VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

louzucaro · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:39 am Post subject: Building a DAW

Hi folks,

I posted a blog entry about building a DAW if anybody's interested. It's not really saying "Do this!" as much as it is going over some of the things to consider and my personal choices.

I wrote this over the course of several (very late) nights so there's probably a sentence or two missing here and there haha.

Anyway, it's here:

http://blog.louzucaro.com/2008/03/09/building-a-daw/
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

georgethetech · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:43 am Post subject: Re: Building a DAW

Very nicely written, Lou. This should help a lot of people with questions about the process. Perhaps a link or two for websites that discuss optimizing your OS for DAW use are appropriate here.
http://www.editthis.info/sonar/Optimizing_Your_DAW
http://www.musicxp.net/index.php
http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.html
_________________
If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

bobsouer · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:56 am Post subject:

Lou,

Thanks for that great post. And George, thank you for those excellent links.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

Jowillie · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:10 am Post subject:

Thanks guys. I'm getting ready to start the process.
_________________
Wild Willie Edwards
www.hometowntvtoday.com
http://vomictest.blogspot.com

Craig · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:03 pm Post subject:

Excellent!

Just the article I was waiting for somebody to write.

Craig
_________________
Craig Park
www.parkvoiceovers.com

louzucaro · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the nice words all!

George, thanks for posting those links, too.

One thing I'd caution against, however, is doing too much in the way of disabling or removing Windows system components "just because they're not needed." While it's true that this can potentially improve performance on a slower system, it would probably be a safer bet to just add RAM to the system up to 2GB (under XP, for instance).

If the system is still slow with 2GB RAM, then there's something else wrong on that machine and disabling Windows system components isn't likely going to help, to be honest.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

Yoda117 · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject:

Meh, I've been having the most fun since I've switched to SSD's in the architecture.

Traditional HDDs are nice, but the speed and silence of solid state technology must be experienced to be believed.
_________________
Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

louzucaro · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:39 pm Post subject:

For those not clear on that acronym, SSD is "solid state drive" which is essentially like "a bunch of flash drives" (in theory) rather than hard disks with rotating platters.

To get HDD-equiv storage capacity though is likely beyond most peoples' budget at this point.

But as they come down in price they'll certainly be a good thing to have.

I'm just wondering what the data corruption probability is for SSDs vs. traditional HDDs due to things like power surges / drains, random EM interference, sunspots, etc. etc.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

Yoda117 · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:04 pm Post subject:

That's a good question. So far, so good on the smaller SSDs. I'm actually having less issues with interference caused by the drive as I did with a spinning platter HD (used to wreak havoc on my mobile phone).

I hoping for a cost drop this year, as I am rather enjoying using them. Still, the two drives became the highest cost factor of the computer.

Since we're on the subject of DAW design, I'll vouch for the following items.

Antec P182 (very good case with just some minor design issues, very quiet from the start).

HIS 2600XT 512Mb video card (It's not cutting edge, but you can get HD quality, and it's a passive card... just watch out for the huge heatsink).
_________________
Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

louzucaro · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:08 pm Post subject:

Yoda117 · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:19 pm Post subject:

when the HDD would spin up, I'd get a reception issue from my phone.

EDIT: phone had to be within 2 feet of HDD, otherwise nothing happened... was really bad when within 1 ft.

It wasn't all that uncommon with Seagate drives (drive was 4 years old at the time it last happened).
_________________
Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

TheVoiceOfBob · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:23 am Post subject:

Hard drives put out tons of RFI. They can mess with cordless phones as well.
_________________
Try to imagine a world where there is no such thing as hypothetical situations.

The Voice of Bob

louzucaro · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:28 am Post subject:

But aren't most of them shielded? I've never had an issue with that.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

TheVoiceOfBob · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:37 am Post subject:

For the most part, yes. That's why you have to be so close before it becomes a problem.
_________________
Try to imagine a world where there is no such thing as hypothetical situations.

The Voice of Bob

jrodriguez315 · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:36 pm Post subject:

Lou,

Thanks for that fantastic article. It is one of the best I've read on the subject. Very comprehensive and written with the layman (i.e. me!) in mind.
_________________
Joe Rodriguez, Bilingual Voice Actor | The Voiceover Thespian Blog