The Black Octopus
It has come time to wind down operations on my current studio computer, The Magical Black Box of Doom. I have recently bought a new computer, and christened it The Black Octopus. See here.
On recommendation from Beatslaughter, I made the purchase via KVR from ttoz, from Melbourne. I recently gave some commentary on KVR:
I’d just like to thank in public ttoz for his fantastic support in the sale, delivery and advice with this computer. His deal was very generous and well spirited. The care he put into packing the item and making sure everything was in order was perfect. I had a little issue with drivers, and he was very helpful and quick to offer support in that regard. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from him in the future.
It is a bit of a shame how quickly computer technology depreciates. In early 2006 I built a ‘top of the line silent PC’ for my studio production. I put loads of money and research into getting the best of the best of what was available at the time. Well, only after a little while I realised I had made a critical mistake in the machine’s construction that caused motherboard failure and it cost me a lot of downtime, which later led to the RAM failing on me. With that, I had a wild goose chase of chasing RAM warranty for 6 months and dealing with a lot of empty promises and corporate bullsh*t. At the end of the day I ended paying over $3000 for that machine and it spent a total of a year in downtime. Can you imagine not making songs on your computer for a year? It certainly was character defining. Fast forward to 2008 when I realise I need to be doing my mixes in 96khz instead of 44.1khz and that my Athlon just doesn’t cut it anymore in terms of grunt. I’m stuck with a machine that can’t hack it, that I threw a heap of money at, and spent a year in downtime!
So yes, computers are often financial black holes.
Of course when I was thinking of getting a new machine I was really really really put off by the idea of building another PC from scratch. I just don’t trust myself: I don’t have the technical confidence. When I saw ttoz’s offer of a ready-made box I really jumped at the opportunity. It’s a bonus, thankfully, that ttoz’s deal was generous and that the support has been genuine. I can now get on with the task of building a up a new powerful system to do the purchase some justice. I plan on doing some fantastic mixes in 96khz, and as well have a serious machine to help me enter in the project of starting my own mastering production business.
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And to keep things in the limelight, the new album 3 Smargaid Maerd is out now.
