I need the right computer

[ch1aroscuro]

I have been searching for a new computer as my current one cannot handle recording without major problems. Can anyone suggest what I need in a pc or mac. I'm running Sonar 8, Reason, Guitar Rig, and I mostly record live audio for piano, voice, woodwinds, and strings. I'm having cpu problems along with memory but I've noticed that alot of computers out now haven't advanced as far in cpu speed (I have 3 ghz and my pc is 6 years old), so I'm not certain what I need to change. If anyone could help me out with what components are the most important in order to record audio tracks smoothly it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[twostone]

I'm in the same boat and we almost posted the same question at the same time but this might help you out.
http://www.cakewalk.com/pcresource/Default.aspx
It's good read
I looking for a PC but narrowed mine down to a specific make and model plus I can score a used rectified one pretty reasonable here locally.

I use a lot of plug ins like Amplitude metal which is a freaking CPU hog I imagine guitar rig is to. Memory now a days is easy to add plenty more.
Now, processors is a different story some motherboards like mine are maxed out with the highest processor I can use so I can't upgrade unless I upgrade the motherboard i know little about PC's but not enough to build one from the ground up is what most recommend.

Heard good things about macs but I'm clueless about macs never used one.
Dunno if I could been using Windows since 98 so i would be lost on Mac's OS system.

 

[altitude909]

well seeing that Cakewalk is PC only, you have your answer. Clock speed is irrelevant, a 6 year old 3 ghz machine will actually be considerably LESS powerful than a modern 2ghz machine, there is a lot more to it than just the clock speed.

 

[jeredsteeves]

For what it's worth, here's my opinion. I'm about to buy a computer, and plan on running Sonar 8.5, so I've been doing a heck of a lot of research.

I would say that in order of importance, components would be:

processor
ram
motherboard
hard drive

Of course, I'm not even mentioning your audio interface.

Anyways, you most likely won't be able to upgrade without completely rebuilding. If your computer is 6 years old, most of the new quad core processors won't be compatible with your motherboard. Also, you're probably using DDR memory, and now we are already at DDR3. Even if you upgraded to the best possible components your motherboard could handle, I think you would still not see enough of a jump in performance to make it worth it.

Here's what I'm building:

Intel i7 Quad Core 2.66 GHZ
Intel SO motherboard
6 gigs DDR3 ram

Those are the main components. If you start with something like that, then you should be well on your way.

Now I just need to save up my money so I can afford this thing.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

I have been searching for a new computer as my current one cannot handle recording without major problems. Can anyone suggest what I need in a pc or mac. I'm running Sonar 8, Reason, Guitar Rig, and I mostly record live audio for piano, voice, woodwinds, and strings. I'm having cpu problems along with memory but I've noticed that alot of computers out now haven't advanced as far in cpu speed (I have 3 ghz and my pc is 6 years old), so I'm not certain what I need to change. If anyone could help me out with what components are the most important in order to record audio tracks smoothly it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

I think it would be beneficial if you discovered the root causes of the major problems you're having before you dump some cash on a new box.
What OS are you currently running?

The reason I say this is I'm running Sonar 8, Guitar Rig and a host of other plugs on a cheap laptop running a 2.6 ghz AMD Sempron, of all processors! 2 gigs of DDR2Ram and a slow hard drive that's supposed to be too slow to record with (5400 rpm). Oddly, this rig performs flawlessly. Now, I don't use any VSTI plugs for synth or drums, so the demand on my CPU is manageable. The last project used 14 tracks with multiple FX plugs running across 7 or 8 of them. Zero problems. Go figure. I did optimize the OS (Vista 32 bit, yuck) to run cleaner and reduce it's resource footprint. I also had to resort to some driver trickery (ASIO4ALL) to get my interface, laptop and Sonar to play nice together. But now that I've got it established, I couldn't be happier with it's performance.

