Xcaliber
New member
I've searched the net and these forums for this info, but I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. Tonight I tried downloading a song from the Mix This! forums to play around with on my 2006 Macbook Pro. I imported the wav files for each track (I think there are about 10 tracks) and began applying plugins using the presets in Studio One and adding some compression and EQ with my own settings. As soon as I began playing the music and adding plug-ins my laptop began to slow down, I got the "spinning color wheel" and it even crashed on me once. Long story short I need a new computer.
So here's the question, I've read all of the "guides" and "guidance" I can find about buying/building a new computer for a home recording studio and I can't find the answer to one simple thing: Is there a "CPU power/RAM/number of tracks and plug-ins" ratio? I've read lots of articles that say "get as fast a processor as you can afford" and "get as much RAM as you can afford", but that doesn't help me figure out how fast a CPU and/or RAM I need to accomplish my tasks. That being said here are the things I plan to do with the computer in my home studio:
The crux of the problem is I have a limited budget for the new computer (of course). I'm eyeing this Mac Mini due to it's insanely low price point ($599):
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
4GB memory
500GB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
OS X Mavericks
*I have an external WD 500GB USB hard drive I will use with it too.
but I don't want to spend the money if that won't let me achieve what I want. I'm concerned about 3 things:
#1. It's a 5400 RPM hard drive in that "base model".
#2. 4 GB of RAM won't be enough for me to load all of the VSTs I want to use when mixing (and potentially mastering) the music I record.
#3. The dual-core CPU be a bottleneck for mixing with the number of tracks I plan to have (10-20, possibly more)
Thanks for any help/insight you can give on this. (It's actually keeping me from sleeping tonight).
So here's the question, I've read all of the "guides" and "guidance" I can find about buying/building a new computer for a home recording studio and I can't find the answer to one simple thing: Is there a "CPU power/RAM/number of tracks and plug-ins" ratio? I've read lots of articles that say "get as fast a processor as you can afford" and "get as much RAM as you can afford", but that doesn't help me figure out how fast a CPU and/or RAM I need to accomplish my tasks. That being said here are the things I plan to do with the computer in my home studio:
- Mix songs with 10-20 tracks (possibly more) using lots of plug-ins
- Record rock/metal songs that will rely heavily on virtual instruments (EZ Drummer, Bass synth sounds, amp modeling plug-ins, etc.)
- Possibly record band with real instruments (which could include an acoustic drum set mic'd up with 8 simultaneous microphone inputs on my interface)
The crux of the problem is I have a limited budget for the new computer (of course). I'm eyeing this Mac Mini due to it's insanely low price point ($599):
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
4GB memory
500GB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
OS X Mavericks
*I have an external WD 500GB USB hard drive I will use with it too.
but I don't want to spend the money if that won't let me achieve what I want. I'm concerned about 3 things:
#1. It's a 5400 RPM hard drive in that "base model".
#2. 4 GB of RAM won't be enough for me to load all of the VSTs I want to use when mixing (and potentially mastering) the music I record.
#3. The dual-core CPU be a bottleneck for mixing with the number of tracks I plan to have (10-20, possibly more)
Thanks for any help/insight you can give on this. (It's actually keeping me from sleeping tonight).