The Perfect DAW What would you use?

[lwater]

I have a 3,000$ budget right now and the more I read the more I go back and forth from one setup to another. what would you do?

[LC]

For $3000.- I couldn't buy what I'd call the perfect daw.

And also... there's no such thing as a perfect system. You can only try to get what is best for you and your situation.

What do you record/mix and how? I mean, is it band stuff or midi... dance music?

[P.Sound]

do you mean just computer? Or are we adding software, interfaces, etc?

[lwater]

Software and interface. I'll be useing mainly audio with and some midi I'm having a difficult time choosing between protool and 001 cubase sx and q10 ect... thanks

[P.Sound]

Well, for $3000 and if its simply the software and interface with a heavy focus on audio, I'd tell you to strongly consider the Digi002 (http://www.zzounds.com/love.music?p=p.DGDMX002&z=1601257090641). Take the money thats left and buy a good mic or spruce up your computer, or send it to me.

It would appear to me after looking at several of these various new packages out there, that this one does all of what you want it to do, plus has bundled with it some of the best plugins you can buy. Its strong suite is audio, and I understand they are working to vastly improve the midi side in an upcomming release. Plus, its very straight forward and simple to use, yet extremley powerful.

[Polaris20]

What computer do you have currently? If you have to buy a new computer that really cuts down on a lot.

I would pay extra attention to the quality of the converters, as those are one of the main things that determine quality.

[xiaoken]

You might want to take a look at this (http://duc.digidesign.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=32;t=004858;p=).

[blue halo]

You guys might like this... The MusicXPC. It's a highly tweaked system, with ultra-low noise levels. Perfect for studio recordings!

www.musicxpc.com

[qtuner]

if I had 4 grand this is what it would be

p4 3.06g
1gig pc1066 rdram
4 drive scsi raid array with drives with access times of <4milliseconds raid 0 or raid 5 depending upon which raid card.
winxp pro

that is what I'd do. Prolly go with an asus motherboad. I'd look into an active cooling solution, and I'd spend a weekend overclocking and benchmarking the system. For $3000 you can buy the very best. I'd also go with an aardvark sound card, because I like their drivers. i was happy with my q10 before I sold it.

this is my dream system. Bet it would start xp in less than 8 seconds.

[Sonarcade]

Originally posted by blue halo
You guys might like this... The MusicXPC. It's a highly tweaked system, with ultra-low noise levels. Perfect for studio recordings!

www.musicxpc.com

It's quite overpriced for what it offers. And that's an understatement. I don't understand how it even professes to cater to musicians if it's not properly equipped with a 3rd party soundcard. Plus the reviews on their site pertain to the Shuttle barebones system as opposed to their incarnation of it. Anyone who's considering buying this, save yourself the money, spend probably half of the list price($1699 USD) on buying all the parts yourself through www.pricewatch.com AND on hiring someone to make it-- that is if you feel too intimidated to make one of your own. And of course, those who can make it with probably save a few more hundreds of dollars.

[spinman]

I'm a DIY guy too, but I know there are some good DAW makers out there who know how to tweak out a system pretty good.

try www.studiocat.com
or www.liquiddaw.com

[Polaris20]

Originally posted by Sonarcade


It's quite overpriced for what it offers. And that's an understatement. I don't understand how it even professes to cater to musicians if it's not properly equipped with a 3rd party soundcard. Plus the reviews on their site pertain to the Shuttle barebones system as opposed to their incarnation of it. Anyone who's considering buying this, save yourself the money, spend probably half of the list price($1699 USD) on buying all the parts yourself through www.pricewatch.com AND on hiring someone to make it-- that is if you feel too intimidated to make one of your own. And of course, those who can make it with probably save a few more hundreds of dollars.

Not to mention that it has a SiS chipset, which is a far from ideal chipset for audio. Most audio card manufacturers say to stay away from SiS; I can't believe this clown is marketing a kit for audio production with one.

A much better deal would be the iWill XP4, which has an Intel 845G chipset. that is of course you want something small and portable.

[Sonarcade]

Originally posted by Polaris20


I can't believe this clown is marketing a kit for audio production with one.



I didn't mean to open doors to crap-threading. Yes, he could be a marketing rep for the musicxp box co., but he could've also meant the best in recommending it. I usually assume the best when it comes to something like this unless they say something in the lines of "you're a dumbass if you don't get one of these" which seems to be in the vein of what you're saying. As for the SiS chipset, I know a good number of people that use it with no more reported problems than anyone else with any other chipset. But of course, I've never used a box with a SiS chipset, so what do I know?

[Polaris20]

Originally posted by Sonarcade


I didn't mean to open doors to crap-threading. Yes, he could be a marketing rep for the musicxp box co., but he could've also meant the best in recommending it. I usually assume the best when it comes to something like this unless they say something in the lines of "you're a dumbass if you don't get one of these" which seems to be in the vein of what you're saying. As for the SiS chipset, I know a good number of people that use it with no more reported problems than anyone else with any other chipset. But of course, I've never used a box with a SiS chipset, so what do I know?

You misunderstood me; I wasn't calling the poster "blue halo" a clown for posting the link, I was calling the guy building a Shuttle system for audio then marking it up a clown.

Blue Halo was trying to help, I wasn't name calling him. I just think it's rediculous that the company is taking a kit like that, installing a couple things, and calling it a pro audio machine.

It's like me buying a Gateway, optimizing per www.musicxp.com, and then marking it up, call it a different name, and say it's optimized for audio.

[ice5nake]

http://www.digitalmusicdoctor.com/shootout/shootout_summary.htm