Soldam's Altium FC500 studio for the audio pros

Unless you're an Engadget intern or working in the media arts, chances are that your rig doesn't offer 3x displays. Well check the build-to-order Altium FC500 studio setup from Soldam's WINDy DAW series of digital audio workstations. The kit starts with a 2.93GHz X6800 Core 2 Extreme processor, up to 4GB (1GB x 4) PCS-5300 DD2 SDRAM, up to 4x 7200rpm SATA disks (RAID 0+1) with eSATA expansion, a ±R DL DVD super multi-drive, gigabit Ethernet, 6x USB 2.0, 4x Firewire, and of course a couple of NVIDIA Quadro NVS440 graphics cards with 256MB of GDDR3 memory from which to hang your trio of 19-inch displays... with room for a fourth. And because this is targeted at audio pros, it comes flauntin' a high-end DSP from Universal Audio: the UAD-1 PCI card. It all comes packed in an Altium case said to efficiently keep the rig cool while keeping the noise down. Sound good? Now the price -- at ¥1,375,500 (about $11,373) maybe you'd like to take your chances and roll your own?

[Via Impress]

[SD @ Feb 2nd 2007 10:11AM]

Ok, these guys don't seem to know the first thing about DAW user needs. There is absolutely no reason to waste money on a Quadro video card for DAW work. In fact, serious DAW users are usually content with Matrox G and P series dual head cards. I see no mention of silent/reduced noise power supplies which are also a necessity of a DAW enviroment.

I think I'd pass on this. Better luck next time...

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Feb 2nd 2007 10:24AM]

"" [...] 2.93GHz X6800 Core 2 Extreme processor [...] 4x 7200rpm SATA disks [...] couple of NVIDIA Quadro NVS440 ""

The guys must be joking. Anyway, good luck making the monster quiet.

"" It all comes packed in an Altium case said to efficiently keep the rig cool while keeping the noise down. Sound good? ""

I will not believe it until I see^Whear it.

My experience with helping people making a systems for studios is absolutely reversed. Quiet hard drive is put into N layers of sound absorbing materials. You can't have more than one of them, since there is no enough place inside and vibration from all of them would leak onto case surface making it "signing". Then you take slowest (passively cooled) graphic card which can take your load: (this is very important) because all fast 3D cards (especially nVidia ones!! - they are worst offenders) produce unbelievable amount of noise which leaks onto all buses. Regardless of number of filters installed on audio card, the leaks from video card could be very high and noticable. Power supply usually disconnected, cables prolonged and it itself is put into another room (noises are coming from frequency conversion elements and voltage transformer). Another rule (which seem to be completely disregarded in RTFA's system) is to remove everything unneeded: it is cheaper to reassemble the box than rerecord something due to unwanted snap/crack/etc.

[ZombieFlanders @ Feb 2nd 2007 10:50AM]

Heck, I've been having great results with my 2GHz MacBook using an 8-input firewire device, for tracking tunes. It's silent as hell, has enough power to track and basically mix 25 track projects (without plug-ins, I'm not taxing the CPU much at all but 25 is the most tracks I've used on a project so far). If I'm going to use more plug-ins I move a project over to my desktop, which is more powerful, but louder.

And Ihar, can you point me toward something online about the noise created by internal computer parts? I have an nVidia vid card (my gaming computer does double duty as my project mixing and mastering computer) and now I'm worried about noise in my projects...

[Keith @ Feb 2nd 2007 11:22AM]

Nope ... I am sorry I just have a mac with final cut, Pro Tools, and the whole four monitor thing going on with two dual core xeon processors

[Galley @ Feb 2nd 2007 12:11PM]

Don't nearly all audio pros use Macs? I'm sure a Mac-based solution would be far cheaper than $11,000.

[Emor8t @ Feb 2nd 2007 1:00PM]

If Engadget Interns get something like that... sign me up.

And if the software is supported by PC, I don't care what platform it's on.

Neither scare me.

[Alex93053 @ Feb 2nd 2007 2:20PM]

For 5 grand you can build a system that not only is state of the art, but also actually helps the person by offering things like midi input devices(keyboards(s), drum machines, groove boxes and synths).

In the system you can use some creative X-FI cards (a pair of them), several GB of RAM, 15,000 RPM hard drive, sound dampening material(put PC in a place so you don't hear the vibration and spinning sounds), decent monitor speakers, a high-quality condenser microphone, professional headphones, a midi keyboard, a secondary midi device, software, a pair of graphic cards with 2 outputs each, and 2 or 3 monitors. With this setup you don't just get a PC, you are ready to make music right away - perfect for those bedroom producers.

The Altium costs twice as much because they want you to buy really big monitors. and an expensive luxury graphic card.

In the end it comes down to what the setup can do for the person. If you're a beginner, this is total overkill. If you're a professional, you would buy music hardware and studio consoles (rack equipment) and this setup would not be good enough for you.

[Stranger @ Feb 2nd 2007 3:13PM]

I don't care about the machine - but please tell me more about those 19" monitors with WUXGA-resolution. They sounded darn sweet.

[asc99c @ Feb 2nd 2007 5:53PM]

Seconded about those monitors. I've currently got a pair of Iiyama 22" VM Pro 514 CRTs. Main complaint so far about LCDs was the resolution. I've just recently got a new laptop with a 17" 1920x1200 screen, and it's the first LCD I've seen to beat a good CRT. Given the price tag I'd assume these are similarly impressive. I'd definitely go and grab a pair of these if anywhere will ship to the UK.

[asc99c @ Feb 2nd 2007 5:56PM]

Unfortunately after running the page through the Google translator, I get the feeling that the article is just wrong. The standard monitor on this is just an Eizo S1901-ST with 1280x1024 resolution. The optional 1920x1200 monitor is a 24" monitor.

[mean2u @ Feb 2nd 2007 6:02PM]

Holy crap.

[Thomas Ricker @ Feb 2nd 2007 6:06PM]

Correction: as pointed out, the price quoted includes 3x EIZO S1901-ST (black) monitors with a 1280x1024 resolution. The video cards support 4x DVI-I monitors at WUXGA resolution.

http://tinyurl.com/yvake4

Thomas