Recording - August 2010 - 64

chipset (most of them really prefer the Texas Instruments chipset); USB interfaces lack bandwidth for lots of audio channels and take a toll on CPU performance to even maintain a connection. Even PCI cards themselves are not perfect; there are problems with certain chipsets/motherboards and other PCI card combinations. PCIe, introduced by Intel in 2004, has been whittling away the PCI card market for several years. Audio interface solution providers have been very slow in adopting the new PCIe interface. It seems “they” prefer the FireWire or USB interface, depending on the price range. I can’t say I blame them, as this opens up compatibility with laptops as well as desktops. I’d prefer to stay with my current PCI card, but I’m looking at spending $270-plus for the upgrade to Windows Vista/7 drivers—for a nearly decadeold card! That is not sitting well with me. I’d rather invest the money in a new device that comes with a warranty! Again, I feel arm-twisting, forcing me into going in a different direction to fit my needs.

Guest editorial by Devon Brent

What, Me Upgrade? No—And Here’s Why!
I haven’t done a meaningful upgrade of my DAW for almost five years now, aside from a new hard drive, or replacing faulty parts like a power supply or motherboard, etc.. That is a big change for someone who used to upgrade every six to nine months to keep up on the needed “power curve”. Why have I not upgraded? It boils down to three major reasons: • OS platform upgrade issues/fluctuations; • PC interconnect standards changing; • Nominal CPU power upgrades that are neither meaningful nor “affordable.” OS Changes The Windows XP era was a long and prosperous one; the OS has for the most part been stable and heavily supported for many years. When Microsoft released Vista in January 2007 worldwide, that all changed. As expected with any major upgrade, lack of support for older software and hardware was prominent for many moons. I also knew I certainly wasn’t ready to leave the comfort of a stable XP environment for no perceived benefit; Vista certainly wasn’t any faster on any platform at the time it was released. Windows 7 has been out since October of 2009. Fortunately it seems that many things with Vista support will just simply work on Windows 7, both hardware and software. At least, I have my fingers crossed that this is the case for all of my hardware and software choices. With plug-ins now stating Vista or Windows 7 support only, I’m feeling my arm being twisted harder to upgrade. PC Interconnect Changes Arguably the best interconnect interface for audio is the PCI-based card solution. FireWire interfaces are very finicky unless mated with the right FireWire
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(Lack of) CPU Power Changes The biggest of my top three reasons: CPU power upgrades. The reason is two-fold: my current processor gave me the power I needed, and getting a “meaningful” power boost from even the first-generation dual-cores took quite some time from Intel and AMD. The AMD 3800+ X2 dual-core platform is still a fairly powerful chip for most basic audio tasks and plug-ins. It easily gives me quite a bit of power to run a plethora of plug-ins comfortably enough to complete songs. Some newer plug-ins certainly crush my CPU with a single instance; the point is, they’re not (yet) in the majority. Audio tracks, another part of my composition toolset, also are very light on the CPU. A meaningful upgrade to me is one that significantly gives me more power to do even the worst of audio tasks. When I changed from an Intel Pentium 4 2.53 GHz to my AMD dual core, projects that had been pegging 100% CPU dropped to the 30%-ish range. That’s a jump that’s meaningful and in range of what I’m willing to spend for an upgrade: $700–$800 for a CPU, motherboard and memory upgrade. Since buying the AMD at the end of 2005, CPUs introduced by Intel and AMD were minor incremental boosts in power per core. Please note that I say “per core”; I am well aware that going from dual to quad core would have doubled my power, but most plug-ins are not multi-core aware. A CPU with a nominal performance upgrade would have left me in the same boat, no matter how many cores I had. Fortunately, Intel finally changed the game with the introduction of the Nehalem processors in November of 2008. The Intel i930 2.80 GHz quad core processor that I’m looking to buy should get me a performance bump similar to my previous experience when going from the 2.53 GHz to the AMD 3800+ X2. That’ll give me the power I need for the latest and most demanding plug-ins, but will give me breathing room for the next CPUhungry plug-ins that are coming out as well. Conclusion With CPU prices heading south, and CPU power cruising considerably north, it’s about time for me to head west to new frontiers and unexplored territory. For those of you who’ve wondered if you’re crazy for not upgrading over the last few years, I’m saying you’re not alone. If lack of power is not compelling you to upgrade, then stick it out like I did.

Devon Brent (devon@recordingmag.com) is a musician, recording engineer, sound designer, and murderer of bad PCs, living and working in Jacksonville, FL. Once in a while he remembers to just sit and play guitar or keyboards, and remind himself of what this is supposed to be all about.

Recording - August 2010

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