Re: [linux-audio-user] GSG for home studio? (Newbie question)

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Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] GSG for home studio? (Newbie question)
From: Steve Harris (S.W.Harris_AT_ecs.soton.ac.uk)
Date: Sat Dec 14 2002 - 01:20:35 EET


On Fri, Dec 13, 2002 at 05:57:59 -0500, Chris wrote:
> 1) How important is a da-ad converter, and how much must one spend on this?

Well, you need /a/ AD/DA converter somewhere, some soundcards have them
built in, some dont. External ones tend to be pretty expensive.
 
> 2) What does one look for in a soundcard. Is it necessary to invest $600
> in one -- I mean, where is all that money really going? What makes a card
> like the hammerfall so great? How much on these cards is "fluff" and how
> much is really practical for just recording.

There is no fluff on a hammerfall! Theres pretty much no anything, just
some adat ports, spdif and wordclock. Wether you need one depends on how
many channels you want to use at once and wether you want the quality.

If you want high quality most people go for either a hammerfall +
external converter or a midiman delta card (which comes with converters).
 
> 3) Do people actually use fiber for their lines? Or is this super-duper
> high end stuff?

You mean ADAT lightpipes? Yeah, its the cheapest and easiest thing to link
digital cards and AD/DA converters together with. You could use them to
talk to ADAT machines too I guess ;)
 
> 4) I have spent some time on some sites of card manufacturers... and I
> can't quite piece together how multiple inputs work on the cards... is it a
> one for one deal (one input = one channel), or is their some software or
> hardware that allows for more than one channel per input?

On pro cards one input generally = one channel, but domestic cards (eg.
creative labs) usually have more inputs than channels.
 
> 5) how good is open-source software for effects processing... I saw
> something on the ardour site saying that it does not support "plugins"...
> (due to lack of a standard)... does that mean no effects?

I'm not the right person to answer that, but yes, there are plugins and
yes ardour does support them. eg. http://plugin.org.uk/

[cant answer the next two questions]

> 8) I want to build a **QUIET** machine... Any suggestions on computer
> hardware? (I have bought from quietpc, and found that some of the stuff
> was no quieter than normal --even louder some times).

I'm using a quiet pc powersupply, a zahlman flower cpu cooler and seagate
baraccuda IV drive, its pretty quiet. I think I should be able to turn off
the cpu fan too, which will make it even quieter, but I'm nervous.

- Steve


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