20 Mar
2008
20 Mar
'08
6:15 a.m.
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Hi
Aurelien a écrit :
Hi!
The FREE label AMMD in which I work is going to buy and build a
professionnal studio based on free software and destined to produce free
arts only.
Good to hear.
The project is quite advanced, but I'd like to
know your mind about the
configuration we think about, and if there are people already using this
kinda material, any feedback would be welcome!
So , here it is:
- System : Ubuntu Studio and/or Debian self-customized for
audio-purposes. Does it have a big interest for such audio
applications to install a 64bits distribution? I suppose there will be
problems with some 32bits plugins, although there is the
ndispluginwrapper solution. It's bit like a troll, but it really
matters for us.
I would go for a 64bit system these are future proof plus they are the
only ones that can address large memory sizes.
- Should work essentially with Ardour
- Hardware (PC):
. Proc: we were going on a dual core (Intel or AMD), but as we've
seen that quadri-pro are not so expensive anymore, what do you think
about it?
I'd go for a quadri-pro IF there is no drawback. Needs a little bit of
testing. From what I heard AMD quads (Phenom) are not that good.
. RAM: 4Gb at least (if quadri-pro, much more)
. Motherboard: we were thinking about using RAID (5 probably) in
order to increase reading speed, but it's only based on an
assumption (intuition?) that we could raise up the perf that way.
Are we right?
Be sure to use a dedicated hardware RAID controller and you'll get the
performances.
We'd like this motherboard not to have
audio-embedded.
I'd go for a server grade motherboard like Tyan. The embedded audio can
be disabled but I find these usefull for system sounds, websurfing ...
. Graphics: We just want something easy to install
(no proprietary
drivers) that can driver 2 screens in Xinerama mode the easiest way
as possible (my ATI Radeon X850 GTO 16 is not a fair example!). We
don't have any idea about it actually, what about you?
If you don't need 3D, ATI cards with radeonhd free driver works
extremely well. My 2400Pro is by far more responsive than my GeForce7600
was with the proprietary driver. The whole system is a lot more stable
and RT performance is now rock solid.
. Hard Drives: we think about a SATA drive for
system, and
day-to-day life, and then think about an external SATA solution
which allows to bring a new drive for every project (there will
probably be something like 3 or 4 albums a year on this studio). Of
course, if we want our assumption upon RAID5 to work, we need to
have two identical eSATA drives for each record session.
Seems good to me. Hotplugging would be a good feature to have
- Hardware (Audio):
. PCI RME HDSP9532
. two options for the recorders:
+ 2 RME Multiface II (i.e. 16 tracks) linked with ADAT to HDSP9532
+ 1 Alesis HD24 (i.e. 24 tracks and a hard drive) linked with
ADAT to HDSP9532
don't know what option is the best. The RME ADC and DAC are better
than those of the HD24, but the amount of tracks is some way
interesting, and I don't know in what measure the "poor" DAC/ADC of
HD24 will penalize us (knowing the complete acquisition system).
Another problem is that we plan to record some instruments using
AES/EBU and/or S/PDIF and the Multiface doesn't propose it.
There could also be a need to record MIDI parts (synth, machines,
and so on), and I suppose it's not possible with both this
solutions, is it?
What about using (3) RME Octamics II and a 9652? This brings a full 24
tracks.
- External Hardware (that is quite off-topic with this
list, but, by the
way, if you want to know):
. 4x TL-Audio 5001 preamps
. 1x Neumann TLM 103
. 2x Neumann KM184
Look at the Oktavas MK-012, they are really cheap but highest quality. I
find them more "musical" than the "chirurgical" 184s.
. 2x Shure Beta 56
. 2x Shure Beta 52
. 1x Shure Beta 91
. 1x Sennheiser MD421
. 6x Beyerdynamic Opus 88
. 1x EV RE20
. 2x AKG C414 + susp.
. 2x Genelec 8020 APM
I'm a big fan of Dynaudio Acoustics monitors, check them out!
. stands, racks, and so on.
OK, so here it is. It represents quite a financial thing, so we don't
want to make it wrong. We're open to every advice, discussion, etc.
Thanks a lot.
Good luck!
- --
Raphaël Doursenaud
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