DAW Machine

[iomegaman]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Dante for getting to and from I/O box(es).  In the live world we're running from stage to consoles and back with Dante, and a license for a computer is $30 for all the channels your Ethernet port can handle.

I might be out of the loop here but adding Dante to any audio interface seems to increase its cost exponentially...as a protocol its pretty hefty in the coin department, so the "cost to protocol ratio" kinda makes it a passing glance solution when the average studio is not doing excess of 32 channels per room...once you break out beyond a certain channel count cost is not an issue anyway, but below that the upgrade is not worth the price point as far as I know.

 

[fazer]

Dante has its place but I would be happy with a a 32 channel interface.  Still using a last cheese grater Mac and PT ultimate 2019 perpetual.  Lots of sessions and money made over the years.  I was thinking about a new PC  rather than a Mac but the win10 dialogue here scares me.  The display card is not coming up when it gets cold (needs an oven reflow).  But other than that I’m on Hi Sierra and staying there till she dies.  It’s very reliable.

 

[analag]

I have no issue with Win10. Asus motherboards have been good to me over the years, this time around I decided to go with Asrock for the thunderbolt capability.  Corsair gold plus power supply with ample juice in reserve and I can't stress the importance of a good PS. Those $50 boxes cause more problems than anything else. I like to go on the motherboard manufacturer's website and get their recommended RAM and I pair AMD GPU with their CPU and chipset.  I also edit windows for performance. Rock solid eveytime!

 

[alexc]

...    The display card is not coming up when it gets cold (needs an oven reflow).  But other than that I’m on Hi Sierra and staying there till she dies.  It’s very reliable.

Amazing! I thought I was the only one with more than expected experience with home computers at quite low temps.

Here, where the winter usually is around +5C early in the morning, I often have issues with stuff basically refusing to start or quickly go awol.  I've had boxes that were very much affected and others not at all.  Interesting stuff.

Anyway re Win10_64, I reverted to a previous system image and froze the updates after it awoke.  Seems better once again.

However, I do think the basic issues are here to stay for at least a while ...  I mean Win10 goes OK for most things, but as we all know, DAW stuff is a complex biz ..  like a giant stack of plates, with all the plug-ins and what not 

System imaging  can really at least take the drudgery out of 'the stacking' process by easily and quickly reverting a version or two back in your archive ...  and ironing out whatever last caused a prob.

I just don't 'stack too high'  all at once ..  and try to check each new install as I go. In terms of 'highly stacked plates' of plug-ins, my default DAW which is WIn7_64  is most definately well loaded and amazingly, it all hangs together enough to be quite interesting to use.

I don't know about for professional use, since I've never been a pro recording person [getting remunerations for services, I mean], although I have spent lots of time as a paying studio user   

Personally, I can see the upside of really good dedicated 'recorder' boxes. There is a top end Tascam one which is super pricey for 8 track  but I find very appealing.    If the solid reliability is there, I'd be using these Tascam units in a 'front line' recording role, with DAW apps kind of augmenting ..

 

[alexc]

I have no issue with Win10. . Rock solid eveytime!

Of course, I am glad to read your positive experiences with your sys based on Win10. In my own case, I would definately not be able to make the same comment.

I do agree that modern pc subsystems are truely amazing however - even the current 'cost effective' choices amongst the fantastic offerings are like blazing stars of performance. I think the biggest deal of all is solid state drives [ssd], particularly the faster ones.

I have a couple of 500gb ssd on the way to really knock my 'new daw' into shape.  Still out on the software - I've been a cubase person since forever, but I do have a hankering for a change. 

My 'fav-of-the-moment' is Presonus Studio One. There's a lot there to like, without 'too much' much

And as a representative of 'modern daw apps', in my view - it does quite well on Win10 and especially on WinServer_2016.

I have an install of the Presonus DAW [it's an entry level version, basically free if registered - the flagship version is reasonably priced] and REW  as 'benchmarks'  on my various modern Win installations 

REW is a great benchmark for audio subsystems period! And Studio One is a good test for a nice relaxed workflow.

That's where my WinServer_2016 evaluation is at right now ....  I'm just going to start 'loading it up' 

 

[PRR]

> Amazing! I thought I was the only one with more than expected experience with home computers at quite low temps.
> Here, where the winter usually is around +5C early in the morning, I often have issues with stuff basically refusing to start or quickly go awol.  I've had boxes that were very much affected and others not at all.  Interesting stuff.

It was known that most early computers were highly temperature controlled. There's a 1960 boys-book with a computer that, when the villain turns the thermostat down a tenth degree, it literally stutters wrong answers. Really you just wanted to keep the heat not-hot without wasting A/C power.

Scott Mueller (PC books) tells of keeping a Compaq Portable in the garage for some auto-related task. When cold it would not start. He even traced it to rising ESR in the PS caps. But if you left it stalled for 30 minutes, then cycled the power, it would start fine.

 

[MatthewF]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Dante for getting to and from I/O box(es).  In the live world we're running from stage to consoles and back with Dante, and a license for a computer is $30 for all the channels your Ethernet port can handle.

Indeed Dante does work well, although you need to be aware that you're buying into one vendor's proprietary technology and therefore at risk of losing out if things don't work out with that Vendor, or if you want to integrate some non-Dante kit in future.

I'd urge anyone interested in audio-over-IP to bear in mind that Dante is based upon an obsolete timing protocol (PTPv1) and uses a proprietary protocol for discovery and connection management. For the sake of longevity and future interoperability I'd be inclined to stick to kit which is fully AES67 compliant (Dante kit generally is not). Many AES67 compliant devices support Ravenna for user-friendly plug-and-play behaviour without deviating from well established standards-based protocols. Meanwhile, emerging standards like AES70 and NMOS are poised to bring a whole new level of flexibility to the IP-based studio.

Unfortunately Audinate (the developers of Dante) seem unwilling at this time to offer any means of integrating their technology into a wider audio-over-IP ecosystem.

Just my 2c on the matter (having worked with a few people who've already been stung..)