Help me with a build please <3

Discuss your workplace, instruments, amps, and any other gear.

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backdoorbobby
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:58 am

Help me with a build please <3

Post by backdoorbobby »

Hey guys, I'm wanting to give my brother a fairly good set up for recording on linux for his 21st birthday. He currently uses his 2011 imac and uses firewire input. I can obtain a computer with decent specs (2.5ghz dual processor, 4gb ram, etc. but I'd imagine I would need to purchase a higher end sound card to record quality music and use his firewire input. So my question is, does anybody recommend a sound card that is compatible with a good distro for recording music? Any suggestions or corrections would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
tatch
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Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:18 pm

Re: Help me with a build please <3

Post by tatch »

dnb
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 17, 2016 9:20 pm

Re: Help me with a build please <3

Post by dnb »

maybe an lenovo (Ts)4xx models or even x1 carbon + rme babyface will be rock solid. both can be found on ebay ok cheap. put arch on it and you're on https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Professional_audio
best
CrocoDuck
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Re: Help me with a build please <3

Post by CrocoDuck »

Use the FFADO device list for support on firewire devices. I don't really recommend to spend a lot of money on soundcards. The reason is that, unless we are talking about professional rack mounted converter modules, all the soundcards are built around IC codecs supplied by third parties. So, they are pretty much all the same piece of electronics. The only thing that change is how the card manufacturer designs the analogue preamps stages. Despite what you find advertised around, soundcards do not have to "sound good". They need to have a flat frequency response, i.e. they must not colour the input signal. I have experience of few cards:
  • Focusrite Scarlett 2i4
  • Behringher FCA202
  • Behringher FCA1616
  • Behringher UCA202
They are all good and pretty flat, but I think that Behringher units are the ones with best quality for the money. The FCA202 is firewire and works out of the box. It is hooked to my desktop computer. It is not suitable for direct instruments input tho. The FCA1616 is both firewire and USB and it can accept instruments. I have only been able to test it on USB and works very well out of the box. Never tried it on firewire.
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