Presenting... the first rendition of "The Mus1c B0x"

Want to talk about music hardware or software that doesn't include Reason?
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Psuper
Posts: 524
Joined: 29 May 2016

30 Nov 2017

Not a song, a new dedicated DAW. Took some serious research. Still lots of unanswered questions I'll find out once it's built, as usual. I put a focus on 3 things in order: High-customized Performance (Focus on Vocal + Piano), Cool & Silent, Simplistic (one shot, no plan to upgrade after built - offline DAW).

Fractal Design - Define R5 Titanium Mid ATX Case
Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX
Processor: Core i7-8700K / Thermalright - TRUE Spirit 140 Direct cooler
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB DDR4
Corsair - SF 450W SFX + ATX Adapter
Main System: MyDigitalSSD - BPX 256GB M.2-2280
Working storage: Crucial - BX300 SSD
4k 40" 4-4-4 tv Monitor

What I'm really excited about is taking a chance on a brand new interface just rolling out - the Discreet 4 from Antelope Audio. It seems like it was designed for me, it's like the Voice-focused equivalent Interface verses the Guitar-focused equivalent of the Apollo line. Thunderbolt 2, top clocking, conversion, has it's own high-quality real-time effects and processor (huge plus for me, I use outboard gear on occasion and always like anything that doesn't run on the CPU), but the MIC PRES and Modelling software - wow just wow (on paper at least) seriously I cannot wait to see how that plays out it's a dream for me if it's even remotely close to what I envision.

Will finally semi-retire (or will I?) my beloved 1616m units. I have 3 of them, two I purchased over the last few years). Don't laugh, this is my secret weapon. Undeniably one of the best interfaces out there still today sub $1000 - not just for RTL with its Ethernet EDI to PCIE card. It also sports some of the best SNR crazy clean PREs.

Regardless, after 12 years of the 1616m, I'm ready to move on with the Discreet 4 and am hoping it will be my new secret weapon for the next 12 years!

Parts are coming in and will hopefully start building next week and update the 'rendition' as I progress if anyone is interested. Anyone building a DAW in the foreseeable future?
Reason needs to DAW.viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7504985

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Psuper
Posts: 524
Joined: 29 May 2016

07 Dec 2017

Started and finished building this yesterday. Incredibly quiet honestly cannot hear it at all, even under load. Cool, no core broke 50c under load, idles 17c - 20c. seems like killer performance not even optimizedm and didn't break the bank. Mostly cutting-edge stuff on the hairline of sweetspot.

Couple gotchas I was prepared for, still cut it close on a few things.
Reason needs to DAW.viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7504985

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Gorgon
Posts: 1233
Joined: 11 Mar 2016

09 Dec 2017

Psuper wrote:
30 Nov 2017
Not a song, a new dedicated DAW. Took some serious research. Still lots of unanswered questions I'll find out once it's built, as usual. I put a focus on 3 things in order: High-customized Performance (Focus on Vocal + Piano), Cool & Silent, Simplistic (one shot, no plan to upgrade after built - offline DAW).

Fractal Design - Define R5 Titanium Mid ATX Case
Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX
Why this particular motherboard?
"This is a block of text that can be added to posts you make. There is a 255 character limit."

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Psuper
Posts: 524
Joined: 29 May 2016

09 Dec 2017

Gorgon wrote:
09 Dec 2017
Psuper wrote:
30 Nov 2017
Not a song, a new dedicated DAW. Took some serious research. Still lots of unanswered questions I'll find out once it's built, as usual. I put a focus on 3 things in order: High-customized Performance (Focus on Vocal + Piano), Cool & Silent, Simplistic (one shot, no plan to upgrade after built - offline DAW).

Fractal Design - Define R5 Titanium Mid ATX Case
Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX
Why this particular motherboard?
Cooling (not just the motherboard, but more airflow in a mid tower), efficient layout (less component 'extras', compact), small size (easier to cool, more tower options), future overclocking (this will be the only eventual 'upgrade', for now vanilla cpu is preferred), thunderbolt 3 native. A few other things I looked out for after hitting up the spec sheets and picking apart reviews.

I was on the fence about the memory for something low profile and proper QVL, but in the end I grabbed these they were $300 and a great upgrade for one of my other 3 gaming machines if they didn't work out in the DAW.
Reason needs to DAW.viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7504985

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syncanonymous
Posts: 477
Joined: 16 Mar 2015
Location: UK and France
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10 Dec 2017

that’s very helpful, thanks :-)
I have been talking about a build for a while
just waiting for the windfall to actually hit the bank...
RSN 10.4d4_9878_RME UFX+_Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz__Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR4-3000
ASRock Fatal1ty Z370__Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX__Samsung 960 PRO/ M.2-2280 NVME SSD
:reason: :re: :recycle: :PUF_figure: :rebirth: :refill:

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Psuper
Posts: 524
Joined: 29 May 2016

10 Dec 2017

syncanonymous wrote:
10 Dec 2017
that’s very helpful, thanks :-)
I have been talking about a build for a while
just waiting for the windfall to actually hit the bank...
Quite welcome, feel free to hit me up with any questions. Be real careful about going with a SFX power supply (for cooling/quiet)-- I knew it was gonna be tight, but that mainboard power.. crazy tight.
Reason needs to DAW.viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7504985

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QVprod
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Joined: 15 Jan 2015
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10 Dec 2017

I'm curious as to why you feel Apollo is guitar focused. With the exception of mic modeling Apollo and Discrete 4 seem to be aimed at very similar markets being equally useful for microphone use. The leg up I see with Discrete 4 is that the multiple preamp models come stock whereas Apollo only comes with the 610 unison pre.

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Psuper
Posts: 524
Joined: 29 May 2016

10 Dec 2017

QVprod wrote:
10 Dec 2017
I'm curious as to why you feel Apollo is guitar focused. With the exception of mic modeling Apollo and Discrete 4 seem to be aimed at very similar markets being equally useful for microphone use. The leg up I see with Discrete 4 is that the multiple preamp models come stock whereas Apollo only comes with the 610 unison pre.
Nothing scientific, most interfaces are more generalized, while the Discreet line is putting some interesting mic tech as a flagship feature.

Also had a look at the default effects included, and while effects aren't limited to their use, Discreet had ones more useful for vocals included.
Reason needs to DAW.viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7504985

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