Solid DAW spec help

[grappa]

Hi all,

Need a little advice as if I get this wrong I'm potentially writing off my inheritance!

After a lifetime in the music biz I convinced my father to move into the modern world and equiped him with a pretty basic DAW with a couple of Yam DS2416 cards and an SW1000XG just over a year ago. He was pretty anti to start with but soon got up to speed, has seen the light and has turned out some amazing stuff - he might be getting on but his talent is still very intact!

What started out as 'something to run 16 tracks of midi and the odd bit of audio' has ended up trying to run double that in midi and on average 30 concurrent audio tracks and just aint got the power.

He wanted to spend some serious bucks on a Protools rig but I've convinced him that he'd be mad to do that and suggested a new DAW and XITE-1.

I could do with some 'tried and tested' recommendations as I can't afford to fuck up!

Appreciate any advice.

Si

[dawman]

Consider this.
New trends are to drop PCI 32bit.
Also how much VST power will you use.
I am assuming at least a VST host and some scant VSTi instruments like Orchestral, Pop and Rock.
Each VSTi unfortunately needs to stay on a single core. The host can access mutiple cores, but not the individual VSTi's.
This makes the 6 Core AMD look very attractive.
If the budget allows it a fast i7 will get better performance, however in DAW Benchmarks the 6 core AMD has proven to be a great CPU. Sure the i7 using 4 cores and 8 threads can stomp the AMD in several synthetic benchmarks, but in our audio world, larger loads is what everybody tries to achieve, hence the 64bit stuff.
The 8 core i7's are very expensive but would be my choice if money was not the main consideration. AMD 6 cores are 750 dollars cheaper and for what we need are plenty.
I have seen AMD 785G/790X and 890X chipsets run the XITE-1 with no problems what so ever. Didn't even need to screw with IRQ's at all. These interupt requests seemed valid on slower boards but the IPS of modern CPU's has doubled since the P4 days and even if one had to share a slot the performance hit cannot be detected.
I would look into the AMD 6 core, and if money allows the fastest i7 possible since VSTi's really need their own core, and fastest speed for the best results.
AMD and Asus are what I have seen with the XITE-1. Plug and Play, its as easy as that.
Also the i7's on Gigabyte and Asus.
The day of the Intel mobo isn't as crucial as it once was. They purposely build down their designs for desktop to keep their tier 1 builders happy.
The last time Intel stepped out with a design that others didn't have on the shelves first was the P35.
Don't buy a quad from the Core2Duo series because the faster dual cores like the E8600 can run at smaller buffers and low latencies. The newer i7 Quads are the way to go if multiple cores are needed.
I have decided mobility was the prioity so I gave up the performance edge for a cheap ass i3 530/i5 660. The latter is what I currently use and its more than enough power even being choked by the onboard graphics. I OC'd it to 3.786 and it screams like an i7 and loads my entire template, minus the new string instruments, and only becasue I need WIndows 7 at 32bit to load my entire Orchestral and pop template.
Thye XITE-1 is hardly developed yet, but still runs100% stable. Its the software that needs to catch up.ProTools is such a pleasure . I see everyone up here using it with Logic and DP. But as long as S|C is still in business, the X;s will be able to level off the advantages of the 192 HDD within in a year. And even if it diesn't.......Pro Tools means all VSTi synths.........a scary concept IMHO. VSTi's have caught up in many areas, but the advantages fall short when it comes to realtim. Who wants to wait for Reaktor or Omnisphere when they want to audition sounds or record....? Now try to to use that molasses live............those Dogs can never hunt on any stage I have worked.

[Sounddesigner]

I'll sort of echo what's already been said. I do know Sonic Core test with Asus and recommend it. There are several proven set-ups with x58 i7 and Asus with XITE-1 if you decide to go the i7 route. There is a thread in the XITE-1 forum with working rigs listed in it, probably should've been made a sticky so it could further grow.


EDITED

[valis]

I'll sort of echo what's already been said. I do know Sonic Core test with Asus and recommend it. There are several proven set-ups with x58 i7 and Asus with XITE-1 if you decide to go the i7 route. There is a thread in the XITE-1 forum with working rigs listed in it, probably should've been made a sticky so it could further grow.


EDITED

Which thread?

[Sounddesigner]

I'll sort of echo what's already been said. I do know Sonic Core test with Asus and recommend it. There are several proven set-ups with x58 i7 and Asus with XITE-1 if you decide to go the i7 route. There is a thread in the XITE-1 forum with working rigs listed in it, probably should've been made a sticky so it could further grow.


EDITED

Which thread?

