23 Mar
2005
23 Mar
'05
2:14 p.m.
On Wed, 2005-03-23 at 13:09 -0500, Jordan wrote:
Thanks for the replies everyone! :)
I was afraid that the computers would not be able to handle more than 8
channels of recording which is why I was limiting them that way. How
many channels can one computer handle? What kind of specs (ie:
processor/RAM) would that computer need? What interfaces can handle more
than 8 analog mics? I would need to record about 32 mic inputs.
Depends how much DSP you want to do on them. If you mostly just want to
record it dry, very little horsepower is required. The audio interface
just DMAs the audio into main memory, so there should not be much
difference in CPU utilization whether you record 2 channels or 16 or 32.
Of course it does make a difference in PCI bus bandwidth, so if you have
a buggy southbridge (northbridge?) like the infamous VIA 686B you'll
have problems.
I record 16 channels all the time with an Audigy2 ZS and a 600Mhz EPIA
board. Works very well. So a high end interface could definitely
handle it.
IIRC, RME is the only vendor that makes 32 channel interfaces supported
under Linux.
Lee