Hi from another newbie

C

CAM1

New member
Hi all.

Im fairly new to this and have only been using a second hand beaten up laptop with Cubase Elements8 for a few weeks and getting mostly frustrated. Planning a new desktop soon so I will probably have lots of obvious questions to ask. although Ive already learnt a lot just browsing the forum.
Cheers for now and look forward to joining the discussions.

Cameron
 
CAM1 said:
Hi all.

Im fairly new to this and have only been using a second hand beaten up laptop with Cubase Elements8 for a few weeks and getting mostly frustrated. Planning a new desktop soon so I will probably have lots of obvious questions to ask. although Ive already learnt a lot just browsing the forum.
Cheers for now and look forward to joining the discussions.

Cameron
Click to expand...

Hi Cameron and welcome.

If the laptop is not that powerful it will likely struggle with Cubase, you can download and use Reaper for as long as you can stand the nag and then stump up £40 for it when you can't.

If all you want to do at present is record a bit of guitar/vocal and dub a few tracks almost any computer capable of running Win 7 will do the job. It is when you want to run several tracks with realtime plugins such as reverb that you need the horsepower and to some extent memory.

But! Your first priority (cos you haven't mentioned having one) is an Audio Interface. My reccies' in price order are....
M-Audio M-track Mk1 (aka Alesis iO2) 80quidish
Steinberg UR22 £100
Native Instruments KA6 £160.

Dave.
 
Hi Dave
Thanks for the reply
I posted on the digital recording and computers forum more details which I hope show where I am equipment and knowledge wise and where im planning going. If you could have a look at it I would appreciate any further advice you have on the best way to get there. This laptop has to go it freezes, blue screens and seems to just go on holiday when it wants

Thanks

Cameron
 
Hi everyone
I posted this on the digital recording and computers forum but maybe I should have put it here as well or instead

Im trying to figure out the right specs for my first dedicated DAW. For the last few weeks I have been using a second hand slightly abused laptop which is not up to it and is driving me nuts.
Im using a Steinber UR44 interface and running Cubase Elements8.
I will be recording up to Three live audio tracks at a time with a max of about 15 tracks total using various vst instruments, plug ins and effects such as reverb, eq and compression on each track. Im not totally sure yet about the proper use or implications of these on my system so hopefully people will keep me right when needed.

Im looking at a Scan EL97 system configured as follows:-

Coolermaster Silencio 550 - Dimension
Asus Z97-K, Intel Z97
Intel Core i5 4690 / Intel Core i5 4690- 4.4GHz Overclock / Intel Core i7 4790
Thermalright Macho Rev.B + Ultra Low Noise TY-147A PWM Fan
8GB Corsair LP 1600MHz
500W be quiet! Straight Power 10 80+ Gold Rated PSU / 600W be quiet! Straight Power 10 80+ Gold Rated PSU
120GB Samsung 850 EVO, Read 540MB/s, Write 420MB's
1TB Western Digital Blue, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache
Windows7 64bit / Windows8.1 64bit

Which CPU would give me the best performance without it being over kill ?
Will I need the 600w PSU (particularly with the i5 4690k overclock) ?
Which windows version is best ?

Is there anything that im totally missing.

One consideration is that I will have to transport the system by air from the UK to Oman where I am living for the next three years so a smaller footprint might be more convenient (maybe a Micro ATX based system) as ideally I dont want to have to check it into cargo but at the same time dont want to compromise on performance and noise etc.

Any and all comments and advice are really welcome

Many thanks
 
I don't think that's a terribly strenuous load your talking there. This is a brand new, fairly recent spec laptop, it should work just fine. Couldn't pick out in there how much memory you have. More memory is always a good thing.
 
Get a monster laptop with 16gb ram and an i7 with ssd and 7200rpm secondary drive and you'll have more than enough to do whatever you need.

M
 
Rolling Esto said:
Get a monster laptop with 16gb ram and an i7 with ssd and 7200rpm secondary drive and you'll have more than enough to do whatever you need.

M
Click to expand...

Well sort of! If i7 is a bi too rich for you I would say an i5 will be more than good enough, I can run 20tracks of Cubase LE6 on my HP I3 (8G ram) and the CPU hits about 50%.

SSD yes but anything new will have USB 3.0 ports (maybe 3.1?) and I have just bought my daughter a 1TB mil specc' dropoof USB 3.0 drive for £70 an that is B fast.

New means you will have to have 8.1 unless Scan or similar can help? In any case keep a weather eye on the upgrade to Win 10, you don't want to miss a freebie!

I would shelve building a desktop. Three years is not what it was in computer advances but it is quite a time to think about. By then 3.1 WILL be seen on virtually all MOBOs of any quality or power .

BUT! I bet Thunderfart will STILL be a as rare as rocking horse droppings outside macs!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Well sort of! If i7 is a bi too rich for you I would say an i5 will be more than good enough, I can run 20tracks of Cubase LE6 on my HP I3 (8G ram) and the CPU hits about 50%.

Dave.
Click to expand...

I'm just a hobbyist and upgraded from 8 to 12gb and have an i7, got the laptop on sale. I have NO problems tracking 25 with multiple vst's at about 50%.

My point was if he wanted to just buy something and be taken care of without worry 16gb and an i7 would certainly be a worry free option. Though, it is dependent on the budget I know.

