> I am planing on putting together a rack unit to use as an effects > processor. > For a sound card I was thinking of > creative audigy2 or is this over kill? It really depends on the kind of instrument/microphone output and mixer input you intend to use. You might want balanced XLR inputs and outputs in a rack unit, mic preamps, or 1/4" jack plugs for an instrument like a guitar. In that case you could use something like an M-Audio Delta 1010LT. A DJ could use unbalanced RCA (aka phono plugs) so an M-Audio Audiophile PCI would do the job. I figure if it's a rack unit for live use then you don't want to have any USB or other dongles hanging off. > As this machine is going to spend most of it's time doing DSP, I > figured more and high speed RAM is good and hence a faster FSB > which I think means a faster processor as well, specially at 400Mhz > for the FSB but is it worth it? Depends on how many plugins you need to run at once. I can run Jack Rack on my PII 300MHz laptop with 160MB RAM with a couple of simple plugins. Your best bet is probably to prototype your selection of software on a desktop machine before building your rack unit - then you'll have an idea of the resources you'll need. Cheers Daniel
