AudioBanter.com - View Single Post - Recording 12+ analog channels on a PC at 192KHz/24-bit. Is it possible?

In article .com writes:

I have a friend who has a home studio. He's enlisted my help in
building a new PC to use for recording.

He needs to record 12 or more _analog_ channels simultaneously on a PC
at 192KHz/24-bit.

12+ analog channels at 192/24 produces a huge volume of data.

That's true. Is he crazy, or is he recording something other than the
kind of audio that most of us deal with here?

RME is probably the best place to look, but don't just go to their web
site, contact a knowledgable dealer or rep and ask him for a solution.
They have an 8-channel 192 kHz MADI-AES interface but it's not clear
that their MADI PC card will handle 16 channels at 192 kHz. If it
will, then perhaps a MADI card, two of those converters, and a set of
preamps with AES/EBU outputs would do the trick. But it isn't going to
be cheap.

data has to come into the PC over the PCI bus, and at the same time, be
moved stored on the hard drive. It seems to me that the PCI bus and/or
the IDE bus would present an insurmountable bottleneck.

It would certainly be pushing the limits.

I'm confused about external A/D converter units (like the FireFace) vs.
internal units like the Hammerfall series.
Which are people using, and why?

It's a matter of choice, budget, and flexibility. You need analog
inputs, so you need to put an A/D converter somewhere. It can be as
part of the mic preamp, it can be part of the computer interface, or
it can be a stand-alone unit.

Are people using Windows XP?

Yes. Many.

What actual recording/editing software is up to this task?

I'd look at SADIE, but that's a pretty big task.

Does it have to be a real PC? Is is sufficient to get the audio data
on disk as files (which can be played back or processed later)? If
that approach would work, the RADAR V Digital might be a good
approach. It records up to 24 tracks at 192 kHz and has AES/EBU
inputs. If there's a "double wire 96 kHz" version of AES/EBU now (and
I'm not sure of this) you could record 12 channels with that, and
you can have your choice of many A/D converters that pump out 192 kHz.

It takes all kinds, and people have strange requirements for things
that they don't tell us about, so we think they're crazy. But for now,
I think your friend is crazy.

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