Looking for advice on Desktop for home recording

I

Ian Gev

New member
Hi,
I'm looking at the best my money can get on a desktop pc, running windows, for home recording.
I was getting results using audacity on my old desktop but as I added more overdubs I realised I was limited.
So, I upgraded (or thought I was doing) to a better spec desktop. It seems to struggle more and ultimately has led me to give up on it. Essentially it is just a home desktop computer though, when all said and done. I am now on the hunt to get myself set up with a desktop that is tailor made for music production and recording. My budget is around £1000 absolute limit and with that I'm also hoping to get a multi effects guitar pedal for live work and a condenser mic for recording the vocals. I do have the Line 6 Tone Port UX2 as an interface if that is sufficient? I've seen The Lenovo Thinksever crop up time and again in my searches. What I need off you guys and gals, basically, is direction, advice and information. I thank you in advance if you can be of help. Cheers. Ian
 
What is the computer that you are giving up on ? No, I wouldn't consider a Thinkserver.
 
Hi,
You shouldn't have any problems with that budget. I wouldn't bother with server machines unless you have specific heavy requirements and really know the specs.
Something with Xeon X56** is going to be a beast, but is totally not necessary unless you've got real heavy video rendering demands or something like that.

For many applications a humble i5 is going to perform much better because, broadly speaking, modern i5/7 chips are much faster per-core.
If your application is limited to single or dual core...even 4 cores...average Joe's home computer is likely to perform better than the £2000 server.

For reference, my main rig is 24 cores (x5650 X2) and 24gb ram.

What were your previous specs and roughly how many virtual instruments and intense effects would you plan to run?
Unless there's something out of the ordinary in those answers, I don't see why any straight forward i5/i7 desktop with a healthy amount of ram won't do the trick.
I always recommends SSDs. I'm that that camp that tried it and will never go back....ever, so if there's an SSD option I'd recommend it. :)
 
Hmmm, totally confused now. Lost in all the terms and what they mean? Essentially, I'm a singer songwriter with ideas that I don't want limiting. My system at the moment is a Lenovo Idea all-in-one thing info-
Machine name: IDEA-PC
Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit (6.3, Build 9600) (9600.winblue_ltsb.170204-0600)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: LENOVO
System Model: 10138
BIOS: IJKT16AUS
Processor: AMD E1-2500 APU with Radeon(TM) HD Graphics (2 CPUs), ~1.4GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3518MB RAM
and the sound info-
Description: Speakers (Line 6 TonePort UX2)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: USB\VID_0E41&PID_4142&REV_0001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: L6TPortB64.sys
Driver Version: 4.00.0002.0003 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 3/9/2010 23:40:36, 894336 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Line 6
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0272&SUBSYS_17AA3682&REV_1000
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.7404 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 12/11/2014 15:15:52, 4351960 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: Digital Audio Interface (Line 6 TonePort UX2)
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: L6TPortB64.sys
Driver Version: 4.00.0002.0003 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 3/9/2010 23:40:36, 894336 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x0
Format Flags: 0x0

Description: Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.7404 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 12/11/2014 15:15:52, 4351960 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x0
Format Flags: 0x0
Most of this I don't understand one bit! I'm not getting the results I'm happy with and it's very glitchy when recording. Just want something that is smooth running and pretty limitless in the overdub department, 20 to 30 tracks maybe!
 
Hey,
Don't sweat it. You don't need to understand the majority of that. :)

The important piece of info is "AMD E1-2500".
That's a 2013 processor for 'low-end subnotebooks'.....
In simplest terms, that's very slow processor.

For reference, an e6600 core2duo processor is about 7 years old. No one would buy one of those now and if you did it would probably cost £20 for a used cpu/motherboard/ram bundle.
You could literally pull one out of your local amenity site, and that chip will run huge rings around your current chip! :eek:
I'm not suggest that for you....Just drawing a comparison with a very popular chip.

I'd recommend you look for something with an i5 or i7 processor from the last few years or so. It'd be hard to go wrong.
If budget's an issue or you encounter a second hand bargain, literally anything with i5 written on it will blow your current machine away.
I mean, check the CPU model number and see where it ranks...(google CPU benchmark or ask here). Always best to be sure, but the above is still true.

Knowing that, it's probably not necessary to build or buy a dedicate machine purely for recording.
If you are thinking of upgrading your laptop in general, and half decent new(ish) one will probably address your recording problems too. :)
 
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