Dedicated Computer : If you plan to do music production with your computer, especially audio recording, think about getting a seperate computer dedicated to doing only music production work. With the price of computers the way they are you should definitely consider this option. The most common complaints heard from customers using their computers for audio production is sytem lock ups, or problems with the initial setup of their hardware. Remember that every piece of hardware installed uses up system resources so generally less is more if your asking your computer to do intense processing functions, like audio recording. If you want to surf the net or do some gaming, don't use your audio production machine, use your old machine.

Multiple MIDI Ports: If your doing a lot of MIDI production with your computer consider setting up a separate port for each device you want to hook up to the computer. There are many options for MIDI ports offering 2, 4, or even 8 ports in one box. By setting up a separate MIDI in and out for each device you will be able to take advantage of the multitudes of editing software available for many keyboards, sound modules and effects devices. Many times editing software requires that you have a dedicated port in order for the software to operate correctly. Editor programs that allow real time editing do this by maintaining continuous communication both in and out between the computer and the device your editing. My favorite advantage for having dedicated ports is simply to keep all of your MIDI devices organized within the computer itself. If you name each port by the name of each device when it comes time to select the MIDI port you want you’re selecting the name of the device. This makes things much simpler. So if you have 2 or more MIDI devices that you want to have hooked up to your computer at once get a port for each one and enjoy all of the advantages.