DOES ANYONE KNOW COMPUTERS!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

ok.. so I'm looking to purchase a computer in the next 2 or 3 months..
I plan on maybe running it like this...

     buying a HUGE external memory or the (suprisingly) cheaper internal hard drive..

then running a "striped down no fluff" version of my OS just with my DAW and audio stuff
just from this hard drive..

then on the original hardrive i plan to leave the original OS and "fluff" for just normal computing..

now... what hard drives should i look at. is 7200rpm fast enough?

i found one that hold 1TB and runs at 7200rpms... for like 130$
is that good? thats a TON of space but is it fast enough?

and the computer i found runs a AMD Athlon™ X2 proccesor at 2.3ghz

i did some research that said 2.6ghz was a good start for recording computers...

if i don't plan on running a WHOLE LOAD of vst's and other things

is 2.3 ghz ok?

AND CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN FIREWIRE TO ME!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!
WTC IS IT... AND IS IT FASTER THAN USB... and IS THERE A CONVERTER FOR FIREWIRE TO USB!!!!

basically i have a BUNCH more questions.....

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

desperatly,
       Your Friendly Neighborhood Sasquatch

7200rpm isn't bad.  It's a pretty normal number.  "Gamer" drives usually go at 9xxx or 10xxx something.  I can't seem to come up with what "DAW" means, but for recording and audio stuff, that should be fine.

I'd pay attention to the harddrive interface type, though.  You'll want SATA-II (or SATA 3-Gbit is the real name) drive, and nothing lower... lower drives would be ATA, PATA, IDE, SATA-I (or SATA 1.5Gbit).

As for the processor... a dual core 2.3ghz processor will likely be fine, especially if you're not running much else.  However, you might want to watch http://slickdeals.net for a few weeks and see if you can find better.  You can buy parts on NewEgg.com even, if you care to slap a processor on there yourself.  A coworker of mine just bought a quad-core 2.4ghz processor for hardly anything.

I'd probably make sure your processor was 64-bit (sometimes called x64, as in "not x86" and "not 32-bit").  (Most newer ones from AMD are.)  I'll explain in a moment.

Firewire... unless you're hellbent on wishful thinking, there honestly aren't many uses for it.  It's really fast, but nothing uses it.  (Nothing that Apple doesn't produce, anyway.  And their proprietary butts won't change that anytime soon.)  It is faster than USB (though a new version of USB should be out within a year or two...), but if you were to slap a converter on it, it would defeat the purpose of the speed of firewire.

Unless you have a firewire gadget, I'd say screw it.  The rest of the world gets by without it.

I'd pay attention to your RAM in the computer as well... You'll want a good big amount of that, if you can.  The reason I mentioned getting a x64 processor is because our old standard of x86 can only use a limited amount of RAM.  That limit is decently high, but for a media-processing computer, you'll likely want to make sure that the computer isn't useless in 3 years.  By getting an x64 processor, you're helping to make sure that you can upgrade the computer in the future.

As for the amount of RAM to have, I'd suggest 4gb.  If this were a normal college-kid "email, Word, and Facebook" computer, 1.5gb would be fine.  And if you start getting hammered with RAM terms like DDR2 or DDR3, dual channel, PCxxx (where xxx is a number, not a strip club), just go for the highest numbers that fit your budget.  DDR2 is normal right now, but DDR3 is going to be the new "best" within a month or so.  I don't even know if you can buy non-dual channel RAM anymore.  And for the PCxxx thing, ... don't get something less than 667.  If you do, your RAM will be a huge bottleneck for your computer's performance.

... i think that's all for now.  If you need more info, ask away.  I could write a ton about this sort of thing :P

Tim

slickdeals.net and newegg.com rules

does this apply to external drives because i can't find where it says that for external drives.. i did find a nice western digital 1TB that said it was Serial ATA like 3.0g? is that something whorth my time?

and then i found a AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz proccesor for 70$

but if i change proccesors i'm going to go with an external drive... probably this hitachi 640mb i found for around 70$ now... it is says its FAT32 wich from what i understand means you can only save files 4mb and smaller? if i want to install an OS on this would that deter my effort? should NTFS be what i look for?

(btw a DAW is a Digital Audio Workstation i.e. Fruityloops,Cubase,Cakewalk.. etc.)

and what should i look for in a sound card... my budget for the ENTIRE studio of wich i have like 2 mics.... is around 1200$ thats 3 months work for me.. so keep this in mind... i can go over but.. i'm not sure i want to hahahaha but thanks for your help man!!