 

[TimOBrien]

Big Hint: Look at the specs and components used by companies whose business it is to make recording computers. They know what WORKS ('cause otherwise they're out of business...)

www.adkproaudio.com is one that's been well written-up in magazines. I've never bought from them or have anything to do with them but the component specs they have are good. There are similiar companies you can Google; look around and see what they offer....

 

[TeyshaBlue]

Big Hint: Look at the specs and components used by companies whose business it is to make recording computers. They know what WORKS ('cause otherwise they're out of business...)

www.adkproaudio.com is one that's been well written-up in magazines. I've never bought from them or have anything to do with them but the component specs they have are good. There are similiar companies you can Google; look around and see what they offer....

Agreed. I just got stupidly lucky and happen to hit on a combo that works fairly well. Very likely the next one I buy would be a beating. I will be replacing mine this year, so thanks for the link. It'll come in very handy!

 

[Bristol Posse]

I think it would be beneficial if you discovered the root causes of the major problems you're having before you dump some cash on a new box.
What OS are you currently running?

+1
if you undersand the choke point you'll make a better decision

Generally speaking
Track count is tied to drive speeds write for recording tracks and read for playback
Sample based synths require RAM to preload samples for timely playback when you hit a key or drumpad
VST plugs and synths which heavilly process sound are doing a lot of calcualtions and so are CPU dependent

Big Hint: Look at the specs and components used by companies whose business it is to make recording computers. They know what WORKS ('cause otherwise they're out of business...)

another +1

Dont worry too much about CPU performance specs. A super fast CPU doesn't necessarily make a good audio machine in of itself and quite frankly, any recent dual or quad CPU is more than likely to be more power than anyone actually needs, and when you get into the realms of the i7 9 series that's crazy power. There's the argument of future proofing but on the otherhand by the time software actually needs 4 cores with hyperthreading to run, the i7 will be obsolete and far more powerful options will be available far more cheaply (Actually right now a lot of software can't take advantages of the i7 hyperthreading and some are finding turning that functionality off makes things run better). So don't worry if you can't save enough for the latest powerhouse CPU right now. And finally, processing overhead doesn't make the slightest difference to recording quality so having a mighty CPU running at 15% capacity will make absolutley no difference to your sound versus a more average CPU running at 35% capacity

Stability and compatability are much more important. Good Motherboard and chipset/FW chipset choices, good RAM latency/reliability, relaible high efficiency power supply combined with the right drives and CPU will make a good audio machine

My own priority list would be

1) Motherboard, avoinding anything with nforce southbridge. Look for passive cooled north/southbridges for quieter operation a proven track record of reliability and compatability across a broad range of outboard gear, Texas instruements FW and PCI options for future expandability
2) Power Supply. Reject anything with an effeciency rating stated below 85% (I would look for better than that but thats the bare minimum) lower efficiencies will not deliver power smoothly under load and cause all kinds of problems from dropouts and system lockups to BSODs
3) RAM (especially for a heavy sample user) good latencies good bandwidth, proven track record of reliability (RAM can fail suddenly with no warning at all)
4) CPU get enough for your current need and near term needs. If you are expecting to make a radical change in VST/VSTi use plan that into your purchase
5) Drives 1 for OS & Apps 1 more for recording
6) Case and cooling go for options designed for quiet cooling and noise damping properties

 

[ch1aroscuro]

thanks

I appreciate all the input, this will definitely help me find the right set up. I don't feel I have to drop a grand now just to get good performance. I was naive to how the newer processors worked in the dual and quad cores. I'm trying to catch up to the tech since I haven't done home recording in 5 years.

One more question. Will a new computer improve my latency or is that directly linked to my interface (or maybe both)? I'm recording live piano and have to have a long headphone cord, would that affect the recording? I'm hearing the piano in my headphones a split second after I strike a key.