M
 
This really depends on your goal. I have a cheapo laptop I use for portastudio and it is dual core, low end AMD chip, I keep everything off when I am tracking, to include WIFI and I can record 16 tracks at once with no problem. Now that is just tracking. No VSTs, VSTis, or maybe just a little compression and some EQ, but nothing serious. The computer handles it just fine.

Now, when I start recording using plugins, effects, etc. Now the game changes and I use a 6 core AMD with 8 gigs RAM, SSD (used 7200 and it was fine) and I have no issues. I use Ableton and it is more resource intensive than most DAWS. But I get along fine. When recording solo, I rarely get above 12 tracks (VSTi drums, so that is just one track) and there are few problems.

i5 with 8Gb RAM and 7200 HD should work for just about anything. 16 RAM is nice, but I don't think it is required (video yes, audio no). Main point is, if it is audio only, you can do a lot with a little. If it is multipurpose, then things change because your resource load will be different.

What I have mentioned are dedicated computers for one purpose. I don't surf the web, edit docs, they do nothing but record audio. That keeps them nice and lean.
 
Thanks to everyone
Im getting a much clearer idea of what I really need but still a bit confused as to some options.
Dave I really cant wait three years to upgrade and get a working stable system (I just wanna make music NOW) or at least try.

I am going for a desktop coolmaster silencio 550 case
Scan will be supplying and I can still get Windows7.1 from them
8gb RAM I can easily upgrade to 16gb if needed.

Which CPU. Will an i5 4690k oc at 4.4ghz be more than enough, or will the i7 4790 3.6ghz greatly improve how well my system runs.
I am tending towards the i5 oc with a 600w PSU
I will be using quite a few VSTi's and plug ins.

Hard drives].. 1. 1 x 256gb crucial SSD plus 1 x 1tb WD Blue 7,200.
2. 2 x 120GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD plus 1 x WD Blue 7,200
Which set up would be best and what to put on each drive ?

These are the two ares im still looking for clarity on so any more info and advice welcome ( i realise that definitive answers are not something that seem to apply to this business) Im not sure about the implications of USB 3/3.1 .

Many thanks again
 
"Dave I really cant wait three years to upgrade and get a working stable system (I just wanna make music NOW) or at least try."

Not suggesting you do but you want a "carry on" system, not one that finishes up in Walla-Walla for six months, busted! As DM60 says, an i5 laptop* with 8G ram will do a H of a lot, not re rig Pirates perhaps but quite a lot.

The USB 3.0/3.1 point is that these connections are so fast that I think you could track in and out of them as if the drive was in the machine? I am certain 3.1 will be capable of that. Whatever, even "bog" 3.0 allows files to be dumped so fast that you could track to the SSD but easily keep that clean.

DM's point about a "dedicated" machine is well taken but many of us don't have the luxury (I don't with this i3 laptop) and so need internet on an audio PC. I have never had a problem with this (and use Ms SE) but you can quite easily set a machine up for two clients, one of which does not use the Net or wireless (or you can set hardware profiles) . If you are buying there I am sure the Man from Scan will advise!

*If two mics, two line ins, 4 outs, MIDI and S/PDIF will do ya, look at the Native Instruments KA6 for a cracking portable AI. Then Reaper will keep the CPU hit much lower than most DAW software.

Justfort! You might be like me and HATE using a laptop? Well of course USB keyboards and mic are very cheap, wireless one are bloody handy for lone musicians! And! You can plug a laptop into almost any modern telly!
Dave.
 
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Do you play an instrument and sing, or track loops, what sort of music do you want to make?

Could be, that it isn't so much how you record it; it's more what you think to say, and how you say it, that matters. I am realizing that more and more. Perfectly recorded, no-noise, say nothing crap, is still crap, in my estimation. Avoid creating more crap, is my advise. B O L!
 
The system you mentioned is well enough to get you started and then some.

i5, 8gb and 128 ssd with 7200 secondary drive and you're fine. Again though, the general rule is get the best and most powerful you can. If you can afford an i7 and 16gb, that's optimal. Otherwise you're fine.

Put system files on ssd and record to hdd.

M
 
CAM1 said:
I will be recording up to Three live audio tracks at a time with a max of about 15 tracks total using various vst instruments, plug ins and effects such as reverb, eq and compression on each track. Im not totally sure yet about the proper use or implications of these on my system so hopefully people will keep me right when needed.
Click to expand...

This is what cued me up. Various VST instruments, Reverb on each track. Those two are your heavy hitters on computer resources. VST Instruments need RAM and Reverb needs CPU.

Sample-based VSTi's will use up your RAM. 8GB should be plenty for most applications, but what exactly do you plan to use? Non-sample based VSTi's don't use as much RAM, but will chew up CPU resources, maybe not as bad.

Reverb is a gobbler. The best method is to use one or two reverb effects and "Send" to them. Do not put a reverb effect on each track. The nice thing about sending multiple tracks to one reverb send is how it can glue a mix together. If you have different tracks with different reverbs settings, they will not sound like they are in the same place.

But...

Audio itself doesn't require a whole lot of computing power. I used to run 24 tracks, one or two VSTi's and a couple of plugs on each track with a Pentium 4 and 8 GB of RAM and never saw a hiccup. So whatever cpu you decide to go with will be good as long as you manage your cpu loads efficiently.

Get your computer within budget, get past the technical hurdles and get creative. You'll have a lot of fun once you can focus on music.
 
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