I'll tell you to hang up on and don't deal with... pm me if you want to know) are very helpful. They did send me a replacement fan after I complained a number of times (I had to pay a tech to put it in, but they would've done it for me if I had sent the CPU back), and they did replace my monitor free of charge.

Honestly, I think you can get better bang for your PC buck elsewhere.
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ricevoice · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:21 am Post subject:

Ok, I've talked to a number of people who think I can get more bang for my buck by not going with the creation station PCs. One company I'm not looking at is Alienware, who specializes in gaming PCs but offers some pretty nice customization options. Anyone dealt with them? If so, please drop me a PM with your thoughts.

Thanks!
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ccpetersen · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:40 am Post subject:

Our two production computers (for sound) are both Dells with variously upgraded sound cards and various vintages of SawPro, Soundforge and now Adobe Soundbooth (which I haven't tried yet).

We have workstations (more RAM, etc.).

C
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TheVoiceOfBob · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:58 am Post subject:

Alienware makes nice rigs, but some of their cost is wrapped up into things we really don't need. Nice neat cabling, maybe even rounded cables, windows, exotic cases, lighted fans, pretty LEDs, etc... (actually I just described my home built unit!)

If you don't use a company that makes DAWs, any of the upper tier systems like the Dell Precision Workstations would do you well. Just outfit it with the hardware you need and you're done.
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ccpetersen · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:04 am Post subject:

... starting with a nice, quiet fan!!
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Hart · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:24 am Post subject:

I thought I'd link to this post since it's relevant to this one. Apologies if you started it as well:

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,90850.0.html
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Ed Gambill · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:22 pm Post subject:

Jon Morss · Guest

I just recently bought an HP m9000 series system with an Intel Quad core CPU and 3 Gigs of RAM for about $900.00. It came with Windows Vista so I bought another internal SATA drive and installed Win XP Pro as a dual boot system. The system run very nice with Cubase 4.1, Adobe Audition 2.0 and Sound Forge 9.0.

Jowillie · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject:

I am wringing hands over this too. I have been putting it off but need to do something soon.
In addition to audio, I will need to do limited video production. One of my video guys is still trying to convince me to switch to Vegas for audio. He says it is more compatable with video files. (I don't know where he gets that.) I prefer to use Audition and Premiere since I am used to them.
I did my research and still like the deal at Sonica to avoid conflicts, common drivers, quiet operation and all the audio needs and basics.
I too am wide open to advice. Thanks for all the comments so far.
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ricevoice · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:17 pm Post subject:

Vegas may be more compatible with video files than most audio editors because it is actually a video editor. A lot of people (like me) just use it for audio editing because it's so simple for multi-track productions, but still a very powerful tool. The added bonus of being so familiar with it as an audio editor is now that I've started dabbling in video, I'm having a pretty easy time editing stuff because I already know the program so well.
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