| Recording studio computer selection is an essential | | | | important key word -- memory. RAM used to be |
| activity when creating a home recording studio. If you | | | | measured in Kilobytes and Megabytes but nowadays |
| have already considered and dismissed the possibility | | | | operating systems and application programs need lots |
| of using a stand-alone digital recorder you now need | | | | of relatively inexpensive memory so you will see |
| to decide which computer system will best fit your | | | | Gigabytes being specified. A Gigabyte is |
| requirements. | | | | approximately one thousand million bytes or |
| You first need to consider whether you intend to only | | | | characters. |
| record in one place or whether you wish to have the | | | | The hard disks in a computer are used to permanently |
| flexibility to record at live gigs. If you need complete | | | | store the operating system, applications and recording |
| portability, then opt for a laptop computer. Otherwise, | | | | software together with large quantities of permanent |
| stick with a desktop or rack mounted computer. | | | | and temporary data. The capacity of hard disks is also |
| Whatever your decision it is recommended that your | | | | measured in Gigabytes. In fact, Terabytes are being |
| system is dedicated to the task of recording. This will | | | | increasingly specified. A Terabyte is approximately one |
| make it less likely that you will have software conflicts | | | | million, million bytes. |
| or virus attacks. | | | | A recording studio computer has at its heart at least |
| Next you need to consider the hardware resources | | | | one processor. It is the processor that drives the |
| that the recording studio computer system should | | | | execution of instructions to add, subtract, divide, multiply |
| have. The simple solution is to invest in as much | | | | and compare. The speed with which the processor |
| memory, disk space and processing power as you | | | | performs is dictated by an internal clock whose speed |
| can afford. However, the reality is you may have a | | | | is measured in Hertz. Currently processor speeds are |
| limited budget. Where this is the case you need to | | | | likely to be in excess of several Gigahertz -- that is |
| ensure that you carefully study the minimum system | | | | several thousand, million Hertz. |
| requirements of the operating system and recording | | | | As well as considering RAM, disk space and |
| software you have chosen to run. Your hardware | | | | processor speed you also need to consider other |
| resources must at least exceed these specifications. | | | | factors that will influence the speed and capacity of |
| It is easy for people who are not particularly technical | | | | your computer system. These include the speed of |
| to glaze over when faced with digesting hardware | | | | the bus that connects the computers internal |
| specifications. So the following paragraphs are aimed | | | | architecture together and the number of Universal |
| at assisting their research. | | | | Serial Bus and Fire Wire connections that are available |
| A recording studio computer system needs RAM to | | | | for driving various external devices. |
| contain memory resident parts of the operating | | | | Home recording is an exciting and rewarding activity |
| system, the recording software and data being used | | | | but you do need to perform thorough research to |
| for input, output, calculations and comparisons. RAM | | | | ensure you invest in the correct recording studio |
| stands for Random Access Memory. It is not a | | | | computer. |
| particularly useful acronym but it does contain that | | | | |