[notMe]

let me cut it to you straight. I need help. lots of it. and I know someone out there will have pity on me. the rest might flame me, but here goes:

I know music. no problem there. I'm just starting to get into the whole computer aspect of it though, and I'm quite illiterate. and before you flame me, I've been searching this site for almost two weeks. maybe this information is out there, but I just haven't found it. if so, please redirect me to it and we can move on.

I'm in the market for a computer, and I know nothing about computers. So is anybody willing to post the specs I would need if I were to get into music production/remixing? Here's what you might need to know:
1. Extremely tight budget.
2. Eventually I might want to do some recording stuff too, so I'd want to have a machine prepared for that
3. Please keep your language simple, like you were trying to explain this stuff to your Grandma.
4. Most likely desktop, and I'm thinking a Mac, but am open to suggestions.

okay, I've got plenty of other questions if anyone has nothing to do but help a newbie, but perhaps I will post those later after the smoke clears. okay- have at it!
and thanks a million in advance!

[SonicThHedgog]

Originally Posted by notMe

let me cut it to you straight. I need help. lots of it. and I know someone out there will have pity on me. the rest might flame me, but here goes:

I know music. no problem there. I'm just starting to get into the whole computer aspect of it though, and I'm quite illiterate. and before you flame me, I've been searching this site for almost two weeks. maybe this information is out there, but I just haven't found it. if so, please redirect me to it and we can move on.

I'm in the market for a computer, and I know nothing about computers. So is anybody willing to post the specs I would need if I were to get into music production/remixing? Here's what you might need to know:
1. Extremely tight budget.
2. Eventually I might want to do some recording stuff too, so I'd want to have a machine prepared for that
3. Please keep your language simple, like you were trying to explain this stuff to your Grandma.
4. Most likely desktop, and I'm thinking a Mac, but am open to suggestions.

okay, I've got plenty of other questions if anyone has nothing to do but help a newbie, but perhaps I will post those later after the smoke clears. okay- have at it!
and thanks a million in advance!

How much money is in your tight budget?

[notMe]

Originally Posted by SonicThHedgog

How much money is in your tight budget?

does under 1000 work at all?

[Rozovian]

Mac makes things easy for you, and comes with GarageBand so you can start making music right away. GarageBand isn't the most advanced music software and doesn't come with a huge array of realistic instruments, but it's a great place to start, and nothing's stopping you from advancing to other, more advanced DAWs, including Logic which can open GB projects so you can continue working with the same sounds and stuff. It all hinges on whether you can find a decent mac for under a grand, thatis.

[DusK]

Originally Posted by Rozovian

It all hinges on whether you can find a decent mac for under a grand, thatis.

This, considering Macs are significantly more expensive compared to equivalently-powerful PCs. Unfortunately, not knowing about computers kinda puts you in a situation where a Mac might be the better option.

If you're willing to learn a bit about computers, you'll get a lot more firepower out of a PC, especially considering your budget. For music production, CPU power, RAM, and a hard drive with a good compromise between speed are important, and video hardware is pretty much negligible (I invite anyone more experienced to correct me if I'm wrong on this).

I'm not at liberty to recommend any PCs you might want to buy, as I build my own. I'll leave that to someone else.

[Zerothemaster]

Originally Posted by Rozovian

Mac makes things easy for you, and comes with GarageBand so you can start making music right away. GarageBand isn't the most advanced music software and doesn't come with a huge array of realistic instruments, but it's a great place to start, and nothing's stopping you from advancing to other, more advanced DAWs, including Logic which can open GB projects so you can continue working with the same sounds and stuff. It all hinges on whether you can find a decent mac for under a grand, thatis.

The price would be key. Most decent music making macs run above the 1000 mark. I run a Toshiba A505 that I got for either 600 or 800 bucks (can't remember).

[ectogemia]

I just built a very very nice PC for music production for about $800. Now that I've worked out some major wrinkles, it works like a champ AND I can surf porn faster than ever!!!