"Serial ATA" is another term for SATA (I missed that nickname in my list I gave).

External drives can be tricky, because you can only cram so much data through them at a time.  If you plan on using like a big hoard of a backup, then it'll probably be fine, but I would not endorse using an external driver for recording stuff directly to it.  That's best done on an internal drive.

No matter what the speed of an external drive, you're probably going to be limited by the speed of the USB port you're plugging it into.  As a backup, external is great.  Performance-wise, though, internal is the way to go.

That processor you mentioned sounds pretty good.

The alternative harddrive you mentioned-- did you mean 640 "gb" instead of "mb"?  Not a bad price--  and if it's SATA-II / SATA3gb / Serial ATA, then it's probably fine.  I'm honestly not sure if a drive can force you to use FAT32.  It's not really something that the drive decides.  It's something you pick when installing your OS. An "FS" (file system, which could be FAT32, NTFS, XFS, the list goes on and on with Unix operating systems) is just a blueprint for how the operating system will record info on your drive.

And yes, FAT32 is limited to file size, so avoid it.  If you're planning on running a unix/linux variant, just let it use its default file system.  If you're using Windows, NTFS is your best bet.

Yeah, i think your budget sounds good.  It's getting easier and easier to make a computer for cheaper and cheaper.  (Especially if you're willing to buy some parts separately for the good deals.)

Thanks for the definition-- I guess I use those things, but never used the acronym!

So yeah.. in terms of the hard drive, I'd at least make sure that your internal one is "operational", or else you'll find yourself having a hard time.  And in the end, external hard drives are easy to purchase and add in later, if needs be.  If you want to have one up front, though, I might try to split the firepower between the internal and external, and then possibly get another external a few months down the road.  Just my thought.  It's really nice to have your data on the internal drive, since it can be loaded faster.

You know what i was just thinking... the whole x86 versus x64 processor thing... You might want to investigate if you can find each of the audio programs you want to use has a 64-bit edition.  If not, then you might want to find out if the OS you want to use can easily do x86/32-bit emulation.

If you answered "no" to either of those two things, then you might want to do one of the following:

 - Go back to an x86 processor, understanding that your RAM will be limited to 4gb (minus however much RAM in on your video card / internal GPU (graphics processing unit... an "onboard" video card).  This system won't be able to handler more than 4gb total, ever, unless you get a new processor one day.  (This is not impossible, and is sometimes the better option, over buying a brand new computer in a few years.)

 - Make sure that the AMD x64 chip can run an x86 operating system.  My home computer uses a processor very much like the x64 one you said you found for $70.  It can run an x86/32-bit OS without any problems, even though its an x64 processor.  (If you install a 32-bit OS, you won't be able to use 64-bit programs, though.)

If you pick the x86 processor, then fine.  Just make sure it's fast If you want to stick with the x64 chip, then you should know that Windows Vista is better on x64 than on x86.  They made a lot of optimizations if you choose to run something like Vista or Windows 7 (prolly not Win7 :P , given that this is a media machine).  If you want to run XP, then .. I don't know   Personally, I don't think anybody should be running XP for much of anything anymore, especially if you want to be running new software.

By curiosity, what OS do you want to use?  I'm not sure how many pro audio programs Linux offers.

Vista will be my OS....

I'm not going to do the dual boot thing anymore...

and since the onboard memory is 250gb and writes at 7200rpms

then i'm going to use it for the time being...

after i use it for a while i may upgrade the hard drive but then again...

i may not....

I think i'm going to get a x64 proccessor now.. is x86 better?

is that what vista runs at?

i know fruity loops and cubase and audacity.. all work with vista..

those are the ones i plan to use....

HOPE THIS HELPS!!

does it have to be windows,, and as far as the firewire goes. it has to do with latency,  the fastest you can transfer information. firewire audio interfaces with their own pci card are by far faster than any usb interface.

