Topic: Advice on building DAW for use with Remote Desktop

[pistolpete71]

Hey all:

I’m looking to build a custom DAW for a venue I archive for and am seeking advice on the feasibility of what I have in mind.

In a nutshell, the venue I record for is far enough from home that I don’t have time to do all the shows. However, if I build a DAW to record remotely over the internet, not only can I record more shows, the savings in gas alone will eventually end up paying for the DAW (probably sooner rather than later, the way things are going). Here’s where I’m at:

We will have a set of ambient C414s permanently mounted to the ceiling at the venue. The mics will be powered by a Fireface400 that I already have mounted in the SBD rack. The FF400 will also have SBD inputs in addition to the mics (4 channels in all). The FF400 will be controlled by firewire. The DAW will record the C414s & SBD feed by firewire (software to be determined). The DAW will be connected to the net, thereby allowing the use of Windows Remote Desktop. The audio feed will be recorded onto the DAWs hard-drive at the venue, but the DAW will be controlled remotely (from anywhere with an internet connection).

There are a couple of technical hurdles that I must overcome before pulling this off. The first is building a DAW and the second is the remote connection. Here’s a few initial concerns:

1)   DAW cooling fans and drives must be dead quite (or near so)
2)   DAW must be secure against viruses/worms
3)   DAW must be stable (planning on Win XP, 32 bit)
4)   DAW recording software can’t have any conflicts with A/V or firewall (creating drop-outs)

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about in terms of a rackmount case:

   3U Quiet MicroATX Case

   http://www.gtweb.net/j3630.html

…would just need to throw in some guts and operating system and I'm halfway there. I spec’d out a system with the company selling the case, but their components are a little steep so been thinking about building the thing myself. I typically record 4 channels at 24/44 and pretty much figure any chipset on the market should easily handle that load. I don’t need anything fancy, no special soundcard (got the Fireface) or video card…won’t even need a keyboard, mouse or monitor, as the DAW will be controlled remotely at all times (even when at the venue).

So, I guess a parts list would be needed the following items:

- case (rackmount)
- power supply (quite)
- motherboard (with TI firewire chip)
- processor (Intel?)
- RAM (lots)
- 2 or 3 drives (Seagate?), possibly RAID
- XP operating system (yeah, I know)

…..thoughts? ….recommendations?

Thanks for your interest and feedback.

[Gutbucket]

Cool project. Sounds like you've got it covered pretty well.  Please post your progress, I'd love to follow it.

A couple thoughts:

Gain is software adjusted on the FF400 as I understand it, so that should work fine.

Lots of memory is cheap, but probably not overly important for this app.

I recently put together a backup storage array for my business and a second simple mirrored pair for backing up my recordings. Used an existing external mini enclosure stuffed with 4 x 1TB WD green drives which replaced the previous 2 x 400GB Seagates (2-3 years old).  I was concerned about heat in the small enclosure stuffed with drives and filled to capacity but ended up astounded at how cool the WD green drives run.  The 4 green drives were both far quieter and far, far cooler than the 2 older Seagates with plenty of airspace.  Check out slower RPM, lower power draw HDD's which should work fine for the amount of data you'll be moving.  Slower = quieter, less power = cooler (so the fan can be quieter).

I'm ignorant on remote desktop usage.  I assume you can remotely start/reboot if necessary?

[live2496]

Cool project. You might consider using tightVNC which is fairly light in terms of loading the system.

http://www.tightvnc.com/

[pistolpete71]

I recently put together a backup storage array for my business and a second simple mirrored pair for backing up my recordings. Used an existing external mini enclosure stuffed with 4 x 1TB WD green drives which replaced the previous 2 x 400GB Seagates (2-3 years old).  I was concerned about heat in the small enclosure stuffed with drives and filled to capacity but ended up astounded at how cool the WD green drives run.  The 4 green drives were both far quieter and far, far cooler than the 2 older Seagates with plenty of airspace.  Check out slower RPM, lower power draw HDD's which should work fine for the amount of data you'll be moving.  Slower = quieter, less power = cooler (so the fan can be quieter).

Right on - I will be on the lookout for the green WD drives then. The venue has no AC, and even worse, is located on the top floor of an old mill ...so it gets a little steamy in there during summer. Having drives that run cool and quite will be a plus. Thanks for the heads-up, as I would have instinctively opted for faster drives.

I'm ignorant on remote desktop usage.  I assume you can remotely start/reboot if necessary?

...ouch, I didn't think about the thing freezing-up on me, that would totally suck ...will need to revisit that scenario at some point. Hopefully the system-build will be stable enough where that won't happen, as that wouldn't do the recording any favors, either.  smiley

As far as power goes - I'll have an arrangement where the venue turns on the DAW when they power on the SBD and rack (also turning on the FF400). I am troubled about what will happen if I loose my internet connection halfway through a show ... not being able to stop the recording would be one problem (that could be overcome if the recording software allows recording for a set time, say 3 hours). Not being able to power the thing down would be another problem, but not as critical as overflowing the hard drives.

[pistolpete71]

Cool project. You might consider using tightVNC which is fairly light in terms of loading the system.

http://www.tightvnc.com/

Thanks, I might give that a shot. I like the idea that it doesn't put a large load on the system, that's a plus. I've used TightVNC before at work and find that it does the trick. Perhaps it was the internet connection we were on, but the thing would be a little 'herky-jerky' in the way the video would transmit (I'd have to wait for the mouse to 'catch-up' to the video) ...is that common, or just me? Probably has a lot to do with the quality of the internet connection between the two machines.

I'm hoping the Windows Remote Desktop transmission will be a little more seamless ...for instance, when I'm adjusting levels, I'll have a hard time seeing how they are responding if the video transmission isn't smooth (again, will be very dependent on internet connection). Remote Desktop seemed to respond well when I tested this idea at home, but that was within the confines of my home network ...logging into a DSL connection 60 miles away will be another story.

[live2496]

Set the computer to restart in WinXP so that if the power goes out it will try to restart when power is resumed.
You can setup VNC to run as a service. When the computer starts it will start the service. You can send it a ctrl-alt-delete remotely to get a login prompt. Better yet, get a UPS and that may save you some trouble too. Plugin the internet router into it too.

I don't run tightVNC, but ultraVNC but I guess they are similar. Ultra supports two screens.

Any type of metering through remote screens is going to be very slow.

I would be concerned about the temperature and humidity if the venue is not air-conditioned.

[Gutbucket]

not being able to stop the recording would be one problem (that could be overcome if the recording software allows recording for a set time, say 3 hours). Not being able to power the thing down would be another problem, but not as critical as overflowing the hard drives.

One possible safety might be writing to an appropriately partitioned drive that would fill to capacity if you lost connection.  You'd need to test that case to see if the file saved properly once the partition maxes.

With the heat concern, don't be tempted to select more processor than you really need.