Choosing a PC

[Boots49]

Hi All,

First, I should say that I am currently using a Roland VS-2480DVD in my home studio. I enjoy working with the piece. I'm old school, and like riding the faders.

That being said, I am now looking at purchasing a desktop PC for my little studio, to replace an old and ailing laptop.
I want to use it for EZDrummer2. I like the drum sounds and kits and will use it on it's own, with the audio out from the PC going in to 2 stereo tracks of the VS-2480. I also want to run the Midi Out on my Boss DR-5 Drum Machine/Sequencer into the PC via a Midi/USB interface, so the DR-5 can trigger EZDrummer, and then, again, run the audio out from the PC to the VS-2480, and hopefully avoid any latency issues. I have gotten used to writing on the DR-5, but I'm not fond of it's drum sounds.
Plus, down the road, I want to be able to load ProTools (or some recording software) to possibly migrate to computer recording, or use ProTools in consort with the Roland VS-2480.

I am looking at a Lenovo Desktop PC that I can get for $803 (that includes free shipping, tax plus a 2 Year In-Home extended warranty)
It has an i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM and a Hybrid drive (a 2 TB 7200 RPM mechanical drive and an 8 GB SSD).
Lenovo K450e | Extreme Performance Tower PC  | Lenovo US
In the Hybrid drives, they employ software caching algorithms (rather than relying on the user's brain) to decide which data belongs on the SSD portion and what goes on the drive’s platters. My understand is that they should be a lot faster than a conventional drive, but not as fast as a dedicated SSD on which I would load Windows, EZDrummer and kits, ProTools and any plug ins.

Along those lines, I am also looking at a custom configuration from Cyberpowerpc.com that also has the i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, but has a 2 TB Mechanical Drive, PLUS a separate 120 GB SSD. This would cost about $200 more, with a 1 year (not In-Home) warranty. Not to sure of the reputation of the company.

I am leaning to the Lenovo, mainly as it seems like a very good deal, and I like the warranty and Lenovo's reputation, but I do like the idea of a dedicated SSD.

So, I'm looking for thoughts and opinions, if the Hybrid drive would work well for all the recording applications, or if I should be looking for something with a separate SSD.
I should also mention that I don't feel adept enough to build one myself, so let's not consider that an option.

Thanks for everyone's time and I look forward to hearing any recommendations.

 

[Steve Fogal]

I guess you can make many off the shelf computers work, it may be a hit & miss, especially for using an audio interface & how well it's drivers will play along with it. I build my own PC DAW's and use Cubase DAW software myself. An off the shelf PC may take some tweaking to get it right, which means you also won't be interested in doing anything with it either. Since you won't consider building it, that must mean you either don't have the time, knowledge or interest. if you can afford it, I'd look at the Pro DAW builders option, or buy a good used DAW computer. Another option is have a computer DAW savvy friend build you one.

As for your sending EZDrummer to your Roland recorder, that's fine...but you'll soon find out that EZDrummer is beyond fantastic in doing just about everything you need right inside of the program....aside from recording midi drum tracks for a complete drum arrangment, which is done in your DAW software typically. I had a Roland R-5 Human Rhythm Composer drum machine, which after using EZDrummer, I had no use for it in any way for anything. Yes, EZDrummer is just so EZ to use, literally.