I am shooting for this DAW set up. next.
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/symphony-system.php

you need to study up on what DAW interfaces you would like to use..

firewire interfaces outperform usb interfaces by a bunch.. I have both. my firewire interfaces with their own pci card are 3 times faster than the next firewire interface I have, and 4 times faster than the fastest usb interface
 I have.  It's all about Latency.. The less you have the tighter your recordings.  fastest computer, with the best ram set up with the fastest hard drives set up.  fastest transfer of information = lowest latency.

don't get in a hurry, try to get a quad or 8 core if possible with the fastest speed you can get,  big super fast honking hardrives ( the deeper the bit depth the more HD you use up).  load it up on as much ram as you can put in it.

then look around for a very good used  DAW set up. you can get pro tool digi oo2 and oo3's for cheap
 or the motu 2408 III's  ,. you might even get lucky and find some apogee stuff for sell used.

check on gearslutz.com for lots of great useful info.

ok... firstly....

does it have to be windows

it dosn't nesecarilly but here is my reasoning...
it is the most familiar to me...
Linux is a bunch of open source coding..
and mac's cost like WAY over my budget....
so vista is about my only option... (that i see)

if you could point me into a better direction i would be grateful!!!

and secondly...

what if i just buy an okay computer from dell or hp or something
and then upgrade the proccesor, ram, and the hard drive...
would that be cheaper...
plus i can kindof customize it...
feedback?

I have both. mac and pc.. when I went with my pc.. I found out I could build one lots cheaper than buy one.
they are not hard to put together. check at newegg or other computer places.  you can get a box
 and load it up for a lot cheaper than buying brand name computers.

if you are not sure about building it yourself, I am certain you can find someone in your area than had the knowledge to put one together for you for cheap.. and those guys usually have lots of great software that is usable for recordings and such.

you can find very good macs for sale on ebay Sometimes you can find em already loaded up with pro tools and the pro tools interfaces, or  motu interfaces , ect. and they come with the recording software packages already. so by the time you look at buying a computer,. then all the software and interface.. you are sometimes cheaper just buying one of the used ones already loaded up with what you need.

It's cheaper to build your own.....you've had loads of info from this thread, you could still ask for some more, you can look on line , talk to people in shops....get informed.
Then buy the bits you need for your 'project', find a totally cool cheap tower, make sure you can stick a few good silent fans in it. Get the motherboard you need, a power supply, video card, a really good audio card, a lot of memory, a couple of HD's and a DVD burner.
The tower can be second-hand, the mother board new, video card could be a 'reasonable' second-hand one but the audio card must be very good.....
There's an installation hand-book with a motherboard anyway and a cd with the drivers and help.

You'll learn so much more by doing it your self.
And you'll come to 'appreciate' your system, what does what and why.

Once you have your super dooper whooper of a pc DAW, go searching on line on how to optimize your system for 'music production'. The simple things like not having loads of crap starting up and staying on in the background.

Just a thought.....There is a program called 'XPlite', which you can use to create your own Windows XP, I dont know about Vista or 7.
You install a fresh WindowsXP, start up XPlite, customize your windows, like get rid of shit, and then let it create a new minimized windowsXP installation CD, which you then install as your OS.

What I'm saying is that if your serious about it you could have a maga custom PC system run by the minimum required Windows so that you can have the maximum amount of resources to run your DAW.
Or you could by a Mac!    

hahaha thank man.. i really think i'm just going to build my own
 
this can't end well.....
i guess the first thing to do is..
look up what parts i need...
ok..
do you guys have any advice on a motherboard?
i am clueless...

Well, please read my long-winded explanations.  Here's what I think:

Just about any OS you want to use can work on an x64 processor.  It's more a question of if the programs you want to use have an x64 version.  This is different than finding out if they simply "work on vista".  It depends on if you were running x86 vista or x64 vista.

Frankly, x64 will get faster.  x64 vista already *is* faster.  Within 3 or 4 years, x86 will die out, but not all programs have made an x64 version yet.

I'd really forget the firewire thing, unless you're really bent on using recording hardware that needs it.  It's faster by a lot, but it's sooo not worth it to buy the card needed for the computer to use it.  I swear to you that you'll never use it unless you already need to.  And by then, USB 3 will be out (we're at USB 2).  Just give it a year, and you'll never regret it.


Building your own computer... I think this is a good opportunity to remind the masses that mathematical addition is commutative, and so if you buy the pieces individually, it won't be much different than buying them all together.  This used to not be true, but more and more, it really isn't going to give you much of a return on the pricing, unless you find sales on individual items.  Prices on computers are only stupid if you're standing at walmart trying to buy something off the shelf.  To build your own you'll have to find a good price on a processor, a motherboard, power supply, ram (which fits your motherboard's slot types), yada yada.  And then you're opening up yourself to aspects of the technicalities that you may not like.  If you've got the courage, then go for it.  And if you've got more questions because of it, then ask away.


