VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Diane Maggipinto]

wow, todd, yours is impressive too.

you men.............................
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com

[sdelgo]

I'm running with this one currently...

http://www.lynxstudio.com/lynxtwo.html

The sound is so clear.... very little noise and very good DACs and ADCs

Steve
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you'll always have something on your plate... if you keep your bearings straight.

www.steviedproductions.com

[Jowillie]

I had my local computer guy build and update the tower I'm using now. But he's moved on to greener fields and I need to really upgrade.
I have been advised to talk to these folks, http://www.shop-sonica.com/.
They seem to be the nicest folks I have talked to and very easy to work with. My needs are different since I need video production as well as simple audio and they understand what it takes and how to make everything work with no conflicts. They are audio people.
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Wild Willie Edwards
www.hometowntvtoday.com
http://vomictest.blogspot.com

[Yoda117]

Now here's a question for the folks:

who here would be willing to use a rack mounted server case instead of a standard desktop for their DAW?

I must admit that it's tempting, especially considering the size of the desk I've got coming my way (only the possibility of sound negates this thought... but if homebuilt, it could be done)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129023

It's a bit tempting, especially since it'd give me an excuse to load up on RAM and add a second CPU
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

[louzucaro]

Other than potential space-saving benefits if you already have a rack set up, I'm not sure why anybody would want to. Usually rackmount chassis (for computers, specifically) are super heavy and have lots of or very noisy fans.

I imagine a DAW built in a rackmount chassis would be designed to be fairly quiet but it would then likely have to have some pretty particular cooling features since they really can only vent out the back (as opposed to the sides, top, bottom and front).
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[todd ellis]

i actually have a rack case in the "pile-o-stuff" in the garage. one day ... i'll either use it ... or sell it on ebay, i guess.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[louzucaro]

I tossed an IBM Netfinity rack chassis just yesterday. It weighed about 50 pounds with no drives in it. Blech.
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Yoda117]

I dunno, with some of the passively cooled GPUs and CPU heatsinks, this might be an interesting experiment.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

[louzucaro]

Again, just pay attention to the internal layout of the chassis in question. Some of them have very specific "cooling channels" so if there are things like backplanes, etc. (or even something seemingly innocuous like cables if it's a 1U chassis) obstructing a straight-through airflow, you could run into heat issues pretty quickly if everything is passive.
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Yoda117]

I think that pretty much counts for any chassis. I'm pretty cool with the passive chassis designs for CPU coolers (especially with certain CPUs), but the whole GPU passive cooler approach still makes me a bit nervous. I've used far to many to ever think that a small heatsink can do the trick
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

[louzucaro]

Well I'm not sure I'd agree that it applies to any computer case. A normal tower case typically has a lot more open space for air to move around in unless you're talking about like a 4U rackmount chassis that doesn't have much in it or never gets taxed much.

A 1U or 2U rackmount chassis is more likely to have heat issues without some pretty good fans. Especially since the "ceiling" of the chassis is so close to the motherboard and components, whereas in a tower case, those bits would be on the side of the case and the hot air would be able to rise up near the power supply and get vented out via the PSU's fan.

Of course it all depends greatly on the internal components used in the rackmount as you already know.

FYI I have a passively cooled graphics card in my DAW. I haven't done anything seriously graphics intensive with it, but it hasn't had any problems so far. I didn't know if you meant you're not sure about a passively-cooled GPU in general or just in a rackmount situation, but for what it's worth, in my DAW tower it's behaving pretty well so far
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Yoda117]

depends on the case Lou I mean, 1U and 2U size cases are real screamers when it comes to heat, but 3U and 4U cases can easily made quite cool. The problem I have, particularly with 4U server cases is that often there is a an issue with the PSU having too much of a channel to draw in air for cooling, resulting in a louder sound.

I really have issues with cooling server cases only when I start to add them to a rack with other servers and they start competing for resources (such as cool air).

the problem for me is that I can build a cool rack case, but can I build a cool AND quiet rack case?

Well, yeah I can, but I don't think it will cost me less than $1K for the case itself (heatsink cases are expensive). I was hoping that these Antec rack cases would fit the need.

If I felt like paying an extra $1400 for an isorack, this would be a non-issue, but I'm not into spending that for what is to be my own private area (I've already got them for some other rooms and they're great).

Looks like I'll be heading the route of the P180, since that seems to be the most cost effective solution available at the time.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

[louzucaro]

I took a look at the P180 after reading your last post...that does sound pretty nice! Price is decent, too, considering the number of extra sound-deadening features they list for it. And it looks pretty nice to boot!

If / when you build something with that, let us know how it works out.
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Yoda117]

No problema.

Since I'm basically taking all the spare gear and mics I can grab from other recording areas I have set up for a room specifically for my own VO, I'll be taking pics galore of the setup once it's done.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

[Jowillie]

OK guys....how about laying out a couple of configurations for any of us that might need to know what to look for in building or designing or ordering a new VO recording computer.
Keep in mind that most of us will use it for VO only with maybe some multi-tracking, but not for major music tracking.
Also keep in mind that probably most of us will also use the same computer for everyday use like email, web-browsing, VO-BB diatribing. Also advise about setting up (or how NOT to set u software.
If you want to take it from basic machine to dream machine--that's OK too.

Then do it for a laptop.

Thanks much....
Willie E.
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Wild Willie Edwards
www.hometowntvtoday.com
http://vomictest.blogspot.com