Roland VS Workstation vs. PC

[laaba]

hello there,
i thought if i started recording on a PC instead of my roland 8 track would make everything easier but now i am realizing that i spend most of the time trying to find a problem which is frustrating. i bought an Aardvark 2496 and downloaded cakewalk sonar but it keeps crashing,etc.I have a pentium 2 330MhZ, RAM 128, 20 gigs.i have done everything to optimize this damn thing and it stills gives me problems.Is it the card or the sofware or what? the only stable software i´ve tried is Acid i also tried Logic audio but that is overwelming for a guitarrist who wants to put ideas fast and make a professional demo. I was even thinking of returning the card and buying a Roland VS 1880. Can you guys give me a tip?
thanx
Luis

[brzilian]

You are really pushing your existing system to the limits there. I have a Pentium II 400 and it struggles every once in a while. Chances are your moherboard does not support ATA66 or higher for the HD (like mine). That could be the source of the problem because your HD cannot stream audio data fast enough without skipping.

Exactly what are your problems? You really didn't get very specific.

[laaba]

Thanks Brzilian,
sorry but what is ATA66?
After importing 4 WAV.s each to a separate track it starts jittering,doesnt play on time and sometimes a "Droput" message comes.I disactivated all of the microsoft automatic starts but it hasn´t helped.
What sofware would you recomend that is easy and stable to use and how many tracks can my computer handle?Does it mean i have to get a new computer? What do i need then to record profesional without the PC crashing on me? Is this a comon problem with PC recording?Although a bit limited The Roland never ever crashed on me.
Thanks to all for your advice
Luis

[This message has been edited by laaba (edited November 17, 2001).]

[quadrafuzz]

the roland is indeed an attractive option, although that soundcard you have is tops. i used to have one and i miss it.

you are pushing your machine, i agree. see, every time you play something back while recording, you are accessing as many files as you have tracks playing plus what you are recording! now, hard drives are rated according the their top access speeds: burst and sustained reading. burst is of course what it sounds like, and it works for a few bars until it starts to crackle. where it crackles is durring the sustain portion, where the hard drive cant keep up with the demand for data. over time there have been different speeds of data transfer introduced for the IDE buss, starting with DMA33, then DMA66, and now DMA100. current motherboards most likely include an IDE buss that is DMA100. because of the vastly improved data flow, an application like sonar wouldnt skip at all until you reached 40 or so tracks. of course, you would need a nice motherboard and lots of ram and a fast processor to deal with it all.

right now is the best time to buy a computer. prices have never been so low. things get a lot better and potentially cheaper if you put it together by ordering parts and assembling and installing everything yourself. however, certain issues can crop up, and you will have to learn a little about your hardware, but its worth it in my opinion.

or you could go out and get the vs 1880 and be in the business of recording tomorrow. its all up to you.

[laaba]

Thanks for your advice i sure have a lot to learn, so how much are we talking about if i get a computer with all this specs? would a Roland be cheaper maybe?Does your computer work without any crashing problems?

[brzilian]

I got in a pretty heated discussion about PC vs. standalone units like the Roland VS in another forum a while back.

The way I look at it, when you buy something like a VS. you don't have to worry about it crashing like any Microsoft OS would, because Microsoft did not write the software. http://acapella.harmony-central.com/smile.gif

I think a VS would be way more reliable, but at the same time you give up alot of flexibily and expandabiliy the PC gives you.

Its pretty much up to you which way you want to go - decide if a standalone unit meets all your needs. Either way, I see you making a considerable investment for some new hardware, be it a VS or a PC upgrade. For a complete PC that can handle the task, I think $800-1000 would be the range depending on what hardware you can use from your old PC.

FYI, ATA66 means the computer can transfer data from the HD at 66Mb/sec. Older ATA33 HD's could only handle 33Mb/sec.

[wes37]

As a fellow guitarist with a VS-880 and a computer studio, I would say that the VS is the faster and more reliable solution, and can usually meet all your needs. If you want to add computer-based sequencing or want to really do into a great deal of audio manipulation, then the computer is the way to go.

I use Steinberg VST, Wavelab, and a few other programs. Most of my better recordings are through the VS though.

[randy yell]

I like to use the portability of my VSR to record then bounce the tracks into Cakewalk to edit and mix.

[me_arnold]

I had MANY problems with cakewalk sucking up all of my CPU usage. I have 512 megs of ram and it should not have been a problem. (I'm a computer professional and have several collegues that would back me up that my setup was fine.. just in case you try to say it's not cakewalk and it's my setup. % ^ ) )

I switched to Sonic Foundry Vegas Pro and it uses practically NOTHING of my CPU and is beautiful!

I have a Roland VS1680 w/ cd burner, 2 fx cards installed and the nice Roland case to go with it if anyone is interested. I'm willing to trade for other stuff/cash.

email me at me_arnold@yahoo.com.

Thanks,
ck