KVR Audio

Rosk · Post by **Rosk** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:43 pm

Hello i am 15 years old and I want to ask you should i buy a pro audio card like m audio considering i have basic musical education and i don't think going pro...is the difference big betwen the good expensive audio card and the cheap one?Is there an audio card that is not that expensive and at the same time good enough.And which is the minimum if RAM in your opinion.I use only software (reason 3.0)because i aint got money for anything like a sampler or a synth.My computer is (don't laugh)667mhz 128 RAM with a AC 97 audio card.I make Electronic music for 3 years now.Thank you

-Rosk-

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:59 pm

A better soundcard will let you hear a better-quality version of how your music sounds, and may reduce the processing overhead on your computer.
However given the spec of your computer, I'd say that more memory and a processor upgrade, in that order, would be better priorities for the meantime.
If you really decide to spring for a soundcard, the Audiophile 24/96 is proven, cheap, good quality and reliable.

sb.net · Post by **sb.net** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:10 pm

Thats some computer.. you'd probably look at my computer (my sig) and want it.. lol

My uncle got me an mbox 2, but you should get an m-audio card and the studio pro 3 monitors..

One thing I would recommend is an old (yet newer) computer and/or more ram..

I started making music 1 year ago, so we probably started making music at the same age..

Rosk · Post by **Rosk** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:14 pm

Thank you guys.I get the picture now.....I forgot to ask what's the difference between the monitors and the usual speakers?How to recognize them?

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:11 pm

Rosk wrote:Thank you guys.I get the picture now.....I forgot to ask what's the difference between the monitors and the usual speakers?How to recognize them?

generally monitors = speakers.

but hifi and computer speakers are generally designed to 'flatter' the sound, with a frequency response that has 'peaks' at particular ranges. studio monitors are designed to be as true to the original sound as possible, with an unaffected 'flat' frequency response. in other words you want to 'monitor' the sound accurately.
for audio you want to hear exactly what you're doing, so proper monitors are preferable.

amarule · Post by **amarule** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 9:05 pm

The M-box 2 is a good piece of gear, and IMHO will serve you fine. Plus learning Protools if you are even considering working in the audio field in any manner is wise.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:06 pm

amarule wrote:The M-box 2 is a good piece of gear, and IMHO will serve you fine. Plus learning Protools if you are even considering working in the audio field in any manner is wise.

If he's running a version of XP on a system with only 128Mb RAM, I'll be surprised. If he's not runnning XP, he's not going to be able to run PT. And the minimum recommended memory for PT appears to be 768Mb anyway. Given that he's said its a 667Mhz processor, its probably a Pentium3. They're not supported by PT either.
So no, Im not convinced an MBox2 will serve him fine, TBH.

amarule · Post by **amarule** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:15 pm

If that is the case, then I doubt any device will work well. PTle devices and PTle are pretty lightweight on processor power. Also, just because he cannot run current versions of PT doesn't mean he can't run PT. I've run Protools on PIII machines running win98. The OP would simply need to procure an older version of PT and a qualified interface.

In any case, yes the OP needs much more ram to run any DAW.

Reverse Engineer · Post by **Reverse Engineer** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:21 pm

Before even considering buying audio gear, i'd put as much investment as i could in either upgrading my system (the core of it = RAM, CPU, Storage), or getting a more powerful one (not new, that's pretty unecessary when you're starting out, a cheap system with 512+ RAM, and a 2GHZ+ CPU would more than quadruple your current power) before anything else. You already have reason 3, a more than competent tool, so think of all that before buying 'extras'...even an SB Live will get you very low latencies, and if you're not recording audio (external sources such as guitars, drums, vox etc, which it's not good for, although not the worst either

), then you'll find pretty few limitations with it. Rest assured, you don't have to pay stupid money to get a more than capable system up and running, that's just what retailers would LOVE you to believe.

stk · Post by **stk** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:45 pm

christ, some of us have released albums with (much) less cpu power

if you're gonna tell the dude to buy something, at least start where it counts; decent monitors.

/sk

Is professional audio card necessery?