Music PC setup

[joolzf]

Hello, I am a young musician and have been making music for a few years now on my PC using very basic packages. I want to upgrade my PC and get a setup which will enable me to make professional sounding music. Basically i want to know what sort of PC I need to buy. I want to keep it as cheap as possible but also want a good system. For example, can i get away with an average processor and spend the money on extra ram and a powerful soundcard or does the whole PC need to be high-spec? I am also interested in upgrading my software too. I need a powerful sequencer and sampler/wave-editor and also need a recording package for doing guitars and stuff. What's the best software around at the moment, most people seem to use CUBASE and ProTools are these the best. If anyone could help me I would be very grateful indeed. Thanks

 

[dxl]

you want it cheap?
get a AMD Athlon 1.4G
If you want to use software samplers , >384RAM is recommanded if not, you need at least 256RAM
don't get any VIA motherboard.
if you don't use any external effects then you just need a simple soundcard and midi box(if you have keyabords or midi controlers) Audiophilip2496 will be great!
For softwares, WaveLab4 and Cubase SX will be my choice.
Protools LE is the only choice if you want to use protools, but it's not very good.