Building a computer for audio recording/editing...

[heironomous]

I was wondering if anyone here could help me out.....i am sure some of you get sick of the "i am building acomputer fo under so and so dollars and i need help" threads, and if you are one of those people, i apologize.

so here it is: i want to build a computer for recording myself, my guitar, and whatever other instruments i throw in, which may include drums, bass, the basics.

the catch is that i want to do this for under $1000 dollars....

i woul dlike to exclude any sort of software from the price, and any sort of actual musical gear. i would like to include the audi interface and related items in the price however. also, i already have a suitable monitor, and a dvd rw drive...so we could exclude them as well.

any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

also, i know i am new, and this is my first post and i am asking for something. please forgive me for any trespass.

 

[Peddant]

If you change your mind about building a PC,you could think about Mac mini - http://www.apple.com/macmini/ for about $550 with usb audio interface + Garage band.- http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/garageband_cables/

 

[N3051M]

yes.. go with macs, they are made for media work.. i am studying music technical and my teach says to go for macs..

you can also have a system with windows, just may mean a bit of compramise here-there.. but i hear that you can get away with a dodge system, just dont expect the best performance..

recomended system specs most likely would be
p4 2.4 to 3.8ghz
1-2gb ddr ram
good mobo
everything else how you want it..
if its going to be used normaly as well just have two partitions & boots for windows.. one dedicated music and the other general use

most important stuff for recording, is the Mbox (costs about $800AU here.. depending where you get from..) and protools (lite version come with it, there are others but this is the best ) and if you realy want to hook up a mixer to it... although if you want something more flashy and pro there are other options available.. just a bit more $$..

 

[SOcRatEs]

Hello! Welcome to TechSpot!

As much as I agree with the other two responses,
what part of the world are you in?
Do you plan to buy pre built or are you buyimg componants to assemble
youself?

If you are US, $1000 will likely get you more than you need.
AMD will be the biggest bang for buck followed by Intel.
I've yet to own a MAC but have many friends who have them and love it.
I build systems localy from wholsale, from what i see that want to do,
consider a bare bones system then add the higher end audio to it.
Bare bones: MoBo, CPU, RAM, HDD, CASE & PSU.
I would steer clear of onboard audio and get a high end audio card.
There are many to choose from.
G'Luck

 

[oxeyereed]

CPU, and video cards aside
Your most important choice will be the sound card and speakers as this will affect your recordings as well as what you hear.

For speakers, you are going to wanted some monitors as opposited to the typical creative/logitech PC speakers so that you know what you are hearing is accurate to the recording.

You are going to want a card with "balanced inputs" either XLR or TRS connector types, supports ASIO drivers, and bit-matched recording and playback. High quality DAC and ADC of at least 24bit/96Khz will also be important.

You will have to do a little research but those are the basic features you should be looking for.

Depending on how serious you are about recording you could get away with much less but sound quality will suffer.

 

[heironomous]

thank you all very much for your advice, i will consider it all!