"Rain Computers"

[DanielleOM]

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this company or their
product. The web site looks interesting, however it seems they don't show
all of their product details or show internal photos. I could not find much
about them, but they do seem to try and build for the musician. At least
that's what their web site would indicate.


Danielle

[Mike Rivers]

On 5/28/2011 1:23 PM, DanielleOM wrote:

> The web site looks interesting, however it
> seems they don't show all of their product details or show
> internal photos. I could not find much about them, but they
> do seem to try and build for the musician.

I had a nice chat with a guy from Rain Computing at the NAMM
show a couple of years ago. They do pay attention to what
works best with music hardware and software and attempt to
choose components that will work best with the customer's
hardware. They have some stock models, but if you have
particular hardware or software that you'll be using,
they'll tailor it to your needs. You can send them the
hardware and software and they'll install it and be sure it
works before sending out your computer.

There's no guarantee that theirs will work right out of the
box, but they'll work with you and swap parts as necessary
if you have problems. Just try that with Dell ;)

The reason why they don't provide a lot of detail as to what
they put into their machines is that people were going to
the web site, seeing what motherboards, I/O and graphic
boards, power supplies, and memory they were using, then buy
the parts on line and assemble their own equivalent at lower
cost. They're really set up for the musician who doesn't
want to fuss with a computer and is willing to pay a little
more than rock bottom DIY price to get someone else to do
the thinking and take the risks with incompatible parts.
Most people who get their computers have good things to say
about them.



--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[John Williamson]

DanielleOM wrote:
>
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this company or their
> product. The web site looks interesting, however it seems they don't
> show all of their product details or show internal photos. I could not
> find much about them, but they do seem to try and build for the
> musician. At least that's what their web site would indicate.
>
>
There's an excellent and very complimentary review in Sound on Sound
this month.


--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[cporro]

this isn't a popular opinion, but i think buying a "workstation" is
the way to go. i'm talking about hp, dell, and apple. many people
mistake what i'm saying. i do not advocate buying the consumer
products just the workstations. i have tried PCs, Macs, a boutique daw
and now a DIY daw. unless you are a serious builder i think there is
no advantage to DIY. in the long run DIY will not save you money or
sanity. imo neither will a boutique DAW.

after trying most of the stuff out there (granted not huge samples) my
next machine will be a mac pro. macs pros start at $2,500 my diy was
maybe $1,500 (i7 950, 12G ram, 3TB storage) but required lots of time
picking out parts and some trouble shooting. i think the mac pro with
dual xeons would dust it too. my DIY will have no resale value and
neither will most boutique daws.

my 3 cents. :D

[Peter Larsen[_3_]]

cporro wrote:

> this isn't a popular opinion, but i think buying a "workstation" is
> the way to go. i'm talking about hp, dell, and apple. many people
> mistake what i'm saying. i do not advocate buying the consumer
> products just the workstations.

I'm using a HP ML115G5 box via rdp now - not a sound recording box, using
usb audio for monitoring via sp-dif to Yamaha surround-preamp.

I may put a real graphics card into it some day, ex works on board is
limited to 1020x768, but via rdp it really ought not matter. It does seem to
suffer from a bit of dma contention however so the point of adding a real
graphics card is to be able to use radmin instead with a larger virtual
display. Raid 1+0 via mobo disk interface + a disk for the OS and sw
installation.

> i have tried PCs, Macs, a boutique daw
> and now a DIY daw. unless you are a serious builder i think there is
> no advantage to DIY. in the long run DIY will not save you money or
> sanity. imo neither will a boutique DAW.

> after trying most of the stuff out there (granted not huge samples) my
> next machine will be a mac pro. macs pros start at $2,500 my diy was
> maybe $1,500 (i7 950, 12G ram, 3TB storage) but required lots of time
> picking out parts and some trouble shooting. i think the mac pro with
> dual xeons would dust it too. my DIY will have no resale value and
> neither will most boutique daws.

> my 3 cents. :D

I'll stick with rdp'ing from a laptop, gives me a nice interface and good
listening chair ergonomics and the power of real hardware with a real disk
setup and a mobo that is meant to move data fast.

Kind regards

Peter Larsen

[Mr Soul]

Wow - they ought to be nice for the price. I just checked out a Rain
Computers Solstice Studio Audio Computer
on MusiciansFriend - it sells for $2,199.00 which is about $1,000 more
than I charge for a roughly equivalent computer.

Mike C
http://www.PCdaw.net

[Mike Rivers]

On 6/8/2011 10:18 AM, Mr Soul wrote:
> Wow - they ought to be nice for the price. I just checked out a Rain
> Computers Solstice Studio Audio Computer
> on MusiciansFriend - it sells for $2,199.00 which is about $1,000 more
> than I charge for a roughly equivalent computer.

Yeah, but do you help the customer get it working with his
hardware and software, and make changes so that it works?
That's the sort of thing that some people are willing to pay
for up front, and what others pay for in time, sweat, and
lost hair later on.


--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[Mr Soul]

> Yeah, but do you help the customer get it working with his
> hardware and software, and make changes so that it works?
> That's the sort of thing that some people are willing to pay
> for up front, and what others pay for in time, sweat, and
> lost hair later on.
I will if I am asked. I have often ordered and installed all the
hardware/software that a customer wants.

Mike