Honestly, linux will be a pain in the freaking butt if you don't know if your programs are going to work on it.  Trust me... there is a good reason why even Ubuntu (the "easy" flagship of them all) will not be for the common user for years yet to come.  If you don't know what "chmod" means, or if the significance of "becoming root" is, then go with windows and never look back until the Linux crowd can clean up the command-line messes.

And if you're screwing Linux, and you're going for vista, then I would strongly urge you to not go for XP, despite other recommendations.  Vista is a good thing.  Windows 7 is on the verge of being released, and it is a huge improvement on Vista.  Windows 7 does better with memory, which is what most blind gripes about Vista are all about.  XP is dated.  It has lived long past its intended life span, but that doesn't mean you should depend on it.



If you don't already have a copy of Vista, you can do one of two things:
1) find someone with some magic, "magic" meaning an MSDN account with microsoft.  Anybody working for MS will have one.  Just ask them for a serial key to the OS.  Alternatively, find a university student who has no idea what "vista" means, and ask them for their University-supplied download of the OS.  Take it from them, since they won't miss it, and it won't cost you anything.

2) Ask me-- I've got an extra copy of Vista's Business edition that I don't use.  I could care less who I give it to.  It's just a serial number to me.  (Note that I'm not trying to pirate it to you-- I simply don't use it.)  You can download the actual disk anywhere.  It's not the cd that is worth all the money, it's the serial key, and I can give that to you for nothing.

Either way, the point is that you should find every way to avoid paying money for an operating system.  For some people that means "use linux".  For me, that means use Windows, and find a (100% legal) way to get it for free.  If you get Vista for little or no cost, then you can get the upgrade to Windows 7 sometime relatively soon.  The upgrade will be well worth it.

If you think that XP may be worth it (since, as kings mentioned, there are ways to strip it down even more), I've got a (legal) serial key for that, too.  Just let me know if you want one of the OS keys.

HOLY SHIZ!!

ok its a eMachines EL1210-09

it has a 64-bit processor... (2.4ghz)

and peaks just over 300$

now.. the RAM is what is call 2gb DDR2 (240 pin)
from what i understand... it is 2 different 1gb RAMs

now for 50$ i found 4gb 2gbx2 DDR2 (240 pin)

EDIT: WOW JUST FOUND IT WITH A 25$ REBATE!!

will this work?

and the hard drive in this is SATA-II

can i get a serial ATA 640gb and put it in there?

it transfers 3.0g/s (gigs per second?)

will it just connect and go?

adn as for the audio... i think i'm going to go with

a break out box...

any suggestions on a good one?

The 4gb of ram sounds good-- can you say any more about the speed?  usually they write it as "PC330" or "PC877" or something.  If it's a decent number, it's probably worth getting.

The hard drive also sounds good.

You should know, that if you are looking for a motherboard on your own, a few things:
- Motherboards are what have the slots for the actual RAM itself.  A decent board will have usually 4 slots, and should have at least a 2-4 gb "slot max".  That just refers to the maximum size of a single stick of RAM you could put in any single slot.  Like you said, you found 4gb in a 2gbx2 form, so you'd need a motherboard with at least a 2gb slot max.  (Ideally, you'd shoot for 4, but 2 is just fine.)

- The motherboard will also determine what kind of hard drive(s) you can use.  Any decent motherboard worth 50 cents should be able to use that SATA drive you talked about.  It might also make reference to having at least one "parallel" or "IDE" interface on it.  This is good, because CD/DVD drives use "parallel"/IDE still.

I don't know audio boards as well as the other stuff (surprisingly).  Even if the motherboard you buy as an "onboard" sound card, it'll be crap, so make sure you put some money into an audio board.  You'll probably be best off getting opinions from the others on this one.

I agree with tonight and I don';t agree at the same time.. new egg offers up bundles at sale prices all the time.
http://www.newegg.com/Special/Combo.aspx?Subcategory=22&Brand=0&SaveCompare=0&SaveAmount=&kwd=&ListType=combo&action=search&item=

go shopping.

 when I put my pc together.. If I would of bought a brand name computer to match what I have in this box.. I would have spent a $2000.00 or better to match it...

I put it together for a fraction of that cost.

 it takes a little know how and a little research..

