Optimum PC Specs for Audio Production

[GDPunkRock]

K, so my old desktop decided to die on me yesterday.

Was kinda sad because it's like my music production and general purpose computer - I have another laptop but I use that for schoolwork mainly.Don't dare catch virus on that one

Of course, the good thing now, is that I can go hunt for a new PC/laptop for replacement. I did abit of research on audio production specs and found these to be the general guideline for people who use their computers to do music/audio work:

-Intel Core i5 and above( intending to get only 2nd generation ones)
-At least 2.0GHz
-At least 2.0GB RAM

Do you guys agree with the above specs? Also, is that all you must look out for in an audio production/general purpose machine?

Pardon me, cos I'm not much of an IT-savy guy only learnt all these little things like RAM, processor power a few months back when I first stepped into the realms of audio recording on a PC

Lastly, in this day and age, PC vs LAPTOP ? >

 

[kongwee]

4 gig ram. Nowaday very cheap. PC vc Laptop? The one coming is the tablet. Base on Mac survey. 90% developer switching their priority to iSO. And base on Apple hardware sale. 75% iOS & 25% Mac. You don't see this in PC. But you can feel what the future like.

 

[GDPunkRock]

hmmm, yeah I think 4GB ram now more affordable compared to 5 years ago.

about tablets, i know they're the trend now, but i still prefer something with a mouse - easier to control your tracks, etc. or it's just me too used to mouse haha.

any company (HP, Lenovo, Acer, etc.) that you can find in SG make computers for audio production? like you see Dell makes Alienware for gaming purposes. anything like that in the audio realm?

 

[kongwee]

I walk around PC show, don't see PC for audio.

 

[xfigox]

definitely desktop if you want good performance : price ratio. Laptop if you're intending to do portable recording(?)
Anyways I've asked this question sometime back in this thread, some pretty useful info there:
http://www.soft.com.sg/forum/gear-computer-sw/196492-recording-rig-opinions.html

EDIT: just saw a pretty sarcastic reply in my email but it doesn't appear up here, anyways when I'm referring to PC I meant getting a desktop as opposed to a laptop.

 

[smurfpiss]

Depending on your usage try to go for at least 2 HDDs, 1 for system drive the other for you to record audio to. If you use a lot of samples might want to get a third one just for that.

If budget permits go with an SSD for the system drive.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

For audio, local context wise, there doesnt seem to have much choice with shops that does desktop meant for recording.

That said, its actually rather easy to set it up for audio production as long as one is willing to spend sometime, reading infos on the net. Theres plenty of infos around which mentioned how to do that.

There are some foreign site which does customed laptop/computer meant for audio production (http://raincomputers.com ) . The spec is not much difference if you go the diy route of getting separate parts and have the shop fix it for you. But if you aint into such, then getting a any computer in the market will do, just need to learn the software part on tweaking the computer for audio recording and stuff.

The usual one will be dual booting where one drive is meant for general usage, the other for audio recording, with no anti virus, no internet access etc.

desktop vs laptop, hehe, which one is your preferred one? Our choice a personal preference, not a fact, so be it desktop or laptop, it doesnt matters, other than what is your need.

lastly, do not be afraid even if you are a newbie in computer stuff, the amount of info available online will be sufficient to find out more even before stepping into a computer shop. As long as willing to learn and find out more, theres nothing too difficult.

 

[GDPunkRock]

what do you guys think of this fella here? went looking around my area's challenger and one salesman quoted me a super tempting deal -
$1449 + free RAM upgrade to 8GB. and some 10-in-1 blah blah combo pack.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/sg/en/ho/WF06b/321957-321957-3329744-64354-64354-5048664-5072654.html

Supposedly Sandy Bridge, 2nd gen IntelCore i7 processors

btw before anybody asks,im not really buying it just because there's beats audio on it, as far as im concerned that whole thing is just a gimmick. i took this guy into consideration as it had the best specs of all the laptops Challenger had

 

[kongwee]

Go down one floor or two to find better deal.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

the 10 in 1 combo usually just keyboard protector, laptop sleeve, hardcover, cleaning solution, cleaning cloth etc which can be gotten cheaply round sim lim square shops that sell accessories. Some folks when buying laptop, usually bargain with the shop that they can keep the free gift(which prices prolly been factored into the cost of the laptop) and instead, get the free 8gb ram upgrade.

Such bargaining pretty commonly seen and mentioned round hardwarezone computer forums, at some computer shops or during IT show.

For the upgrading of ram, do take note to check if the shop be collecting back the original ram after the upgrading or will return back to you. When i bought a mbp15 2 weeks back, certain shops try to do the collect back ram thingy with me. I ended up buying it at challenger which gave me the original ram back.

Ram upgrade thingy not only challenger has it, various resellers should have the upgrade ram thingy as well. Computer sales nowadays quite competitive, certain pricing they cannot undercut too much, so perks like ram upgrade/freebies of laptop case, bag, bluetooth mouse etc be the thing they use to attract buyers. If you have no need for the freebies, can try to negotiate a better deal for the ram upgrade instead.

 

[GDPunkRock]

haha, actually i did try to do that. but the salesman insist i keep the gifts, but on top of that, he'll do a free ram upgrade from 4 to 8gb, and lessen the sales price by another $50. actually quite a good deal, but i wanted to look around more and found it to be a REALLY good deal, compared to other places, COURTS, even HP itself,etc.

but now, im still keeping my options open, looking into DIY's now. will try to focus more on processor and RAM, cos i recently got meself a 1TB HDD for storage.

are there anything else in particular we audio people should look out for? i don't think its worth spending money on internal soundcards right? i think external audio interfaces will still do better as they are dedicated for this.

