[ardour-users] hardware question

[Russell Hanaghan]

On Saturday 11 September 2004 10:10 pm, andy wrote:
> What are the things to look out for when building a linux audio system?
>
> All it has to do is record from line in to disk and stream to icecast at
> the same time. Maybe also mix in prerecorded tracks. Probably going to use
> ardour to mix the audio and record with, and ices2-kh (the jack'ed ices2
> version) to stream with.
>
> I'm just thinking about which parts of the system are most important to
> get right, where to spend the money if we can't find a secondhand/donated
> machine and so on.

Absolutley on the sound card + Memory IMHO.  Build or look for a moderate 
box...bare bones boxes with Athalon XP 2500 go for around $350 - $400 with 
512Mb DDR 2700 included. That would include a 50Gig 7200 rpm ATA 133 HD which 
is sufficient for most stuff. But even if budget is restricted to a P3 or 
such...buy more memory and a GOOD sound card. The ice1712 M-Audio series seem 
to do well. I have a Delta 1010LT and I'm very happy with it. it was $180.00 
used from Ebay.
>
> What I've heard is that usb external sound cards are better than internal
> ones because there's less EM crosstalk - is this right, and are they much
> more expensive?

USB is not well supported.  Cross talk is not a big deal unless you are 
looking at perfection!!  I get some xtalk on my Delta 1010LT I suspect 
because of the poorly shielded RCA connectors...but it's not enough to ruin 
anything I've recorded. 
>
> Also are standard hard disks OK, or is it like video recording where you
> should use specially designed disks (I'm guessing not because of the lower
> data rate)

Standard disks do just fine. 7200 rpm ATA 133 drives do what you need from 
what I've seen. Seems the type of filesystem and how well your box is "tuned" 
are far more significant than the drive itself.

R~