I also don't agree on the firewire.. every major studio I have worked with or know about.. FIREWIRE
interfaces
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/370503-fw400-now-officially-dead.html
 
my usb interfaces barely comes in to a tolerable latency for recording imho.. i can record with it but it sucks..
 
 my firewire with the  rewire in the pci card take the monitor mixing returns away from the computer which speeds the return sounds and your recording tracks up immensely.  my latency with my firewire pci is non noticeable..   I may not be an expert on computers and writing software, but I do know the DAW systems that are out there .. From top end stuff like the apogee and prism sound all the way ,down   to Maudio stuff.. alot of it I get to try out from time to time..

If you want thin sounding  tracks, latency issues and cheaper AD/DA converter ( in the digital realm this means a lot) use cheaper slower  USB interfaces.. I have em I know.

 an example... I had a chance to try out  the apogee ensemble interface with the preamps .. I have what a lot of people would consider to be very good interfaces (motu 2408's ) .  I laid down one guitar track and one vocal track with the ensemble ,, In just that little bit of recording, I knew there was a world of difference between my pci firewire interfaces, and their firewire interfaces.. I mean very noticeable differences .  I researched why and found out , almost every cheaper interface skimps on the quality of the analog section in the converters (cheapest ones skimp on the digiital section too) .. also the apogee jitter is very very small to the jitter in other interfaces (loss of timing and information).. it doesn't need a time piece / host to clock everything  together ( almost every cheaper interface (including the ones I use now) ,... lack in that department).

 I am not trying to talk you into spending a ton of money.. but look around and research things.. you can call apogee and talk to them about future products ect. same with motu. , didgidesign (protools) and others.. they have sales staff and customer service techs that will get on the ph and talk about their products.  Do your own homework. You might be surprised at how cheap you can get a clean fast system, or even a  professional set up.

 I would look for upgrades usb 3.0 but I believe the pro gear will move on to either another setup or FW3200.

And I'm not really dissing Firewire itself, but if he isn't pursuing any hardware that needs firewire yet, then I'm really not sure what it'll do for him yet.  Note the "yet".  It really has its uses.  Cost-wise, the problem is that it's the ONLY use it has, and so it hasn't become mainstream to justify a spending fling.

As for building the computer-- you're exactly correct: you have to buy parts in bundles or at discounted rates.  But simply buying them separately at any standard price won't yield the benefit.  DowntownSasquatch should just know that he's on a bargain hunt for every piece if he expects to save money.

DowntownSasquatch, I sent you an email with that serial key of mine.  Don't abuse it :P

If you're looking for a motherboard, DowntownSasquatch, make sure that it has "PCIe" / "PCI express" slots on it.  (The other things you might see are "PCI" (no "e" or "express" on it), "AGP", and then extra terms like "SLI" or "crossfire".  You really don't need anything with crossfire, and probably not SLI, either.  Those are mostly used for gaming-caliber video cards.  All of those acronyms refer to the kinds of cards your computer can handle.  Therefore, if you do decide to get a firewire card, you'll have to make sure its type matches that of the slots on your motherboard.  Ideally, you'd be getting a motherboard with PCIexpress slots, and then hardware cards (firewire, soundcard, video card, etc, etc) that are also PCIexpress.  The pin configurations are different on all the varieties of card types, so you cannot buy one and expect it to fit another's slot on your motherboard.

Hey thanks alot...
 
eMachine computer specifications

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883114070

        ok so...  lets do a little pro con thing for usb vs firwire...
                  give me more reasonns guys...

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN

       USB 2.0                                       FIREWIRE
        1. cheaper                                           1. faster
        2. more user friendly                                 2. more upgradable?
                          

any more reasons...

and btw.........

if i use a USB mixer.... that has monitor outs and returns.... will i need sound card?

b/c won't the usb like... bypass my soundcard and go straight to the driver/program?

just a thought..

USB owns. end of discussion. firewire is like for macs only, and if you have a mac then sure use it. I have A usb mixer, all usb ports on my computer and i dont really care about changing it becayse all of my devices are USB...not worth the change or the money in my opinion...im satisfied as it is

Yeah..