This one - http://forums.planetz.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=27891

[dawman]

Something else to consider too.
X58's are the top of the line but mobo manufacturers were in such a hurry to get their products to market, they used the Marvel 6GB SATA III chips which are defective.
Even after discovering this they left it in thier builds.
Some manufacturers decided to send a controller card as an extra.
If this is a feature you desire, which is where the new SSD's and HDD's are targeting, I would definately make sure you aren't stuck with B stock from someone.
Newegg has been busted selling fake Intel CPU's and Marvel based mobo's.
I would look at the Asus P6X58D that was re released in January during CES Vegas.
It has the new controller and USB 3.0 and is an excellent X58 board.
Marvell® SATA 6Gb/s controller...................this is the defective chip that nobody seemed to test until after release. It functions, but you can read for yourself why you should avoid it if possible.
The upside is, you can ask the dealer if they are using the mobo's w/ that chip, then tell them to deduct 50 bucks or add a controller card.

I was interested in this Hybrid from DFI.http://www.dfi.com.tw/portal/CM/cmprodu ... e&action=1
Seems that the XITE-1 like the cards requires very little power and can use the Atom CPU, then the P45 which is a great chipset, can use Windows 7 w/ 4GB's of RAM in 32bit, with an SSD. THis would be a great way to isolate the C2D CPU for better VST performance.
Seems like a great way to use a Pro SRB card alongside of an XITE-1 too. I wish I had the money to experiment a little.
At the end of the day, a dual Mini-ITX would out perfrom this though. But wouldn't allow the PCI/PCI-e combination.

[valis]

I'll sort of echo what's already been said. I do know Sonic Core test with Asus and recommend it. There are several proven set-ups with x58 i7 and Asus with XITE-1 if you decide to go the i7 route. There is a thread in the XITE-1 forum with working rigs listed in it, probably should've been made a sticky so it could further grow.


EDITED

Which thread?

This one - http://forums.planetz.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=27891

Seems to be stickied to me

[Sounddesigner]

Either that just happened or i'm becomming very inattentive. For my own sake hopefully the former ..

[valis]

Nah it probably just happened.

[dante]

Hi all,
After a lifetime in the music biz I convinced my father to move into the modern world and equiped him with a pretty basic DAW with a couple of Yam DS2416 cards and an SW1000XG just over a year ago. !
Si

What sequencer is he using ? Not the Yammy one I hope....

[grappa]

Guys,

Really appreciate he heads up.

Whilst the requirements at this point are really just solid audio performance with decent track count and decent routing/fx/outboard integration I just know the old man will be knocked out by some of the VST sample libraries etc so I need to build in some future proofing. We'll prob go for i7 so that we can get it up and running and then forget about it.

I've managed to drag him away from his old Atari 1024 and C-Lab into the modern world and he was blown away by the old piece of crap I gave him so this will knock him sideways! Given that he's most comfy with hardware running Scope should be a doddle - he's struggling to get the VST thing at the mo

On the sequencer front he's just moved to Reaper so no issues there - my only real concern is if I need to be considering RAID for his audio drive and streaming in the future?

Si

[dante]

If he was using Cubase I could help him out with a mixermap ( devicemap ) I wrote for the SW1000XG. Combined control for the 6 audio channels and the MIDI channels on the one surface.

Of course once I got the Pulsar the SW1000XG flew out the window...but it was great for a while.

[grappa]

After some research we are probably going to go for one of these;

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=935

Anyone had any experience with the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Mobo and XITE-1?

Si

[garyb]

the gigabyte x58 should work just fine. the early gigabyte motherboards needed a bios update in order to work properly with the cards, but worked fine after. the gigabyte motherboards seem to be very high quality. i wouldn't expect any troubles with the XITE.

[CroNiX]

Im using a Gigabyte EP45T-USB3P with my xite. No probs...

[dawman]

The reason the PCI-e problem occured early on is becasue the PCI Buss was Overclocked by accident.
Most manufacturers know that gamers drive the market so they each OC the default settings of the board slightly to give the illusion of a better stock design.
Unfortunatelty the X58 Bloomfields had the PCI-e bus tied to the BLCK and CPU so this caused the PCI-e RME Hammerfalls at DAW builders to be troublesome, and the same was experienced by some of us with the XITE-1's. Funny that Intels' mobo had no such troubles, but were purposely crippled with Dual Channel RAM.
If one were to lower their multiplier and underclock the CPU they could have fixed this, but the i7 920's - i7 940's which most folks could afford had locked multipliers.
It was really a fix for the X58 chipset/Bloomdale that fixed this, but the BIOS had other issues too since everything is released early these days.
Thats the benefit of outsourcing. When Government adds regulations corporations oblidge by going somewhere cheaper.
I will never again buy a new platform until at least 2 BIOS's have been released.
Or if I just can't wait, the purposely crippled Intel mobos always work.
Intel could put their top tier mobo manufacturers out of business anytime they want.
If and when AMD goes out of business, you will definately see Intel tear up its partnership agreements. The recent NVidia settlement speaks for itself.

[dawman]

Nice spec'd DAW.
Acronis shows they have shuffled around audio files in the past too.