I need a lil help

[Stephie_Girl]

So a friend of mine contacts me saying that his friend needs a new custom PC soon.  He is running on a PC that's like 9 years old he says.  It uses a PCI creative labs sound card.  He is an audio hobbyist and uses a keyboard w/ a 1/4 inch input.  I don't know much about the audio end and was looking at sound cards for his new build.  Also, what area should I focus on, mebbe an SSD, 8GB of ram, an I3 no video card?  He will give me a list of the programs he uses.
Thanks

Steph

[Youbetternot]

Hows this PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($92.13 @ TigerDirect) 

Motherboard:  ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory:  Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda Green 1.5TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($79.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card:  XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card 

Case:  Apex PCV-588 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.98 @ Outlet PC) 

Power Supply:  XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply  ($55.98 @ Newegg) 

Total: $413.05

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-16 20:07 EDT-0400)

Cheap good maybe add more space or switch to ssd

Edit: also add a Sound card

[ooiman92]

Well, any ASUS xonar sound card would do well. Maybe go with an AMD APU based system if not rendering.

 

Edit just saw youbetternot's post:

 

I have this HDD: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=744346&csid=_61 $49.99 AR 200MB/s easy.

That memory seems a bit pricey as well, you can get a 16GB kit on sale for that price.

Wouldn't sink money into a phenom build at this point.

[Aphexx]

an audio enthusiast that uses a keyboard audio input... interesting. 

if he wants something external of the case to plug into there is the creative zxr with the external audio plug ins and volume knob

 

of course the fiio e10 or plenty of other external dacs that he could use to have an external audio plug

[Stephie_Girl]

I was looking at this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sNPa

 

But he's probably coming from a single core pentium, so I am not sure what power he needs.  But I'll get more info Sunday, but I doubt he needs some serious power, but he might so it might be a higher tier setup even!!

Thanks

Steph

[ooiman92]

^^Yeah that's a little closer to what I'd recommend, unless he needs more processing power.

[WoodenMarker]

Budget? Does he need peripherals? Copy of Windows?

[t0wer]

an audio enthusiast that uses a keyboard audio input... interesting. 

 

 

I assume he's talking about an electric piano not a typing keyboard.

 

if he's recording he should look for an external audio interface, not a sound card.

[Stephie_Girl]

Okay so he's like to stay under 500, I have windows so that's no issue.  This is what I came up with: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sQ4x.  This way if he wants a graphics card we can add one down the road no issue.  But he doesn't care for video editing.  I would consider an APU, but I haven't used one before so I am still a lil skeptical about things like heat and such.

[Stephie_Girl]

I assume he's talking about an electric piano not a typing keyboard.

 

if he's recording he should look for an external audio interface, not a sound card.

That's how he's doing his recording and such now.  So I went with a decent Asus Zonar card.

[Stephie_Girl]

Or I might do this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sQae

[t0wer]

if he's recording on an external interface now why get a sound card at all?

or does the interface only have input?

[Stephie_Girl]

He is recording using a sound card right now, a PCI sound card that is.  I'll learn more Sunday.

[MdX MaxX]

If the soundcard he's using has drivers for Windows 7 or later then he can probably keep using the one he's got.  I mean, sound technology doesn't really go obsolete like other technologies do.

 

If the soundcard is as old as the computer, though, I'm doubtful it'll have those drivers...

[Stephie_Girl]

Is there a huge difference between these 3?  Also the boards I am looking at don't have PCI slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132052

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132013

 

The differences I know of is the first 2 are 5.1 audio and the last one is 7.1 audio.  But then there's 24 bit sound @ 96KHz vs 192Khz and tbh I know absolutely nothing about this part :(.  This is the board I am eyeing up atm: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157334

Thanks

Steph

[Stephie_Girl]

Actually if I get a sound card I'm gonna get this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130708

:wub: MSI boards  

[t0wer]

it's hard to justify a sound card at all anymore.

I'd look into devices like these if he's serious about getting into recording.

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UCA202-Audio-Interface/dp/B000KW2YEI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1376715327&sr=8-4&keywords=recording+interface

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-302USB-Premium-5-Input-Interface/dp/B005EHILV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1376715327&sr=8-3&keywords=recording+interface

[Stephie_Girl]

it's hard to justify a sound card at all anymore.

I'd look into devices like these if he's serious about getting into recording.

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UCA202-Audio-Interface/dp/B000KW2YEI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1376715327&sr=8-4&keywords=recording+interface

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-302USB-Premium-5-Input-Interface/dp/B005EHILV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1376715327&sr=8-3&keywords=recording+interface

I can totally see where you're coming from, but like neither him nor I probably know exactly what he would need based on what he does.  He's doing everything from a sound card and we'll probably keep it that way tho, less confusing\

Thanks

Steph

[Stephie_Girl]

He hasn't given me a list of the programs but he said he'd like to get back into audio/midi sequencing whatever that is :(, time for google!!!!

[ShearMe]

He hasn't given me a list of the programs but he said he'd like to get back into audio/midi sequencing whatever that is :(, time for google!!!!

 

So... you need a recording interface.  :lol:

[mr moose]

Sounds to me like he needs a copy of reaper (free version out there), a usb midi interface and an external soundcard with the lowest latency you can find.  I have had no problems with the SoundBlaster digital live range (almost identical to what t0wer linked you to). I can multi track and do not have to edit for synch issues. 

 

Don't waste your time with an internal soundcard,  they might be o.k for recording one shots, but as soon as you try to layer a second track there is a good chance you'll get issues.

[Stephie_Girl]

Well the thing is, he's used a sound card for 6 years doing his work and I mean he knows better than I do what he needs.  So mebbe just a 5 channel sound card?

[mr moose]

Well the thing is, he's used a sound card for 6 years doing his work and I mean he knows better than I do what he needs.  So mebbe just a 5 channel sound card?

Get him to sign up and ask,  we love talking about  this stuff. Then we can also get a first hand idea of what he wants/needs.

[Stephie_Girl]

He's not a techie, He works 70-80 hours a week and barely has time to do music stuff on the side.