THE DIGITAL AUDIO Workstation is
by far the most flexible tool in todays
studio. With virtual instruments, real-time
effects and even video all being handled purely in
software, its no wonder that a cost-effective PC
built for audio is the choice for most musicians
wishing produce their own music.
Last month we built a basic DAW on a modest
budget. We took a step-by-step approach towards
selecting and assembling the parts of an audio
PC that could totally fulfil the needs of the budget-
bound beginner, while still providing enough clout
to keep them happy as their experience grows.
This month were going to take things a stage
further. With a little more money to spend, we can
afford a bit more in the way of luxury, so lets go
semi-pro and build a beefy system to rival many
of the pre-built machines available from PC
vendors. To do this, were going to follow the
same procedure as last month but bring onboard
the higher performance features inherent in more
serious quality components.
Safety first
We covered this important point last month, but
we just need to go over a few points of caution
again before we start.
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COMPUTER MUSIC FEATURE JULY 2003
FEATURE
Build
Your Own Music PC
Weve had a lucky windfall this
month, so were going to invest
a little more dosh in our DIYPC
and put together a mid-priced
system thatd do any semi-pro
studio proud
Part 2: The Mid-range DAW
Shopping list
CPU AMD Athlon XP 2700+
Motherboard KT400/KT400A/nForce2
chipset with DDR333 support
RAM Good quality 1GB DDR333
RAM
Storage Two Seagate Barracuda IV
80GB hard drives
CD writer
Floppy disk drive
Audio Audiophile 2496
Video AGP 64/128MB
PSU Ultra Quiet 300W
Case MIDI tower
Optional Acoustic Foam for noise
elimination
LOGO: MAGICTORCH
Cmon feel the
Ultra Quiet PSU
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J ULY 2003 COMPUTER MUSIC FEATURE
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053
BUILD YOUR OWN MUSIC PC
Handling PC components and assembling them
into a complete system can be a serious hazard
to your safety (as well as your sanity). Your PC
contains high voltages as well as electro-static
sensitive circuitry. Electro-static discharge (ESD)
can destroy delicate electronic components, and
anyone embarking on a project such as this
should take the following basic precautions to
reduce the risks of ESD:
I Place the system on a conductive or grounded
work surface free of non-conductive materials.
I Use an approved ESD wrist strap to ground
yourself to earth prior to handling static-sensitive
devices. The wrist strap must contain a 1M
safety resistor.
I After you remove a device from its protective
packaging, do not set it down until it is installed in
the system or returned to its protective packaging.
I Place any devices removed from the system in
protective packaging.
I Do not remove the wrist strap until after youve
replaced the system cover.
So with those crucial points out of the way, lets
turn our attention to each of the components that
were going to be using.
Motherboard, CPU and RAM
These three components are so closely integrated
that any one of them cannot be fully considered
without implications for the other two. The kind of
motherboard you choose will directly affect the
kind of memory youll be able to install, as well as
the buss speed supported by the processor, so
theyre all best chosen together.
High-end system builders will sometimes
insist that the Intel Pentium 4 is the only way to
go for the audio PC, and their reasoning does
have some weight, but as even they will tell you,
these days the difference in performance and
stability between the processors made by Intel
and AMD is narrowing.
Actually, to set the record straight, Athlon
processors themselves are not the cause of any
DAW-related problems per se, but some of the
earlier chipsets that supported them were
reported to have issues. This was due to less-than
brilliant South Bridge drivers, as well as latency
problems that have a direct impact on PCI audio
cards and USB devices.
These days, with the latest chipsets from VIA
and Nvidia (nForce), not only are many of those
compatibility problems resolved, but were also
experiencing some quite respectable processor
buss speeds of up to 333MHz, and support for
fast RAM. These are not quite Pentium 4 specs,
but its all still quite nippy, and there is one more
factor to consider
The additional comparison of cost to
performance still means that an Athlon-
based system is a very attractive
option. Since were building a mid-
priced system here, we are going to
stick to this formula, but with a little
more speed.
