I am setting up my computer for recording at the moment. -P3 800, 384 Mb RAM, 80 GB Hard Disk and a Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1. Would it be best to dual boot and run a seperate OS just for music production? Which would OS be best? I plan to use Cubase VST and maybe Sonar?
I'm partial to Win2K over Win XP. When you've spent those 5-6 hours tweaking XP, turning off all the fluff you don't want, you're basically sitting there with Win2K Pro.
If you're using Cubase, try using Cubase SX with Win2k or XP (both are about the same.. I use 2k at work and XP at home with different gear and they work pretty well once you get everything ironed out). Cubase uses an ASIO driver setup and its pretty good with a decent pro card... SB Live! won't get you far if you're recording MIDI though.
If you're using Sonar, it'll give you great low latency WDM speed with almost any card in 2k and XP.
I have Win 98SE which I use for some recording, and some video editing. Everytime we edit a video, we create some multiple gig filesizes, which causes a fatal error and we have to re-install windows. My recommendation, ANYTHING BUT WIN 9x.
I am setting up my computer for recording at the moment. -P3 800, 384 Mb RAM, 80 GB Hard Disk and a Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1. Would it be best to dual boot and run a seperate OS just for music production? Which would OS be best? I plan to use Cubase VST and maybe Sonar?
Instead of spending $300-$400 on Cubase or Sonar, and running it with a SB Live, why don't you get Cubasis VST 3.0 for $80, and buy a better sound card with better converters?
You'd still have 32 tracks, and the sound quality, which is the important part, would be much better.
Running Cubase SX or Sonar 2.0 on an SB Live is like running a Vette on 13" wheels with 75 Series tires.
That depends on your price range, but if you're looking to spend $400-$500, I'd recommend the Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96, or the M Audio Delta Series Omni Studio.
I would also like to add that I run XP. I also have Cubase SX and Sonar 2. Do not get a Sound Blaster Live for recording. I have one that I got for free and it can't be used with Cubase, very bad. Sonar is better, but still sucks. A new card is mandatory.
On an 800 meg machine XP might be a bit too heavy on your resources (although far more stable than W 9X platforms).
I've had a version of 98SE running for about 4 years which has been upgraded with various flavours of Cubase. Very stable as long as you don't add in tonnes of unneccesary programs (Word etc.).
If I was you and given your processor speed I'd:
Run Cubase 5 under 98SE (that should give you headroom to run effects which I'm not convinced you'd get with XP)
Buy one of the soundcards recommended earlier in the thread - low latency drivers are essential for mixing and running any virtual instruments that you're going to play live.
Dual booting ideal if you want say 98 for a stable system for running music and a 'office' partition for net etc.
If you do want to run under XP (which is excellent despite it being souped up 2000) have a look at http://www.musicxp.net/ which should give you some useful tweaks. Just watch your processor load!!
I'm going to take a risk here. Maybe I'll suffer for it but I'm prepared for the consequences. Ok here we go : Mac! Yes, emagic logic on a mac osX. Ok, I was just kidding but I wish I had it. For the moment I use cakewalk Sonar XL on windows XP with a SB live 5.1 and I think it's pretty good, but that's just me.
I hear Win 2000 works good, but Mac is the way to go hardware wise if ya use ProTools.
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