viii Contents Buying.or.Building.Diffusers.............................................................................................. 31 The.Problem.with.Foam......................................................................................................32 Alternatives.to.Foam...........................................................................................................32 Building.Additional.Permeable.Walls...............................................................................33 Wall.and.Floor.Construction.............................................................................................. 34 Panel.or.Membrane.Absorber............................................................................................35 Common.Problems.and.Solutions.........................................................................................37 Room.Modes..........................................................................................................................37 Equalization........................................................................................................................... 38 Absorption...............................................................................................................................39 SECTION 2 l EQUIpMENT ChApTEr 4. Computers.and.Recording......................................................................... 43 Digital.Audio.Workstation.(DAW)........................................................................................ 43 Software-Based.DAW........................................................................................................ 44 Pro.Tools.vs..Everything.Else........................................................................................... 46 Mac.vs..PC.................................................................................................................................. 47 The.Legitimate.Reasons.to.Choose................................................................................ 47 Computer.Hardware................................................................................................................. 49 The.Processor....................................................................................................................... 49 The.Motherboard................................................................................................................. 49 RAM......................................................................................................................................... 50 USB.and.Firewire................................................................................................................. 50 Hard.Drives............................................................................................................................. 51 Video.Cards.............................................................................................................................53 Optical.Drives........................................................................................................................ 54 Sound.Cards.and.Audio.Interfaces.................................................................................. 54 PCI.Slots..................................................................................................................................55 Plug-Ins........................................................................................................................................ 56 Stock.vs..Third-Party.Plug-Ins......................................................................................... 56 Modeled.vs..Digital.............................................................................................................. 58 Native.vs..DSP...................................................................................................................... 59 MIDI.Keyboards,.Synthesizers,.and.Samplers.................................................................. 59 MIDI.Controllers................................................................................................................... 60 Samplers.................................................................................................................................. 61 Synthesizers.......................................................................................................................... 62 Loop.Players..........................................................................................................................63