Your choice of motherboard
purchase will, of course, be governed by
your personal preferences, but here are a few
pointers to help you out. The first consideration,
after the reputation of the manufacturer, is the
chipset itself.
Chipset Example motherboards
VIA KT333 Asus A7V333 Raid XP (65)
VIA KT400 Asus A7V8X (69), Gigabyte
GA-7VAXP (100)
nForce 415/420D K7N415 Pro/K7N420 Pro,
Asus A7N266-C (90)
NForce 2 Asus A7N8X (105), EPoX
8RDA+ (98)
The next consideration is feedback from your
peers. When a particular motherboard performs
flawlessly in a DAW system, everyone soon gets to
hear about it. Check out our very own Computer
Music forums at forum.midiaddict.com, and run a
search for posts containing the word
motherboard. Youll find it quite an eye-
opener! Oh, and like we said
last month, no
onboard video
shared memory is a
very bad thing.
Turning our
attention to the
processor, an Athlon XP
2700+ costs around 160
and can support 333MHz
buss speed. This is an
excellent balance between cash
and performance. Beware of
purchasing the very latest
processor speeds. The Barton core
XP 3000+ costs around 280, but
aside from the larger Level 2 cache,
there is not much else to justify what
amounts to just shy of double the price.
If your processor is capable of supporting
a high buss speed such as 333MHz then
youll be able to install PC2700 DDR memory
modules. These are around 33 percent faster than
PC2100 RAM, although the overall system
performance gain is usually somewhere around
the 10 percent range because of constraints with
other system components.
Some motherboards (starting from August
2002) are starting to support DDR400 memory,
(also known as PC3200), but be very careful if you
choose to go down this route. The Joint Electron
Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) only approved
the PC3200 specification in December of last
year, even though some manufacturers were
already advertising their motherboards as
DDR400-ready, so there could be compatibility
issues. Check the hardware-compatibility list of
your motherboard to see which brands of
memory have been tested successfully.
Additionally, many reviewers have had mixed
results when trying to quantify the benefits of
PC3200 RAM, with some systems even showing a
decrease in performance in comparison to
PC2700 and PC2100 RAM.
As we saw last month, installing the right
amount of RAM is crucial to the smooth, glitch-
free operation of your DAW. For that entry-level
system, we recommended a minimum of
512MB, but now that were moving into the
mid-range, we can move up to a more
comfortable 1GB of RAM, using either
PC2100 (for DDR 266 motherboards) or
PC2700 memory (for DDR 333
motherboards). This also means we
are once and for all dispensing
with Windows 9x (turn to the box on
p55 for information on Windows 9x
memory problems).
The second crucial issue with RAM, after
quantity, is quality. Many system stability
issues arise because of poor quality or badly
matched RAM. Branded memory from companies
such as Kingston and Corsair is highly
recommended and comes with genuine
guarantees of performance and reliability.
Installing the right amount of RAM is crucial
if you want glitch free operation of your
DAW. Were going to go for 1GB, and
dispense with Windows 9x once and for all
Were going for a non-
serial ATA, as we dont
feel the performance
boost of the Serial ATAs is
enough to justify the cost
Were recommending the
M-Audio Audiophile 2496
card again. After all, the
audio quality is luvverly
CM61.build 19/5/03 12:20 pm Page 053
Storage
Youll want to make sure you have enough room, as well as
the best configuration for performance, when it comes to hard
disk space. For most of us, the dual drive system used in last
months budget system will be more than adequate. For a quick recap, we
employed two hard drives, the first hosting the system partition (which
includes operating system and application software), and the other
set aside purely for data. We subdivided this data area by
separately partitioning the second drive for audio tracks (Partition
1), samples and sequencer song files (Partition 2), and an
emergency recovery image (Partition 3). This keeps everything safely
apart and minimises fragmentation across the volumes.
