Murdersgalore
New member
Ahh. I knew the free for personal use sounded too good to be true. I was misinformed. But $40 for a pretty powerful DAW still seems too good to be true but it is.
AMD or intel cpu for home recording studio ?
- Thread starter neojjjk
- Start date
I've always use AMD, but prefer Intel haha. Intel is nice enough to use ball grid instead of pin grid on their processors so they're a hell of a lot easier to install. Music making wise, I don't think it's going to matter the 1's and 0's are processed just the same through both processors!
suprstar
It aint ez being green
What DAW software is best? They're 95% the same thing. Which ever one you learn on is the best one. I have cubase cuz LE came with my 1st interface, so that's what I learned on. If I had a digi 001 or something, I'd be on protools. If I had nothing I'd go with reaper cuz it's cheap and fully functional.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Unless you need the portability, it's actually desirable to stick with a desktop, especially if it has a nice big screen. Desktops tend to be much more customisable--you can plug in cards to give you extra types of input, add an extra internal drive, that sort of thing.
And they certainly tend to give more "bang for the buck" than a laptop.
And they certainly tend to give more "bang for the buck" than a laptop.
suprstar
It aint ez being green
Yeah, that.
arcadeko
Illuminatius Overlordious
well that's true
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
No. There's no such thing as a laptop that comes with even an adequate (rather than good) built in audio unit. In order to save space and cost, the audio capabilities on laptops are designed with audio inputs up to doing Skype calls and not much more. If you go the laptop route for a DAW, you're automatically in the realm of USB or Firewire interfaces.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Well, yes--but nothing insurmountable when you consider the number of people using them. However, some things to think about:
-small screen size. DAW work is far easier with a big screen or even multiple screens. I plug a 21 inch monitor into my laptop for any serious work.
-slower disk drives. Many laptops are provided with 5200rpm drives which don't have the throughput for lots of tracks.
-lack of expandability. Most desktops can take added PCI cards for sound interfaces, if you need a firewire port, etc. etc. Current laptops are limited to USB usually--okay if you know what you need but a limitation.
-cost. For the same memory and processing power, a tower is likely to be cheaper.
Having said that, I use a laptop for most stuff (I often have to take my gear to theatres etc.) and it works fine...you just have to consider your setup a bit more.
-small screen size. DAW work is far easier with a big screen or even multiple screens. I plug a 21 inch monitor into my laptop for any serious work.
-slower disk drives. Many laptops are provided with 5200rpm drives which don't have the throughput for lots of tracks.
-lack of expandability. Most desktops can take added PCI cards for sound interfaces, if you need a firewire port, etc. etc. Current laptops are limited to USB usually--okay if you know what you need but a limitation.
-cost. For the same memory and processing power, a tower is likely to be cheaper.
Having said that, I use a laptop for most stuff (I often have to take my gear to theatres etc.) and it works fine...you just have to consider your setup a bit more.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Recording, no. Recording doesn't place too much strain on a computer as long as the input (USB or Firewire) and hard disk can keep up.
Simple playback, no--but I'm sure there is an upper limit to the number of tracks I can handle. I haven't hit that limit yet.
Editing/mixing, yes. Every computer, laptop or desktop, has it's limits and, since any realistic mixing process uses effects which, in turn, use CPU time, you can hit these limits very quickly. If I'm using my highest quality reverbs which are VERY CPU intensive, I start to have problems on a relatively small number of tracks. There are ways around this (using buses, freezing/locking tracks, that sort of thing), but you eventually hit the limits on any computer, laptop or desktop.
The other thing that can make a big difference is whether you can devote a computer just to sound recording/mixing or have to share it with other purposes. Every other bit of software that is running in background, every bit of animated screen foolishness in your operating system, competes with the sound for CPU time.
Either laptops or desktops can do a good job for DAW work--but, on either, you need to be aware of how the system is set up and how it's being used.
Simple playback, no--but I'm sure there is an upper limit to the number of tracks I can handle. I haven't hit that limit yet.
