New toys

I've been to the toyshop and am awaiting delivery of a Fucusrite Sapphire 56, a nicely specced rack mount PC with the latest version of Cubase and a Mackie pro control Universal.

The reason for doing this was that I was working happily on my latest tune when the computer very gently switched itself off...First Cubase disappeared, then the desktop cleared, then the machine switched itself off forever. Repeated attempts to bring it back to life have been in vain, so I decided that it was time to have big update. It's always a good idea to do this from time to time to keep things fresh and out of sonic ruts.

So, I was interested in the Sapphire because of the liquid channels (although I am very happy with my Universal Audio hardware channels and I'm looking for more Hardware options), but also because it can happily cope with 5.1 work and hook up with ADAT channels...I've got some old gear with some lovely sounds on which I'd like to hook up eventually, so this may come in useful.

The PC is a rack mount with lots of RAM and plenty of FireWire ports and has Windows 7 as the OS. I'll be using the 32bit version of Cubase until all my favourite plug-ins are compatible..Then I'll move to 64bit and up the RAM.

I did think of moving to Mac/Euphonix, but I have to be ready to do some pretty complex work ASAP, so I decided to stick with PC. Oh yes...I'm going for the Mackie, because it seems to do all I need and it can be expanded with the sidecars...So, it seems a good bet.

Can't wait to have a play!!!