I'm trying to decide if it is worth it to build a Beowulf
(http://www.beowulf.org/) for sound crunching, e.g., csound. I have been
told on the Beowulf list that I should be using some commodity DSP cards
since they have better price/performance. But my experience trying to code
56000s is one reason I find the Beowulf idea interesting. I can code C
*much* faster than I can code 56K. And I can debug and alter C code much
faster, too. This is no surprise to anyone who has tried coding DSPs. I
have also tried using C on 56Ks, but the resulting code was very slow, so I
don't consider that an option either.

So my question boils down to "How much slower are Pentiums, Celerons,
K6-3s, or PPCs, than 56Ks, TMCs, or Extended Csound cards?" Can anyone give
me some ballpark price/performance figures?

To give you some idea, about six months ago I could probably have built an
8-node diskless Beowulf with 300MHz K6-2s, each with its own sound card,
and a 100BaseT hub to connect them all together, including another K6-2 to
use as a master system, for about 3.5K dollars US. Prices are coming down
and the K6-3 will be coming out at the beginning of next year...

regards,
-jim