[linux-audio-user] A machine for live gigging?

[Steve Harris]

On Tue, Feb 17, 2004 at 03:06:38PM -0600, Richard K. Ingalls wrote:
> I'm still very new to Linux Audio Workstations 
> (I've been a Cakewalk/Sonar/SoundForge user for 
> years), so please forgive me if the question seems 
> very basic...
> 
> I'd like to build a computer to take with me for 
> live gigs that can replace sound module racks (do 
> softsynth/sample playback, multi-timbral, 
> polyphony, etc.).  In other words can it replace 
> an Alesis QSR, a Kurzweil K2000RS and a Korg TR? 
> Can I do this and still have great 
> sounds/synth/samples?
> 
> So the question is can a Linux DAW do this?  If 

It can do some of that. Exactly how much depends on how much effort youre
going to put into setting it up.

> yes, what are the specs for such a machine?
> CPU?  RAM?  Motherboard?  Sound card (very 
> important, eh)?

For soundcards RME and M-Audio are youre best bet, avoid USB if you can.
The processor doesnt really matter, but you probably want something with
decent floating point performance, so a Pentium 4 or Athlon XP. You want
512+ MB of ram.

VIA C3's are tempting for this kind of job (very small, low power
motherboards), but in my experience they are a bit too slow.

- Steve