It all started almost 2 weeks ago. The CPU fan on my computer died. Everything I've been working on every day of my life for the last few years is on that computer.
I ordered a replacement heatsink and fan from Newegg. It was an open box special, so, of course, it arrived without any thermal paste. Right now I'm waiting for the Arctic Silver I ordered to get here, which should be by the end of the week, and after that, barring any further unforeseen obstacles, I should be back to my old life making music and programming in Reaktor.
Since I haven't been working on anything I decided I'd take this opportunity to research and order some new gear. I ordered a Lexicon I-Onix U22 (which has arrived, and is really nice - there's a review to come). This is to replace my E-Mu 1212m, which I have grown tired of. Also, since it's USB I'll be able to hook it up to the new netbook I've ordered.
I have a Dell Mini 10 netbook with a 720p screen still in transit. The plan is to put a solid state drive into the Dell Mini and use it as a flash recorder, to replace my M Audio Microtrack II (the Dell Mini is fanless, so with a SSD it'll have no moving parts). I have no plans to do any sampling in the near future, so the SSD won't be ordered until my birthday in July, or maybe even a little longer, until the price goes down on the Intel X25-M 80GB (the new Intel SSDs are due by Q4). At this point I'll also trade in my Studio Projects B1 for a Rode NT1A.
Thanks to an undocumented feature of the U22, I no longer need my Mackie 402 VLZ3. When the U22 is powered, but not hooked up with USB, the direct monitoring feature still works, so it can pass audio from the inputs to my amp and monitors without needing a mixer, or even being connected to a computer. I was using the 402 for this task previously.
Of course, I need a camera to take pictures of all the gear I'm selling, so I ordered a Canon Powershot G3, which is, of course, still in the mail.
Here's the list of additions and subtractions that should be completed by the end of the summer.
Additions:
- Lexicon I Onix U22
- Rode NT1A
- Dell Mini 10 + SSD
- Canon Powershot G3
Subtractions:
- Studio Projects B1
- M Audio Microtrack II
- Mackie 402 VLZ3
- My sister's old laptop I'm currently using to order this stuff, and post here.
- My Acer C110Tci tablet PC I've had for a while that doesn't really work fantastically anymore.
Right now I'm looking around at a room covered in computer parts and gear in the process of being cleaned, repaired, and prepared for sale. It's a disaster. I feel like my life is in complete disarray.
I really just want to work on my Reaktor project, or do some editing, mixing, or mastering, or write a song, or perform. All the parts should be here by the end of the week, but I'm impatient, and surprised at the huge gap in my life a non functional computer has left.
...
 Cape Cod, Masschusetts, USA
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James Nicholl
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Electronic Music studio: Complete Disarray
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Written May 03 2010 , Tags: gear, reconfigure
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When my computer died on me last year, I found myself sewing and really enjoyed it. Something about the intensity of the needle going up and down and the precision required. I found it a bit like welding except I could do it in my own house without catching shit on fire.
Hope you find an interesting new hobby while waiting on all your goodies  I've been playing a lot of Euchre. My game has definitely reached new heights. I've almost got a 2800 rating on yahoo.
I suggest purchasing one of those home network NAS, and doing a mirror. Stick in those cheap 1T drives and remote sync to them every opportunity you get.
Yeah, I have a Western Digital USB/Firewire/eSATA external RAID 1 unit that works pretty well. I just need to organize my data differently so I do backups more regularly than the once every couple of weeks I've been doing. I should probably centralize everything, then just have a script copy everything over on system shutdown. That's been on my TODO list since I got the RAID in December.
I haven't lost any data, though some of it's trapped in the internal drive of my desktop. The problem is that I can't run my patches on this laptop. I need more CPU. It doesn't seem like your life is in disarray. It sounds like you're taking care of it to me.
I had to chuckle at this one, though: eyesnine said: "Since I haven't been working on anything I decided I'd take this opportunity to research and order some new gear. " I'm probably just jealous, tho.My computer's power supply died, as far as I know it didn't take anything else with it but i still haven't had the money to get it fixed
 flies said: "It doesn't seem like your life is in disarray. It sounds like you're taking care of it to me. I had to chuckle at this one, though: eyesnine said: "Since I haven't been working on anything I decided I'd take this opportunity to research and order some new gear. " I'm probably just jealous, tho."Me from a year ago is insanely jealous right now. The monetary cost really isn't that much, since its more of a reconfiguration than an addition. I don't plan on doing anything new, just the same old thing with slightly different tools. I got the Dell Mini 10 in the mail today and this is its inaugural post. I like it quite a lot. The HD screen is great, the keyboard is fine (scissor switches), the touchpad I haven't really got the hang of yet (I think I need to tweak the settings a little more). I loaded up a 2 track Reaper session for recording and it put a huge smile on my face. It looks amazing on this screen. Now I'll need to find a good tuning VST, though maybe Reaper's JS plug is worth a second look. Sampling with this is going to be fun! It's very quiet, and with a SSD it should be close to silent. So long as there's no issues with the Lexicon U22 drivers... (it's supposed to be very stable on XP). ChaoXor said: "My computer's power supply died, as far as I know it didn't take anything else with it but i still haven't had the money to get it fixed " I had that happen twice, once was a full fledged burn out and the other was a super loud fan I just got tired of hearing. You should check eBay, lots of people upgrade their stock PSUs, it shouldn't be too hard to find one in the $20 range (with shipping). If you can't even afford that, I feel for you. I've been there. Whoa, I was just messing around in Reaper and there's a VST tuner included in the new version. Along with a sampler, a synth, and I don't remember my old version (3.14) having pitch shifting or vocoding either. Those developers are busy!
If I haven't recommended Reaper enough, I'll do it again now. Those netbooks are really going cheap nowadays. The manufacturers are all afraid of the impending explosion of netbook/touchscreen combos.
You can pry my keyboard from my cold dead hands.
Yeah, netbooks are cheap, and they're powerful enough now to do some real EM. I still have my ASR-10 in the closet with a zip drive and a SyJet drive, some discs with a bunch of samples -- if I ever lose my current music machine, I have that to fall back on for some good 'ol hardware sampling and sequencing.
Resurrected!
I was panicking for a little while... I took apart everything (HDDs, PCI cards, RAM, CPU... EVERYTHING), dusted the whole computer, installed the new heatsink+fan, everything else, and then the computer wouldn't display anything. Just like when the CPU fan died. So, I reconnected the PC speaker (I always have it disconnected, because I don't like it to beep for any reason). I got a memory not installed beep code (thank you ASUS web site troubleshooting guide). I rotated the RAM and made extra sure all the modules were in securely, then the computer turned on, finally. This all played out over a couple of days, interspersed with periodic investigation into possible replacement parts. I was worried that my overclock had fried the damn CPU. But it was only on without a working fan for a minute or two. I had OCed my 2 Ghz CPU to 2.6 Ghz, but that was a while ago, and it's been stable for a few months now (I've never topped 50 degrees celsius). I think it's about time to reinstall everything and organize my data a little differently (externally). Live and learn. stress!!!
sounds like e'thing is good now, tho. good work. I just ordered a new PSU from an eBay seller. My current PSU isn't great, and I'd rather use it as a spare. Originally it was a spare in this system.
Anyways, I found a guy on eBay with the crazy PSU deals! ChaoXor, this link is for you, though anyone wanting a decent power supply for cheap should take a look: link I picked up a be quiet! Straightpower 500W PSU for $26. Hope it works out, the reviews are very kind, though. Especially for $26! 80plus bronze w/ 4 12V rails. For $26! Did I mention I only paid $26? (shipping included) Nice! Thanks for sharing that link.
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