Short of going all-out with a high-end RAID configuration, this dual
drive system is still the best option. Lets take a step back, though, and
evaluate our hard drive options.
Most of the better AMD motherboards will support ATA100 hard drives,
and some can even support ATA133. This brings up another piece of hype
that needs to be dismantled: just how much faster is ATA133 over ATA100?
Here we have another DDR333/DDR400-style story. Due to limitations
with the current batch of hard disks on the market, an ATA100 hard drive will
often perform equally well or even slightly faster than an ATA133 version. This
is because a PC will have a hard time using the full bandwidth of an ATA100
hard drive, much less an ATA133 hard drive, and performance advantage is
more down to mechanical efficiency in reducing seek times, as well as the
size of the cache.
Serial ATA is another disappointment at present, producing too little
performance boost to justify the extra cost. SATA does use those longer,
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COMPUTER MUSIC FEATURE JULY 2003
IOpen the PC case and fit a low noise power supply after
removing the existing noisy unit. At this stage you may also, if
you wish, fit some acoustic absorption material to the inside
surfaces of the case (not on the side where the motherboard
with be situated, though).
Step 1
IInstall the audio card into a spare PCI slot and secure with
one screw on the riser. Do the same for the graphics card in
the AGP slot.
Step 4
IConnect all other cables to your motherboard, such as
hard disk light, power switch and reset switch connectors.
Remember to plug the audio cable into your audio card and
CD burner to allow you to monitor CD output through your
speaker system. Before closing the case, dont forget to fit
the large power connector to the socket on the motherboard.
Attach keyboard/mouse, monitor, audio connectors and USB
devices, etc, followed by the mains lead to the power supply.
Step 5
IReview all the previous steps and make sure all
connectors are secure. Check that the Master/Slave settings
are all correctly configured for hard disks and CD burner.
Switch system on wait for it Check that all devices are
detected correctly in the BIOS.
Step 6
IPartition and format hard drives using a startup floppy disk.
Install Windows XP Home edition. Follow tips for tweaking
Windows XP for maximum audio performance
(www.musicxp.net/tuning_tips.htm). Install all other
applications and hardware drivers. Finally, using a backup
imaging package such as Norton Ghost, create a backup of
the current known good configuration and store it on the
third partition of the second data hard drive.
Step 7
IMake sure youre well electrically grounded, then remove
the motherboard from its protective anti-static bag and lay it
on top of a flat, dry, non-slip surface. Insert DDR RAM
modules into the correct slots, as indicated in the
motherboard manual. Insert the CPU, taking care not to bend
any of the pins: release the ZIF socket by lifting the arm up,
then lock the CPU in place by clamping the arm back into
the closed position. Take special care to fit the CPU cooler
according to the included instructions dont forget to use
the supplied heat-transfer grease. Fit the motherboard to the
case with even more care! Follow the directions supplied by
the case vendor.
Step 2
IConfigure your ATA devices (hard disks and CD burner). Pay
attention to the Master and Slave settings for each device.
Take note of the IDE cable tooth for correct insertion, and
then attach IDE cable connectors for IDE devices 1 and 2 to
each IDE controller on the motherboard, and the drives
themselves. Fit the CD burner to a 5.25" drive bay, and the
hard disks to 3.5" drive bays using the screws provided. Fix 4-
pin Molex power connectors from the power supply to the
backs of the drives. Repeat this for the floppy drive,
connecting it to the motherboard floppy controller using the
smaller floppy drives ribbon cable. Connect the floppy drive
to the power supply using the small 4-pin connector.
Step 3
Assembling the PC
In case you dont have last months issue to hand, heres a
recap on the steps needed to get the system together
Purity is one of the keys to success, so
keep your DAW dedicated solely to its
intended purpose dont install any
software that could clutter things up
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055
thinner cables, though, which improve airflow
inside the case and can help to maintain a lower
system temperature.
