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Bassmankr · 7th January 2007

Any computer box you buy is going to have it's limit of instruments it will play at the same time (disk drive speed is the weak link), so some composers go the route of many cheap boxes (think Zimmer) to get alot of sampled instruments (think orchestra). If you use a real mixer you can treat each extra cheapo box the same you would an outboard synth and bring them back into your main recording box simply that way. All this depends on what your needs and budget are but going the "many cheapo boxes" route will allow you to keep adding boxes as your needs arise. Keep them in a ventilated separate room or closet if you can because the fan noise and heat of multiple boxes will add up.

You should be able to put together at least 4 cheapo boxes for the same hardware cost of a quad (alot more if you build them yourself or have a friend that will). If you go the one box route you will have to render, freeze, and commit to submixes to have lots of instruments but with enough time it's doable.

Use an app called "Netop" to control your multiple boxes from your main box moniter(s)/keyboard/mouse. It's just basically remote control software that works via the LAN, this will let you load up your instruments of choice on the farm boxes. You will also need to feed midi to each of the cheapo boxes from your main recording box. Surprisingly a cheap $10 soundblaster live clone sound card will work fine for the extra boxes if you use the "B" set of outputs and skip the soundblaster drivers (only use the free on the net "Project KX" drivers). The midi in/out cord for those sound cards is another $15. So for about $25 per box you can get midi in and sound out of the farm boxes. The cheapo boxes will not need a moniter but most likely will need a keyboard and mouse connected to them wherever they are stored. As for a video card (even with no moniter you need a video card) pick up an AGP slot Matrox G450 for $15 on the net. These are the best video cards for DAW's as they give duel moniter support, look good and don't hog the buss or eat CPU cycles like the ATI and Nvidia cards do. If you pick up an AMD Sempron + motherboard combo deal at Frys (www.outpost.com on the net) which they run all the time and some value ram you can see how low the costs are to do multiple cheapo boxes for a sampled instruments farm.

For the software end, look at main apps that have great midi since mostly you will be orchestrating with midi instrument/samples and pro tools is not one of those apps.

As for the argument of being "pro tools compatible" just make sure you do your recording in your app as broadcast wave files, these are wave files that have time stamping and are easily brought into/converted to, any LA scoring stage's setup if your work ends up there.

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7th January 2007	#19
Bassmankr Lives for gear Joined: Jul 2005	Any computer box you buy is going to have it's limit of instruments it will play at the same time (disk drive speed is the weak link), so some composers go the route of many cheap boxes (think Zimmer) to get alot of sampled instruments (think orchestra). If you use a real mixer you can treat each extra cheapo box the same you would an outboard synth and bring them back into your main recording box simply that way. All this depends on what your needs and budget are but going the "many cheapo boxes" route will allow you to keep adding boxes as your needs arise. Keep them in a ventilated separate room or closet if you can because the fan noise and heat of multiple boxes will add up. You should be able to put together at least 4 cheapo boxes for the same hardware cost of a quad (alot more if you build them yourself or have a friend that will). If you go the one box route you will have to render, freeze, and commit to submixes to have lots of instruments but with enough time it's doable. Use an app called "Netop" to control your multiple boxes from your main box moniter(s)/keyboard/mouse. It's just basically remote control software that works via the LAN, this will let you load up your instruments of choice on the farm boxes. You will also need to feed midi to each of the cheapo boxes from your main recording box. Surprisingly a cheap $10 soundblaster live clone sound card will work fine for the extra boxes if you use the "B" set of outputs and skip the soundblaster drivers (only use the free on the net "Project KX" drivers). The midi in/out cord for those sound cards is another $15. So for about $25 per box you can get midi in and sound out of the farm boxes. The cheapo boxes will not need a moniter but most likely will need a keyboard and mouse connected to them wherever they are stored. As for a video card (even with no moniter you need a video card) pick up an AGP slot Matrox G450 for $15 on the net. These are the best video cards for DAW's as they give duel moniter support, look good and don't hog the buss or eat CPU cycles like the ATI and Nvidia cards do. If you pick up an AMD Sempron + motherboard combo deal at Frys (www.outpost.com on the net) which they run all the time and some value ram you can see how low the costs are to do multiple cheapo boxes for a sampled instruments farm. For the software end, look at main apps that have great midi since mostly you will be orchestrating with midi instrument/samples and pro tools is not one of those apps. As for the argument of being "pro tools compatible" just make sure you do your recording in your app as broadcast wave files, these are wave files that have time stamping and are easily brought into/converted to, any LA scoring stage's setup if your work ends up there. .