Ableton Forum

Hello
my name is tamir muskat & i'm working with a project called "Balkan Beat Box".
its an audio/visual show, tones of beats & samples & so the show is very computer oriented.
i'm having major crashes using Live with my Dell PC while on tour. its never fun..
i'm about to buy Musicxpc C2, & dedicate it only for that show.i heard its a very solid computer. does any body have any experience with Musicxpc on the road?
any other recommendations ? i need something solid that can operate well on tour.
thanx much
Tamir

i don't know about musicxpc c2, but take a look at racksen

What's crashing your computer?

Is it a BSOD? (Blue Screen of Death) Maybe you have hardware issues....

Could be just one card or a misconfigured IRQ, probably cost $0-$50 to fix.

A PC is a PC is a PC.... Brandnames matter very little. It's actually better
to buy the gear you want and put it together yourself. Most package PCs
have some good gear, and a bunch of cheap gear thrown in to create the
profit margin.

-Ben

Musicxpc C2 =

Shuttle FB61 motherboard
Shuttle make some good boards.... They were one of the first to jump on
making good boards for some of the 1Ghz AMD processors... ASUS I
like... Basicallyyou can spend an average amount on a motherboard, or
you can faulk out an extra hundred or 2 and get a really good one.

It's got a 3 GHz P4 processor..... Sounds ok... I usually go AMD, they
spend their money on R&D rather than advertising. 25% cheaper most
times.

Nice cooling system.... might work.... often the cooler the look of a cooler
the worse it performs when actually tested... tomshardware has some
good tests on coolers....

1GB PC3200 RAM

1GB is enough.... 4GB is nice
With RAM the brandnames really do make a difference.... Most RAM runs
25% slower then the top 2-3 brandnames.... Which cost a great deal
more.

64MB NVidia GeForce MX4000
Fine for music.... and most games....
It should also support dual monitors which comes in real handy.

2 USB ports..... The motherboard should be able to handle more....
Having 4+ onboard USB ports is better than using hubs.

$1,899.00 USD

You could probably build the same PC yourself for a lot less.

-Ben

Possibly you could build one, but I'd say good luck with that.

My XPC whatever reason. is DEAD quiet compared to my other computer, and its so tiny. I'm not a PC builder myself, but I'd wager you'd have your hands full trying to replicate one of those. Just trying to cram everything in that little box and keep it cool and keep it quiet would be a challenge over and above putting a PC together in a normal case.

Just my two cents, do whatever you like.

i've built a few Shuttle's in my life and i think other than mounting the CPU heatsink on the cheaper brand Small Form Factor boxes (like Biostar), its just as easy to assemble a Shuttle XPC as it would be to assemble a full size ATX desktop computer.

you'd save alot of money going that route too..

i've configured a few shuttles for members of this forum, most of them with very little or no PC building knowledge, and all of them did great with it...
i'll see what i can configure...

here we go....

Athlon 64 3700
1GB ram
200GB SATA HD
16x DVD±RW with Dual Layer (8.7gb dvdr's!)
128MB video card with Dual Outputs
Windows XP Home (who needs Pro anyways)
6 USB 2.0, 2 Firewire, Ethernet, and an alright onboard soundcard with 6 outputs. (12ms latency with ASIO4ALL driver)

all for under $1100 USD

here is how it breaks down....

Shuttle XPC SK83G Barebone System
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 453&depa=0
$259 Shipped

Athlon 64 3700 CPU (1mb L2. 2.4ghz tied for being the best scoring CPU on the Live 4 Performance Test)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... de=80719-R
$328 Shipped

Mushkin 1GB PC-3200 (DDR400) Ram. 1 Stick
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 190&depa=0
$183 Shipped

200GB Western Digital Serial ATA Hard Drive 7200rpm
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 153&depa=1
$124 Shipped

Nvidia Geforce FX 5200 video card. 128mb ram. dual monitor output.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 024&depa=1
$48 Shipped

Toshiba 16X DVD±RW (Double Layer DVD Burning @ 5x!)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 036&depa=0
$62 Shipped

Windows XP Home
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 151&depa=0
$94 Shipped

TOTAL
= $1,098 USD.

newegg.com has 17" LCD's starting at $220 Shipped
add one of those, and a keyboard and mouse.
and about 45 minutes of your own time to assemble the Shuttle...
you're good to go.

you also have an empty ram slot left, so theres ram upgradability there. and since its a 64bit CPU, you could use Windows XP 64 bit edition when its released late spring 2005.

Athlon 64 3700
1GB ram
200GB SATA HD
16x DVD±RW with Dual Layer (8.7gb dvdr's!)
128MB video card with Dual Outputs
Windows XP Home (who needs Pro anyways)
6 USB 2.0, 2 Firewire, Ethernet, and an alright onboard soundcard with 6 outputs. (12ms latency with ASIO4ALL driver)

all for under $1100 USD

That is great info-- if you are already using a desktop PC, then you likely already have a monitor, etc. I'm very happy with my AMD 3400+ 'widescreen' notebook, but you do pay big for the notebook configuration.

if you don't want to build, and you don't care to expend any mental energy on hardware configuration, consider a mac.

i administer big failover and NLB clusters of windows servers all over the world and write major components for big pieces of windows software, so i'm not computer-illiterate or windows-illiterate or anything...but for personal/music use i find the mac just works out more reliably and i end up using it more.

before running my current bottom-of-the-line ibook G4 i was using a high-spec homemade shuttle box, and it worked great too, but there is something beautifully hassle-free about the mac that i can't quite put my finger on, and it has no fan, which is nice.

the main cons are less processing power and less VST availability -- but then again -- i haven't found myself running short of either with the mac.

anyway, your mileage may vary, but it's something to look into.
rs

cubbie wrote: My XPC whatever reason. is DEAD quiet compared to my other computer, and its so tiny.

What PSU does it have? I bought the silentX psu which is supposed to be quieter than the standard one, but to me it is still noisy. Not as quiet as my Quietpc psu which I bought for my ATX machine.

.

Way to go on the legwork Adam....

As you can see there is no point in buying brandname computers...
u get screwed...

-Ben

MrYellow wrote:Way to go on the legwork Adam....

As you can see there is no point in buying brandname computers...
u get screwed...

-Ben

well, if you want support, and good warranty options. Brand names are still viable options.

If anything goes wrong with my HP that i can't personally fix, i can have it serviced at the local BestBuy or CompUSA at no charge (they do warranted service work). Granted its a notebook, some folks still want that piece of mind on the desktop side of things as well.

ryansupak wrote:there is something beautifully hassle-free about the mac that i can't quite put my finger on, and it has no fan, which is nice.

every ibook has a fan., otherwise it would melt in your lap.

its nice to see how my little question started a whole discussion about building computers... thanx much for all the info. its great stuff.

but, if you don’t mind, i am not interested in building my comp, I’ve been waiting for years for a company that will say " we nailed it, we have the ultimate music computer!" & they better be right too..

& so, i hope i found it in musicxpc.. & back to my question.. can any one tell me they are traveling with musicxpc C2?, really traveling... on the road, every night.. u know, touring.. or any thing else that cost about 2G's. & is ready to go?
my project is all computer oriented,( www.balkanbeatbox ) i already invested all this $$ in my Dell laptop, & its seriously CRAP. every time its something else that goes wrong.. i only need it for Ableton Live, thats it. at my studio I’ve been using a workstation Dell for 4 years now & it’s a monster! Go figure..

FWIW, Carillon now sells cube setups like the Shuttles as well as laptops.

http://www.carillonusa.com/clnweb/cube.jsp?country=US
http://www.carillonusa.com/clnweb/centr ... country=US