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Dell XPS and Ableton

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 9:38 am
by funky shit
Hi all,
Im moving ony from my home laptop and getting a workstation for production. Due to limit amount of cash, Im a bit limited. Im getting an old Gen3 Dell XPS (no im not buying). IT has a 3.4ghz P4 and 2GB of RAM. Excellent graphix card, and over all a beast of a machine when it was released.

Im running Live 6 and im going to purchase the NRV10 Firewire mixer from M-aduio.
Image

LINK

With alll your experience, would this be an OK setup?

thanks!

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 2:38 pm
by amigo
I reckon it will do nicely. However, Dell XPS machines are primarily gaming machines and I am wondering if the OS is tweaked for gaming. How this affects working with audio specifically I do not know but it's something to consider should you experience any issues.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 2:42 pm
by dCross
amigo wrote:I reckon it will do nicely. However, Dell XPS machines are primarily gaming machines and I am wondering if the OS is tweaked for gaming. How this affects working with audio specifically I do not know but it's something to consider should you experience any issues.
nah, the gaming focus of the XPS shouldn't be much of an issue. I run Live on an XPS laptop with no issues.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 3:01 pm
by funky shit
Yeah im gona just instill XP, its not tweaked for gaming or anything.

thanks guys!

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 3:08 pm
by jonesonyou
DO you have any Midi controllers planned in your setup for Live? Just wondering what else you planned on using?

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 3:16 pm
by funky shit
Yeah i have a padKontrol and an M-audio keyboard.
I'll use the padkontrol for triggering clips on session veiw, but i dont know what to do with the keyboard. I may get a nordlead rack and route the keyboard to it.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 5:41 pm
by feyshay
One thing to keep in mind is that high quality graphics cards (like the ones in XPS machines) create a lot more heat, which requires more cooling. That can affect how quiet your machine is. That may be important if your machine is within the same room that you are doing audio recording.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 5:47 pm
by nebulae
That dell should do just fine - I used my P4 for about 3 years, and I could easily run 50+ tracks of audio with plugs on it. Just get two fast hard drives and run all your audio off a seperate drive, and tweak the OS to XPMusic.net standards, and you'll do fine.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:18 pm
by funky shit
i never really had problems with overheating, and the xps' are normaly very well cooled.
thanks feyshay!

and nebulae, that XPMusic.net is an advertising site :(

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:23 pm
by dCross
funky shit wrote:i never really had problems with overheating, and the xps' are normaly very well cooled.
thanks feyshay!

and nebulae, that XPMusic.net is an advertising site :(
Here ya go:
http://www.musicxp.net/

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:24 pm
by nebulae

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:24 pm
by JDSampo
Try

http://www.musicxp.net

Some very good advice on that site.

--JD

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:32 pm
by feyshay
funky shit wrote:i never really had problems with overheating, and the xps' are normaly very well cooled.
thanks feyshay!

and nebulae, that XPMusic.net is an advertising site :(
You're missing my point, funky. I'm talking about fan noise. The cooling is adequate. I have an XPS 600 and think it is a great computer. However, if I'm doing recording of quiet vocals or acoustic instruments, I can make out the fan noise in the recording. I've considered getting an isolation box, but am yet to be convinced that I will hear the fan hum in a whole mix.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:33 pm
by dCross
wow, 3 nearly-identical posts in 2 minutes. We must really like that site :)

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:58 pm
by funky shit
thanks guys!

yeah man Im may be moving house in a while and if so Im gettin a sound proof studio with an isolation room!
this will do for now though :lol:

EDIT: "thanks gays" whoops 8O