USB 2.0 pros
-Gets more attention
-More common
-Not "slow" (but not as fast as newer firewire cards)
-Can draw power from the computer, sometimes eliminating the need for an external power supply on small devices.
- freaking cheap

Firewire pros
-Much faster, if you get a high-end type
- ... Thus can pack more data through the cable, possibly getting better sound quality, as toastedgoat has mentioned from his experience.
- Probably gives better bit-depth (explained below, in USB cons)


USB 2.0 cons
- slower than the better types of firewire
- can produce more "flimsy" sounding recordings, if you're trying to pack too much data through it
- most USB plugs probably aren't going to give you full bit-depth for something like huge hardware effects.  For example, most recordings are finalized at 16-bit depth, yet most effects (and probably DAWs) will process at 24-bit, at least.  This means that the effect has better manipulation of your sounds, even if the final result must be reduced to 16-bit depth.  You'll still notice a difference.

Firewire cons
- Not as common, as far as "common" appliances go.  DAWs may very well be an exception.  Just don't expect to find extra "oh, I didn't think of that" uses for your firewire port if you don't already have a device that requires it.  This is for the reason TheKunadian has just stated: Mac pretty much owns it, and they have their heads so far up the butt of "proprietary" that it won't really change much in the future.
- More expensive. (yet given the speed differences, you can understand why)



So really there aren't huge practical disadvantages to using Firewire-- Just be sure that your recording hardware can use it.  If you're looking for something cheaper, due to budget restrictions, etc, then you can certainly get away with USB.  You will most likely notice USB falling short if you're trying to do hardware effects, before the sound data comes to your computer.  Arguably, you should avoid hardware effects that you might want to tweak later, since with software effects you can do just that, and the whole question of bit-depth and transfer speeds are then placed on your computer's shoulders, instead of your USB vs Firewire speeds.

As for the computer you posted a link for-- it's really not a bad machine, but you could probably milk more out of your budget if you find the pieces separately, and then (if you need to) have someone who you know personally help you put the pieces together.

Processor (quad core, instead of just dual core): $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650

Motherboard: $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131366

RAM: 6gb of DDR3 ram-- bleeding edge fast stuff: $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220365
or 4gb of DDR3:  $62
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231190

Power supply & case: $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.177883

= between $482 - $530

What you're lacking from this setup is a harddrive, and whatever sound card you might want / firewire gadgets.  Any SATA / serial ATA hard drive would do the job.

The motherboard supports a PCI-express card which could easily accomodate your sound card, if you want to get one.  The stuff onboard probably isn't spectacular.

More money than the emachines one you linked to, but this dwarfs the emachine, in terms of speed and memory, and you're not wasting money on the pre-installed OS, dummy speakers, keyboard, mouse, etc.  Recycle your parts and use what you can (monitor, keyboard, mouse, hard drives, etc).

You can get a 1-terabyte (1024gb) drive for about $100 if you find the right deal If you want to stay cheaper, you can get 260gb or even 500gb for $60-$80, on average.

*shrug*

usb pro's.... way cheaper to build units to hook up to your computer.. ipods and printers ect.. it's fast. and cheap.

cheap to build wins. so most manufacturers build things usb. plus it is the considered the standard format for computer hookups.

firewire400 is gone.. 800 still here. not sure for how much longer but for right now mac and windows still use it hopefully firewire 3200 is soon to make an appearance..

my pc is not that old it has 6 firewire ports ( I made sure of it when I built it) windows units built just for quality recording purposes will have firewire ports.


the following copied from gearsluts.z discusssion on firewire/usb.

USB and USB 2.0 are half-duplex. The connection cannot read/write simultaneously. Firewire has always been full duplex. USB 3.0 finally joins the full duplex party though it's still not going to deliver as much power as Firewire.

The thing that I don't like is that USB depends on your CPU to handle the I/O traffic from connected devices thus its CPU utilization will never be as low as a smarter connection like Firewire.

My ideal design for a computer is to take the CPU cores and have them focus on running my applications well and leave the I/O stuff to smart controllers. SCSI/SAS allow this and Firewire allows this which is why they are more expensive technologies.
__________________

USB is a master-slave protocol. One of the nodes in the network is the master (the computer) and it must arbitrate communication, polling each of the devices. This places very important limitations.

Firewire, on the other hand, is a peer-to-peer protocol. All the stations are equal (audio interface, disk, computer...) and the only difference is the role they assume.

And of course Firewire is full-duplex. Moreover it can access memory directly, which has an advantage on CPU load and, more important, latency.


usb 3.0 is addressing some of these issues.  I would look for some changes made in usb in the next couple of years... USB is more common .. for one fact.. cheaper and easier to build units that use USB. and they are willing to sacrifice quality, and speed for it... that is fine for printers and ipods and phones ect.. not so good when it comes to making quality recordings.. as stated above.. the more info that can be moved at the fastest speed the better it is........... essential when doing quality sound recordings.

faster speed= lowest latency= tighter recordings.  plus more information moved. thicker sound.