Thanks again for the help

 

[nzausrec]

I just got i5, 2.6ghz and DDR 4gb SATA2 a few days ago. Although the processor drive has that number which is slower than even my P4, it is much much much faster. There is no comparison.
On the P4 I would do two vst midi tracks then add one FX send and the audio would distort and basically crash.
This time I have five seperate instruments all with FX and no probs yet with audio. It's so fast and smooth too for loading.

I was going to keep the P4 for my kids to play games on and stuff, but, I just want to throw it away it seems so crappy.

As for latency, good question. I imagine interface first. Bit of a worry that the delay is one second long.

 

[Bristol Posse]

If 2 tracks and on effect were crashing the computer there was a lot more wrong than the CPU being a single core (there's nothing wrong with a single core)

a pentiuim can easily run projects of 18 tracks with multiple effects per track and synths and not have a problem but anyway I digress

Latency is possibly caused by the settings on the sound card/interface. the higher the sample rate and the lower the buffer the less latency

Latency in your live sound maybe because of the way you are monitoring on headphones.
If you are monitoring from the software the signal has to be buffered, converted passed to the software, send back to the interface converted back to analog and send to your headphones. A seconf is still a long time but could happen if you have a high buffer.

If your interface allows for zero latency monitoring plug into that. In this case the signal is sent to the headphones at the time it is received by the interface from the mic and you are not doing all the conversionand multiple sends in between

 

[nzausrec]

a pentiuim can easily run projects of 18 tracks with multiple effects per track and synths and not have a problem

I have never heard that before - the whole reason to upgrade is because the old pcs can't cope with the data flow. Maybe mine was just too old - it was about six years old. Ram was about 700 mb or so ... it cut out so much that I had to render to audio the midi tracks before applying any FX. Applying freeze didn't help it.

 

[Bristol Posse]

I have never heard that before - the whole reason to upgrade is because the old pcs can't cope with the data flow. Maybe mine was just too old - it was about six years old. Ram was about 700 mb or so ... it cut out so much that I had to render to audio the midi tracks before applying any FX. Applying freeze didn't help it.

well really the whole reason to upgrade is to keep people like intel and AMD (and me) in business

Very few people actually need the power of an i7 (especially the 9 series) or even a core 2 quad. They do a good job of selling the hype however

The main reason that an old computers slow down is

1) Malware. get malwarebytes removal tool (Free)
2) HDD too full and fragmented. Keep your HDDs less than 50% full and regularly defragged to take advantage of the more dense population of sectors toward the outside of the platters
3) OS updates and patches. On a pure audio machine if it's not connected to the internet and it works fine do not bother with the windows updates all your doing is clogging thing up
4) Cluttered registry full of instructions and keys that no longer lead any where. Get a good registry cleaner/defragger/compacter. Someting along the lines of regitry mechanic
5) too much crap running in the backround. itunes, symantec, google updater, apple updater, yahoo games updater. If your online with this machine and are not carefully scrutinizing all that you download often you end up installing a whole lot of useless junk that is always running in the background sucking up system resources. Check your system processes and get rid of the junkware. Even on a desktop connected to the internet running antivirus you shouldn't see more than the low 30s in terms of total processes in the task manager (CTR+ALT+DEL)
6) PSU is not running efficietly causing insufficient non smoothly delivered power to the components which in turn stops them from running at optimal performance. Only cure for this is a new Powers Supply
7) Not enough RAM. If you are running a lot of sample based synths on a machine with less than a GIG of RAM you will run into problems. If the motherboard allows for it get more RAM (infact replace all the RAM at the same time to avoid complications from mismatching speed and RAM timings)

generally speaking a good monthly routine of Defrag (unless you have solid state drives). Registry clean up, Malware cleanup and a check of what processes are running and if any junkware needs to be removed will help keep things running nice and smooth for a long time.
And get something like REVO UNINSTALLER (Free) to remove unwanted applications this will actually scan the registry and hard drives for left behind registry keys, files folders and cookies etc that windows unintaller does not remove when taking something off the system