Editing/mixing, yes. Every computer, laptop or desktop, has it's limits and, since any realistic mixing process uses effects which, in turn, use CPU time, you can hit these limits very quickly. If I'm using my highest quality reverbs which are VERY CPU intensive, I start to have problems on a relatively small number of tracks. There are ways around this (using buses, freezing/locking tracks, that sort of thing), but you eventually hit the limits on any computer, laptop or desktop.
The other thing that can make a big difference is whether you can devote a computer just to sound recording/mixing or have to share it with other purposes. Every other bit of software that is running in background, every bit of animated screen foolishness in your operating system, competes with the sound for CPU time.
Either laptops or desktops can do a good job for DAW work--but, on either, you need to be aware of how the system is set up and how it's being used.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Never tried an ASUS for recording purposes but have heard decent things about them.
HOWEVER....
The N series (I just Googled it) is claiming that it has good quality sound playback for multimedia stuff--they claim some involvement from Bang and Olaufson (a Scandinavian consumer audio company).
Multimedia capabilities do nothing to help with serious recording a mixing--and sometimes can actually get in the way. You'll still need an appropriate external audio interface and still need some proper DAW software. Built in multimedia playback is no more help than having a good home theatre system--the needs are different.
Unless you want to watch DVDs and play games on the computer, you would likely be better buying a conventional laptop and putting your money into a sound interface, a better mic, and so on.
HOWEVER....
The N series (I just Googled it) is claiming that it has good quality sound playback for multimedia stuff--they claim some involvement from Bang and Olaufson (a Scandinavian consumer audio company).
Multimedia capabilities do nothing to help with serious recording a mixing--and sometimes can actually get in the way. You'll still need an appropriate external audio interface and still need some proper DAW software. Built in multimedia playback is no more help than having a good home theatre system--the needs are different.
Unless you want to watch DVDs and play games on the computer, you would likely be better buying a conventional laptop and putting your money into a sound interface, a better mic, and so on.
^thank you very much for that info.
I don't have any plans to play games in a laptop. I believe that Bang and Olaufson circuits will improve quality in processing of audio signals. so that we can avoid stuttering like problems. I believe that cpu 's core clock is essential for running an application,more memory & 7200rpm drives will also improve performance...but there will be an audio processing unit for making sounds.
in laptop's audio processing chip will be in motherboard. & in desktop's it will be in mother bord or we can add pci express sound cards(which has a powerful audio processing chip)
this asus N series has a different audio circuitry by Bang and Olaufson .that forced me to think in a different way. now I am confused
I don't have any plans to play games in a laptop. I believe that Bang and Olaufson circuits will improve quality in processing of audio signals. so that we can avoid stuttering like problems. I believe that cpu 's core clock is essential for running an application,more memory & 7200rpm drives will also improve performance...but there will be an audio processing unit for making sounds.
in laptop's audio processing chip will be in motherboard. & in desktop's it will be in mother bord or we can add pci express sound cards(which has a powerful audio processing chip)
this asus N series has a different audio circuitry by Bang and Olaufson .that forced me to think in a different way. now I am confused
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Basically the B&O circuitry is there to give better playback of multimedia--how true this is I won't even speculate on but a lot of such claims in consumer audio are pure snake oil.
However, it would do nothing to improve the quality of recording--you will still need an external interface to plug your microphones into. And, once you've recorded your stuff, the sound card (whether the onboard B&O or your external one) has nothing to do with the processing in your DAW software. So, the reality is that the B&O enhancements would do nothing at all for your recording ambitions.
(As an aside, my Toshiba laptop claims enhanced multimedia abilities and has a Harman Kardon badge by the little speakers. It does an okay job if I want to play a DVD or something--but all that system is totally bypassed when I'm doing any recording or mixing, for which I use an M-Audio firewre ADAT device.)
However, it would do nothing to improve the quality of recording--you will still need an external interface to plug your microphones into. And, once you've recorded your stuff, the sound card (whether the onboard B&O or your external one) has nothing to do with the processing in your DAW software. So, the reality is that the B&O enhancements would do nothing at all for your recording ambitions.
(As an aside, my Toshiba laptop claims enhanced multimedia abilities and has a Harman Kardon badge by the little speakers. It does an okay job if I want to play a DVD or something--but all that system is totally bypassed when I'm doing any recording or mixing, for which I use an M-Audio firewre ADAT device.)