 

[kongwee]

Well, internal soundcard is not so good. But you are talking about DSP cards then different thing. Just get an audio interface will do.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

imho, external audio interface are easier and cheaper for the casual recording hobbyist.

For internal audio interface, you can look for PCI based audio interface, but do note that such interface usually need to connect to external hardware preamps for your mic/instrument input.
http://www.sweetwater.com/c703--PCI_Audio_Interfaces

Things to look out for, if you are choosing windows platform for music making, the spec you are looking at, will be more than enough to do recording. The rest, depends on how you tweaked the OS to make it run music softwares without all the unnecessary background services going on at the same time. Regular system maintenance/cleaning/defrag etc will help to ensure the engine be good to run for a long time.

Oh yeah, if on laptop and getting one that has expresscard slot, you have another choice for audio interface, these kinda. Small and compact. Only thing is limited input if you wanna do multiple instruments recording at same time.
http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/ExpressCard/sound_cards_index.php

heres an article on making music in win7 (which i assumed that the comp you be getting will be equipped with) that is quite informative, might be useful imho.

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/...-7-choosing-and-optimizing-windows-for-music/

 

[Cheez]

I'm not sure what you meant by "internal soundcard". If what you meant PCI/PCIe audio interface, then I would suggest that you seriously consider getting one if you are building a desktop. PCI/PCIe soundcards are still faster than firewire/USB. They usually come with an external breakout box which is part of the unit - and these come with preamps etc. Echo Layla3G and Gina3G are examples. M-audio Delta series are also examples. For expensive ones, RME Muiltiface and Digiface are options.

Watch the specs for your hard drives. The crucial specs will be the seek and write time. Larger HD (1TB etc) tend to be slower in seek and write time. They are good for storage, but not so good for recording. When you go into recording large number of audio tracks, this will become an important factor. Definitely 2 HDs - one just dedicated for recording. The other one you can use for storage and OS/program etc.

And as PatheinRaindropMoe said, DEFINITELY dual boot. All my machines are dual booted - desktop and notebook. I find this is the one crucial factor in having a very fast and optimised machine for DAW. The speed difference is very obvious.

Also, I'd pick my motherboard very carefully. They are not made the same. I usually stick with Asus. Also consider the casing. If you have 2 HDs (or more if you expand your setup - I have 3 HDs in my desktop), you need to consider air flow within the case. There are other minor considerations - like low-noise fans etc. I use Scythe S-Flex fans due to the low noise/rpm ratio (even for the CPU fan). Terribly irritating if you are doing home-recording with a noisy machine.

Also watch the power supply. Definitely 600W and above and a good brand. I've seen quite a number of power supply that died with smoke coming out. That's also one of the things I won't stinge on - a good and stable power supply.

Video card not important. Any will do. Unless you are into video/audio processing.

 

[kongwee]

For video card those mid-grade can liao. I think win7 support GPU as part of the system processing, I know being talk about it.

 

[blueprintstudios]

as for the topic of viruses, they won't just come from the net, they come from your clients plugging in their USB drives trying to copy you some tracks etc. your minimal line of defense should be at least : DAW = offline , then keep this http://www.ninjapendisk.com/ running in your background. take note that readers with multiple card inputs will produce an error so you will have to "endtask" it. if not , I recommend my PC clients to use www.avg.com . disable it fully when you're mixing/recording.

the specs you mentioned is not an "at least" case, it's more "average/most people" case. cos my DAWs are lower specs. I would say "at least core2duo (dual core also can but you're pushing it) , preferbly fill up the 4gb ram. get 2 pieces of 2gb ram and fill up the dual channel speed slot for better performance. (instead of 1 piece 4gb) but yes you can operate at 2gb. only to eventually choke a little when you stack up too many plugins."

PC = low cost, higher performance , no portability (unless you lug your whole stuff) but don't forget ,low cost eventually will become high because of electricity unless you work that much faster and shut off your com.. warranty average 1,2,3 years.

Laptop = higher cost (low power = lower electricity bills) , but higher risk of it failing cos of abuse. and only at 1 year warranty. portability.

PC VS Laptop = I have both used for recording/mixing. I win. (I have 2 more desktops 3 more laptops for other work / gaming.) the idea is , don't mix em.

the talk about internal soundcard : http://tinyurl.com/diyrecording I mentioned here before. once you get any audio interface, IT IS a soundcard. then whatever you use that comes with onboard (realtek etc) you can forget about it.

lastly : sales man just doing his job, he'll say and offer whatever to get you to spend more or buy from him.

 

[l0u5y]

firstly budget. if u have a low budget then don't get a mac. nowadays hardware is dirt cheap. i believe with 500 bucks u can fix up a pc with more than what u need for audo purpose. thats not including hdd. i fixed up my pc for audio for 800 bucks 2 years ago.
intel quad core, 8gb ram, 3 hdd and a high end power supply total amounted to 800 only.
i didn't need a sound card as im using my interface as one. and gfx card as well as i dun play games on it or doing videos with it.
but i did get 2 gfx card for multi display.

 

[Forlon]

firstly budget. if u have a low budget then don't get a mac. nowadays hardware is dirt cheap. i believe with 500 bucks u can fix up a pc with more than what u need for audo purpose. thats not including hdd. i fixed up my pc for audio for 800 bucks 2 years ago.
intel quad core, 8gb ram, 3 hdd and a high end power supply total amounted to 800 only.
i didn't need a sound card as im using my interface as one. and gfx card as well as i dun play games on it or doing videos with it.
but i did get 2 gfx card for multi display.

I got my PC for around 600$ and had no problem with it. Core2 Quad does its work just fine, as you said, for videos and games.