Rayzoon Technologies LLC

[dinoman]

Hi all,

Haven't been around much lately as most of my free time, beside having been on vacation, has been use in research for my new computer build. I think I have arrived at my final configuration and am about to order - as follows:

Case - Antec Sonotta II (included Antec Smart Power Psu)

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

Memory - Corsair XMS2 2GB Kit (2 X1GB)
DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Hard Drive 1 - Samsung Spinpoint 80 GB

Hard Drive 2 - Samsung Spinpoint 250 GB

Basic dual head video card, DVD burner.

(I currently use M-Audio Ozone, Cubase SL1, Melodyne Cre8, Jamstix)


One question. My intention is not to install an internet browser or E-mail program (or the Antivirus/firewall, etc. that would need to go with that). I will use my current laptop for those things. This has obvious security benefits, as well as performance benifits with out those things installed and running - but - will I have any problems downloading programs, updates, sending registrations and receiving activation keys, etc. on a seperate computer, and transfering with a DVD or thumb drive? Doesn't some software read your computer ID when you are downloading updates, etc?

This question applies not only to Jamstix, of course, but Cubase, and any other applications I might have or wish to get in the future.

Will it cause a lot of grief? - or is it really no problem?

I'll appreciate your feedback.

Geoff

[Ralph [RZ]]

I can only answer for Jamstix, which does NOT require an Internet connection so it will work fine being installed from a DVD, CD etc.

Nice system btw.......
_________________
Ralph Zeuner
Rayzoon Technologies LLC
http://www.rayzoon.com

[muzicman0]

might be too late, but you won't have a problem with Cubase either. However, good luck installing windows with out IE, and outlook express, AFAIK, they are intregal parts of the OS. You can, however, not install the network drivers.
mm0

[Fingers]

As most users know, Windows does carry a lot of baggage and my solution (when running Win 9 was to use 98Lite. This provided a much reduced demand from the OS. Since upgrading to XP and with a bit of tweaking, I'm finding that, by and large, XP runs pretty well straight out of the box.

That said, you might like to look at the latest version of XPlite (http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html) as this will allow you to dump all sorts of thing you won't need for audio work.

I'd be careful about dumping IE though. A lot of software is now using a help file system which relies on the IE engine being installed. That's fine... as long as you don't need any help .
_________________
Graeme
Some of my music here

[ProfRhino]

dinoman,
do yourself a favour and use XP straight out of the box, SP2 and latest hotfixes (get them all in one at http://www.winboard.org ), but with minimal tweaking.
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Essential : Processor Scheduling should be set to Background Services
You'll need the DualCore Hotfix by MS, too (KB896256), which is officially not distributed as a free download, but Google is your friend.
That's about it, additionally disable the Messenger, System Restore (use True Image instead), automatic updates, the firewall and the Security Center and maybe change to the trad Windows GUI.
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Everything else won't help you a bit performancewise on a current computer, but you're running a massive risk of getting an unstable system if you don't know precisely what you're doing.
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Depending on the number of tracks you want to record simultaneously you might disable the write cache on your audio drive to gain more security in case of a crash.
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In any case get yourself a good disk imaging program (imho Acronis True Image 10 is the best) and "document" your setup process with frequent images. Believe me, the day will come when you're glad you did.

Hope that helps, Rhino

[dinoman]

[ProfRhino]

A hotfix that helps adapt XP SP2 to some peculiarities of DualCore CPUs.
Will be in SP3 afaik, but since it's not security related MS require you to ask for it personally (and use the opportunity to scan your PC).
Without it the CPU meter in Cubase is even more unpredictable, jumping around like crazy, indicating there's something not healthy about ASIO.
EC only knows what else is fixed !
Don't take my word alone, search at Cubase and Nuendo hardware forums and you'll see.
Cheers, Rhino

[gezzer]

Agree with the professor. Just use XP out of the box. I just use windows firewall. No anti-virus and manual scan with Spyware Doc and Ad aware.
Since I am constantly up and downloading material off my server, not having an internet connection on my DAW would be a loss.


Gezzer

[ProfRhino]

To make it absolutely clear, my suggestions were for a DAW wthout internet connection.
Don't want to comment internet access on a DAW, personally I'd never do that. Ymmv,
Rhino