X-Git-Url: http://shamusworld.gotdns.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=include%2Fthe-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio.html;h=848caab6ff086bedf8c9402e158380b134b942a3;hb=a61fbacdfcb7a76fe425fada61f49fc85751e47a;hp=6dcee9ac54eab2002bfdb15cac21222d6712a53f;hpb=fc55149168a9d75cf6760d96558d63cbdbbbc5df;p=ardour-manual diff --git a/include/the-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio.html b/include/the-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio.html index 6dcee9a..848caab 100644 --- a/include/the-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio.html +++ b/include/the-right-computer-system-for-digital-audio.html @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ It is nice to think that one could just go and buy any computer, install a bit of software on it and start using it to record and create music. This idea isn't necessarily wrong, but there are some important details that it - misses. Any computer that that can be bought today (since somewhere around + misses. Any computer that can be bought today (since somewhere around the end of 2012) is capable of recording and processing a lot of audio data. It will come with a builtin audio interface that can accept inputs from microphones and/or electrical instruments; it will have a disk with a huge @@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ internal USB hub between the ports and the system bus, which can then cause problems for various kinds of external USB devices, including some models of audio interfaces. It is very difficult to discover whether this is true or - not without simplying trying it out. + not, without simply trying it out. CPU speed control Handling audio with low latency requires that the processor keeps running at its highest speed at all times. Many portable systems try to regulate @@ -89,13 +89,25 @@ situations than one without. Excessive vibration This doesn't affect the flow of data to or from the audio interface, but - it can cause the flow of data to and from disk storage to become + it can cause the flow of data to and from (spinning) disk storage to become much slower. If a computer going to be used in an environment with loud live sound (specifically, high bass volume), make sure it is placed so that the disk is not subjected to noticeable vibration. The vibrations will physically displace the read-write heads of disk, and the resulting errors will force a retry of the reading from the disk. Retrying over and over massively reduces the rate at which data can be read from the disk. Avoid - this. + this.If you find this hard to believe, check + out this + video which shows the effects of merely shouting at your drives. This + is likely not an issue with contemporary SSD drives, which have no + spinning/head mechanisms. +

+ Richard Ames presents a long (28 + minute) video + that is very helpful if you want to understand these issues in more + depth. It is a little bit Windows-centric, but the explanations apply to + all types of computers and operating systems. +

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