I use usb and firewire both on my pc and mac.   imho I am not fond of using the usb for recording guitars and vocals,... do to latency issues (even with the buffers set as low as they can go) . The usb is thinner sounding,.  plus the jitter on usb devices in their AD/DA conversion is not very good which = loss of information = thinner sounds.

I am not worrying about arguing for or against either one.. what I am trying to do is help fellow musicians and people wanting to make music with the computer machines.. to spend their money wisely, shop around.... understand what the industry professionals use, and why they use it ( I know most people can't afford that stuff), That information gives people a chance to purchase wisely and be satisfied with the purchases they make...


 I like the computer system TLS linked to above.. also .. I will give a link to a recording unit that for the price is getting very good reviews .

 I know this is a long post , lots of information given.. Here is the link to the very reasonably priced unit.
I haven't had a chance to record with it yet. I understand it performs very well though. and the tube preamps for this low of  price are doing a great job.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TubeFire8/reviews/#anchor

good info.  amen.

What about like a FireWire audio card?
Firewire interfaces are way out my budget..
But If there is a FireWire audio card or something..
That would be sick!! (thAt's good for you older folk)
I could stay in my budget have super recording
And upgrade in the future!!

(not sure if you posted this before/after my last email to you-- i did link to a single-port firewire bay-drive thingy, which had some usb ports, firewire port, a mic-in, and one other small jack.  I'm not sure how specialized it was toward audio, though, or the speed of the firewire port on it.)

DS. first you need to address what it is your trying to accomplish with your recordings.. is it just going to be you doing the recordings?  Are you going to need to record more than one instrument at a time?
Is it just to put some ideas together and for fun?
not to upset of the quality isn't professional sounding?
How good of a musician are you also might play into it... no use spending lots of money if you're a beginner guitar player or something and just recording some ideas and possible songs stuff.

That said.  USB can bring you into the recording realm in your pc for  a decent price.
 
What I would think of is putting usb in the computer. make sure it has pci/e slots and if you get the right mother board it should have a couple of firewire 800's on the back of it too hopefully.. that way you could put your money into your computer. use your recording software that you have.. and find a cheap audio interface.
 
usb or firewire. you might be cheaper to lets say get a line 6 guitar port of some kind. and then buy a cheap usb condenser mic.  or maybe a cheap usb  mixer with effects. and load in free vst preamps to help with the tones.

their are a lot of options.
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Lexicon-Alpha-USB-Audio-Interface?sku=245507
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-Delta-1010-LT-PCI-Digital-Audio-System?sku=701376
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=usb+mics

if you don't need a lot of different inputs at one time... and want a quality interface..
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Duet/

also look at the guitar rig or line 6 stuff. some of the line 6 interfaces will give you guitar amp tones and vocal inputs too.

Lots of ways of getting sound into a computer.. Best advice I can give is  shop shop shop. get your money hand and look around . understand what is out there... so when you see a great deal you are ready to jump on it.

alright.. i've been doing some hardcore deal hunting...
I found this little beaut!!!

              A presonus firewire interface....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829999002

it has 2 mic(xlr) inputs...
2 phono (trs) inputs
it also has a stero rca input in the back
as well as an output for monitors...
all for $200
What do you think?
for 100$ more i can get the 6x10
but do i really need it?
and you can find firewire cards for like 15or 16$ man...
thats nice!!!!


i'm shopping around kinda and finding cheap prices and hope to have a list of stuff
for you guys to approve! lol thanks man

That should work.  keep looking you might be able to find one with the pci card for about the same price.
 The ones with their own card , usually have rerouting (monitor mixes done at the pci card level so the computer doesn't have to do it)

That looks like a pretty good deal. See if you can try it out against some others at the store. Guitar Centers will let you do this.

I use a Audiofire 12 (ASIO is required or nothing will playback proper) with a PC, Dual Core proc, 2-Ea. 250Gig internal HD,s 2 gig RAM
AA 2.0 is the platform. It all runs great. It takes allot of tracks and plugs before it even glitches.
The RAM is important for plug-ins. Believe me, you will want them, need them, and use them.
There is lots of cool free ones out there.
The firewire device works great and sounds great.
Good luck with the upgrade!

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--TAPLINKFW4X6

i can use a direct box for my guitar?!!?!?