Both ATA133 and S-ATA are expected to deliver
excellent results at some point in the future;
theyre just ahead of their time at the moment as
their true benefits are held back by other, slower
components in the system. Armed with all this
information, we can channel our buying power
into achieving more immediate benefits like our
choice of hard drive model.
The highest ATA100 speeds seem to come
from the 80GB models, as these give optimal
data transfer using just two 40GB platters
(resulting in less heat too). The Seagate Barracuda
IV also has the added bonus of being a very quiet
operator, so well take two of those, please.
While were still on the subject of storage,
were going to need a good quality CD-R drive
with proper buffer-underrun protection, such as
those from Yamaha. This will be for your final cut
stereo mixdown and demo productions the final
destination for all your hard work.
Audio and video
Even in our budget DAW last month, maximum
audio quality was, of course, a top priority, and
the same applies this time round. The M-Audio
Audiophile 2496 was rated as a stunning
sounding card with loads of control at a very
reasonable price in issue 29 of Computer Music,
and is a relative snip at 179.99.
The graphics card is less of a consideration in
a DAW than, say, a games machine, unless youre
looking to work with video as well as audio. If that
is the case, though, then youll probably want a
quite beefy graphics card. Otherwise, a
reasonable 64MB or higher AGP card will serve
your needs more than adequately.
Software
We decided last month that Windows XP Home edition is an excellent
platform for our DAW. Were using too much RAM for any of the Windows 9x
versions, and XP Professional would be overkill with its unnecessary extra
networking components.
Your choice of music production software will be heavily dependent on
your personal preferences, but two possible routes to take are either the
software studio, like Propellerheads Reason 2, Cakewalks Project 5 or
Image-Lines FL Studio, or the more traditional sequencer route of Steinberg
Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar or Emagics Logic (although bear in mind, of course,
that there wont be any version upgrade path with that last one since Emagic
are now owned by Apple).
Summing up
As with any specialised application, purity is one of the keys to success. That
means your Digital Audio Workstation will perform at its best as long as you
keep it solely dedicated to its intended purpose. That means not installing
any other software that could clutter up your clean configuration. The closer
you can stick to this rule, the better your performance will be.
As a general rule, stay well clear of system tray
resident applications that launch automatically
when your system boots up. If you
need an updated driver
from a website somewhere,
why not download it and
burn it to CD on another
internet enabled system,
keeping your DAW clear of
unwanted network components
and services. Following these
steps will help to reserve as
much CPU, RAM and storage
resources as possible for the task
of music production and editing.
Maximum performance means sweet
multitrack audio with virtual
instrument and effects plug-ins,
sudden signing to a record deal,
explosive sales of a string of albums,
and an excessive lifestyle followed by a fly-on-the-wall documentary about
your family life cm
I In the final part of this series next month, well be looking at dual-
processor systems with RAID storage, and how these technologies make for
the most powerful digital audio systems money can buy (and you can build)
BUILD YOUR OWN MUSIC PC
Windows 9x memory
problems: when
more is less
IF YOU HAVE a system running either
Windows 95, 98, 98SE or even Millennium
Edition, you might be in for a shock when you
install more than 512MB of RAM.
These versions of Windows actually start to
experience lack of memory issues as you install
more of the stuff. Sounds familiar? All Windows
9x incarnations allocate memory in cache sizes
according to how much RAM is detected. The
more total RAM installed, the larger the default
cache size is set aside for new operations such
as opening a DOS session, for example.
Problems occur when the cache becomes
so large that it actually consumes all system
area address space. What happens then? Out
of Memory errors probably the last thing youd
expect to hear from a system that has just had
extra brain cells fitted!
Er, guess what? Theres not enough memory to
run the current program. Or is there..?
When it comes to choosing your software, you probably already know if you
prefer the soft studio route eg, Project 5, above or the sequencer route
The VIAchipset:
compatibility problems
have been resolved
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