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Rain UK - Serving the United Kingdom and EuropeA subsidiary of the American company Rain Computers Inc, Rain UK (Rain Recording LTD) was established in September 2006 to serve the United Kingdom and Europe. Rain UK is based out of Norfolk, UK and is operated by Robin Vincent formerly one of the founders of Carillon Audio Systems and author of the music technology books "PC Music - The Easy Guide" and "The Guitarists Guide to Computer Music". Robin brings years of experience in the music technology field to Rain UK. Rain Computers (formerly Rain Recording) has made a strong name for itself in the USA bringing their expertise to everyone from the home studio enthusiast through to the professional users of music technology. With a passionate, "no-compromise" attitude, Rain works closely with leading software and hardware manufacturers, rigorously field-testing the systems in their quest to provide the best experience possible for those using digital audio, video or media production on the PC platform. Rain Recording has held steadfast to it's goal of making a balanced machine that will remain "Quiet Cool" even in the most demanding audio production environment. The best way to describe what we do is to listen to our customers. I wanted to set up a small project studio at home and although I use Mac's all day in control rooms at work, I have always been a PC user at heart and needed a music computer which would last me a few years. I don't need to record many live players - I always go somewhere else for that - but find for film and TV work I use a huge array of sample based instruments and plugins - a true 'in-the-box' composer. I had read in places like Sound on Sound over the years that custom music PC's could be built by people who understood which combinations of software and components needed to work together to get the best results, but it had been a while since I'd seen anything like this and wondered if there were still making them as it was just what I needed. Following links and doing some research I discovered Rain Recording, and then realised it was run by the same Robin Vincent who had made those machines of yesteryear. I contacted him and explained that I wanted to make a one off investment to build a home studio which would last for a while, but I needed something really powerful to run such a multitude of instrument plugins and effects without running into trouble. We came up with a twin Xeon system, which needed a particular case and motherboard to get the best out of, the maximum RAM and an array of solid state drives. I'd also need two good quality displays, an audio/midi interface and ideally a control surface. There was quite a lot of new software to be installed too. Robin was great and after a few days had designed this dream system, and also told me that SSL had just come out with a new control surface, the Nucleus, which was aimed squarely at the ITB composer and could not only control Pro Tools, but other DAWs like Reaper and video editing packages at the same time. Robin managed to get all the components we needed for a good price and although it was blisteringly fast as soon as it arrived, there were a few initial glitches which I had expected as I don't think anyone had ever put these exact components together before. We soon realised it was the graphics card and power supply which needed to be upgraded and Robin was fantastic about coming round the house, screwdriver in hand, to fit the new components and make sure everything was ok. I have to say that the system has really exceeded my expectations. Having a completely 64-bit workflow in a DAW like Reaper 64, with 64-bit versions of Kontakt and Play engines and 64-bit mastering suites means you don't think twice about adding another effect or doubling an instrument part. I also don't need to print midi parts as audio before I'm really sure about the notes, timing and sound as this system can run all the instruments as pure midi software samplers and synths in real time. I'm absolutely delighted I made the right choice, both in the machine itself and for choosing Rain to build it. It's rare to find someone who is as technically savvy and musically aware as Robin in the same person!" –Matthew Williams BBC Senior Producer and film composer Rain Recording Ltd Fairview Villa, The Street, Swanton Abbott, Norfolk, NR10 5DU Tel: 01692 538823 Fax: 0208 1814651 Company Number: 5926318 VAT Registration: GB888575643 Director - Robin Vincent Contact - robin@raincomputers.co.uk Rain Computers, Inc 219 Margaret King Ave Ringwood, NJ 07456 www.raincomputers.com |