Hi Guys I stumbled across one of your youtube build a rig videos using a dual Xeon setup, and I really like the way you think. IT may be presumptuous to put this up as a 1st post, but you might enjoy the challenge. I am interested in your recommendations
I am in the planning stages of creating a the production systems for new nightclub in Australia and I would like to see what your take is on what the build should be.
What I am looking at is building 6 systems, 3 for live production (in the club) and 3 on site but in a separate area where we churn out the eye candy and audio. We are looking at the 6 units being pretty much an identical base with slight variations per system requirement. the idea being is a unit dies we can pull its twin and have it back in the live environment in under 15 mins.
I want to keep the price under 2K per unit (a tall order) but I am pretty sure I can source most of the parts you recommend at close to cost. specifics such as touch screen or additional black magic intensity pro cards wont be included in build price
We currently have a Xeon based box running an app called Pandoras Box, its main function is to sync multiple layers of video with Lighting and lasers. This is done via MIDI and or DMX. in essence it is:
Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
32 GB RAM
1x SSD 200 GB (OS)
1x 1TB RAID 5 10K SAS Drives
ATI GFX (will insert model with an edit)
in 3 RU rack config.
The DVI from the ATI GFX card is fed into a Kramer switch which takes the 1280 x 768 @ 50 Hz (Must be this) and pushed it to 70 Square meters of LED Panels which will be on the roof of the club (this will look incredible)
We will add 2 x Black Magic Intensity Pro's to this config to allow HDMI input from 2 other sources IE: PC / GOPro's / XBOX 1 / ETC
Fan Noise in not really an issue as the units will be in an area where there will be 110ish DB on the dance floor ( and through clever sound design 80-90 DB in the booth area ) in any case operators will have in ear - 40 db or cans for sound isolation and communication
Vibration is an issue and cleaning can be scheduled upto once every 4 weeks.
We really want to run these units without an Anti Virus solution and isolated from the WEB in the production area we can a have a web enable box with all the AV in the world but on a separate network segment ( we have in the past had the live system crashed by an infected USB, we will be disabling the USB ports that aren't required hardware, and it will be a sackable offence to plug stuff in unless its brought through the AV enabled part of the network )
don't see the need to have these in a rack config. Unless we went the rout of buying old 2-3 yr old servers and re-tasking
So what will the boxes be running?
Lighting:
Martin - MPC (intel lighting)
Pangolin - Beyond (ILDA Lasers)
MIDI Yoke
4 x USB for FB3 (runs ILDA LASERS)
1 x USB for MPC Playback Wing
1 x USB Wirless mouse KB Combo
1 x USB Touch screen
1x USB APC40 Midi controller
2 x NIC one for windows networking 1 for Artnet / DMX control
EYE Candy - Output to Pandoras Box
ARKAOS Grand VJ
Madrix
Winamp
KINIECT for windows (CUDA heavy apps)
ADOBE SUITE subscription (only on production not live unit)
Poser (only on production not live unit)
LightWave 11 + Mocap solution (only on production not live unit)
Midi Yoke
NVIDA Graphics - (Winamp Milkdrops2.0 visualisations required nvida for all visualisations to work + my personal preference over 2 decades in gaming.... well since they started)
2TB FAST HDD moving lots of HD video multiple layers redundancy required
Audio DAW
Abelton Live
Various Abelton plugins
Virtual DJ ?
Adobe Suite (only on production not live unit)
Ability to stream or encode final audio output for YouTube channel (virtual VJ can run an entire set back at a later date and allows tweaking of a show)
1x USB Panasonic CDJ...xyz
1x USB Mixer
1x USB Digital Amps software
1x USB Touch Screen
2TB redundancy required
You did ask for details on what the system would be used for, this will be used to blow the heads of the youth of tomorrow ( and some adults). With 20000 + watts RMS, the 70 square meters of LED on the roof + upto 3 high lumen projectors + 4 RGB lasers and intel lighting this is going to be fun rig to run.
If I can build the base PC's for 1500 to 2000 if would be awesome im looking for maximum bang for buck i'm interested to see what you think is a good balance of power vs performance.
PS I forgot to mention I have an Oculs rift (Dev Kit) and will be using it on the eye candy box.