HDSPe AIO for home use

Dear members,

I would appreciate your good/bad comments on the "RME HDSPe AIO" sound card:

http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdspe_aio.php

Currently this card can be obtained for 500 EUR.

My goal is to have a good sound which is better than my current Johannus Opus 25 either via headphones, the AUX-IN of my Johannus organ and maybe also via the analog inputs on my stereo.

The connection to my organ and stereo are both analog inputs. When I look at the RME-site it's not clear at all whether the necessary cables to do this are included. I'm not even sure if I need extra cables: I've a bunch of analog cables laying around from my stereo.

Here are the details of my Hauptwerk computer to-be. Feel free to comment:

Soundcard
RME HDSPe AIO
€ 499,00
http://www.orgelhaus.de/index.php/onlin ... aio-detail

Monitor
IIYama 22'
€ 249,00
http://www.monitorstore.be/product-revi ... 53mts.html

Case
Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX No PSU
€ 47,50
https://www.codima.be/nl/catalog/onderd ... c-130-kkn1

Mainboard
MSI H97I AC (Socket 1150-Intel H97- Mini ITX-DDR3-VGA)
€ 125,00
https://www.codima.be/nl/catalog/onderd ... -h97n-wifi

CPU
Intel Core i5-4670K (3.4GHz) 6MB - 4 Cores - 4 Threads
€ 234,95
https://www.codima.be/nl/catalog/onderd ... 646i54670k

Memory
Kingston 16GB (2x 8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 HyperX Fury White
€ 156,00
https://www.codima.be/nl/catalog/onderd ... c10fwk2-16

HD
Samsung 840 EVO SSD 1TB 2.5" SATA III Basic Kit
€ 379,95
https://www.codima.be/nl/catalog/onderd ... z-7te1t0bw

PSU
be quiet! Pure Power L8 400W
€ 56,50
https://www.codima.be/nl/catalog/onderd ... 400w-bn222

OS
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64 Bit EN OEM
€ 99,95
https://www.codima.be/nl/catalog/softwa ... -wn7-00614

Total € 1.847,85

All the best,

Chris.

Nice, Chris. However, you might consider more ram. A minimum of 16 gigs is really needed to load some of the bigger sets, and 32 gigs would be better. Ram is a lot cheaper than it was in the past, and I find loading sets with higher sample rates really does make a difference.
James

Hi Chris,

I agree with James - and if you can load bigger sets you need a faster CPU.
Look here: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

The i5-4670K has 7,686 points. For smaller organs, the power is enough.
My CPU is the i7-3930K with 12,134 points (more points are better).
For hobby organists the 3930K is ok. A virtuos player can overload the CPU (with big samplesets).

With the CPU i5-4670K it will not be difficult to overload the CPU. But it depends on your playing style (virtuoso or simple hymns) and the acoustic of the church (a large reverberation consumes more polyphony as little reverberation).

If you have enough money then take the i7-4930K.
The 4930K cost a little more than the 3930K but has the newer 22-nm-Ivy-Bridge-E-Architecture and is a good choice (my 3930K has the older Sandy Bridge E-Architecture).

But there are also many people who are satisfied with smaller CPU. When the system is overloaded, then they set the polyphony in Hauptwerk to a smaller value. Thus, the Releases are gradually cut off and the sound distorts slightly. In my statements, I assume that the polyphony setting is not limited.

Best regards
Wolfgang