If that tickles your fancy, let me know. I'll post the specs. Maybe you could buy something similar.

As an aside, I did NOT buy a soundcard for it since I record everything using my midi keyboard controller (or sequence by hand 99.9% of the time).

[PROTO·DOME]

Originally Posted by Ectogemia

I did NOT buy a soundcard

: |

You'll regret it.

Betcha.

Don't come crying to me when you do either.

[Neblix]

Originally Posted by DusK

This, considering Macs are significantly more expensive compared to equivalently-powerful PCs. Unfortunately, not knowing about computers kinda puts you in a situation where a Mac might be the better option.

If you're willing to learn a bit about computers, you'll get a lot more firepower out of a PC, especially considering your budget. For music production, CPU power, RAM, and a hard drive with a good compromise between speed are important, and video hardware is pretty much negligible (I invite anyone more experienced to correct me if I'm wrong on this).

I'm not at liberty to recommend any PCs you might want to buy, as I build my own. I'll leave that to someone else.

This is the most awesome advice I have seen given by someone with a Sonic The Hedgehog forum avatar.

Macs are crap for budget. C R A P .

You want a machine with a good processor, that's where the bulk of your music stuff is going to go for your computer to take the stuff you write into your DAW all the way to your soundcard (and out to speakers).

Video card is not important. At all. You'll do fine with the graphics processor inside the Core i5 or Core i7 sandy bridge processors. If you want a desktop powerhouse for your budget, contact "prophetik" on the forums for a recommendation, and he'll build it for you for cheaper than a retailer if you choose to request that. (PM him). If he doesn't respond, ask me, though I can't build one for you. You'll have to find someone you know who can interpret my recommendation and act on it. PM me if you're still interested.

I can give a general recommendation with a few specific parts right now, but for all specific parts we need to talk one on one (I would strongly recommend asking prophetik instead if he is available):

-Core i5-2500k $220 (PROCESSOR)
-Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H motherboard ~$130 (MOTHERBOARD)
-16GB RAM DDR3 ~$80 (the market for these is dropping insanely, so they're super cheap) (RAM)
-500W Power Supply ~$60-70 (POWER SUPPLY)
-1TB HDD (more or less if you so desire) $90 (HARD DRIVE)
-a dvd drive $20 (DVD)
-obviously a chassis like an Antec 300 ~$60 (CASE)
-a nice HD monitor ~$150 (MONITOR)
-Windows 7 $100 (OS)
-Keyboard and Mouse (simple) ~$30-40 (KB&M)

Puts you at $960, roughly. Give or take. You can figure that out with whoever is giving you your part recommendations. If you want a pre-built system, you'll have to sacrifice some power to stay in your budget.

Here are the specs of my machine I put together. Keep in mind, this price is not including Windows, and heavy deal surfing.

$989

Intel Core i7-2600
G.Skill Sniper 8GB DDR3 RAM
EVGA GTX 460 1GB
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB HDD
Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler
Cooler Master Storm Scout Chassis
ASUS 21.5" HDMI Ultra-Slim Monitor
LG 24X DVD Drive
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w PSU

[ectogemia]

Originally Posted by PROTO·DOME

: |

You'll regret it.

Betcha.

Don't come crying to me when you do either.

I already regret it!

Kind of!

I'm getting along just fine without a sound card, but mmmm, it'd be nice to have something to plug my e-piano into (and don't even recommend a MIDI interface -- pshhh, do you think I'm practical or something?). I can't get too expressive on my controller being that the key action is of the Playskool variety.

When it comes down to it, I'm dropping ~ $140k on my education over the next 4 years -- and it'll pay off big when it's all said and done -- so any little bit I can save in the meantime is essential; thus, no sound card. But in 5 years or so, I'll have a music rig so amazing, it'll make people say "yeah, cool, but can it play gamez" And I'll have a SOUND CARD!!