Optimize Your DAW Computer for Your Home Studio

[Manor Music]

We jam econo here...I use a 15 year old Dell P4 with single core processor 2.0G memory.
It works fine with Cubase le5. Cubase le5 came with my Zoom R16
I have been using it sucessfully for over a year, never lost a track.
I am using this econo system for our first compilation CD

 

[Auralsects]

Scrap it and pick up a couple of G.Skill Ripjaws

And buy Monster Cable! Tongue embedded in cheek.
Brand has no standing.... You need the memory the motherboard you bought would support. Trust me, the manufacturer built it to spec. So, Download CPUid and learn what you got and what you need. If anyone comes at you with a brand you should be suspicious... They never spoke specs...

 

[felipenoris]

Nice! I guess only this year PT users will be able to unleash all the computer power.

 

[DM60]

From what I can tell, DAWs can usually be handled with at least technology from the last 5 years. My computer is at least 4 years old. I did build it high end, so keep that in mind. If you bought middle to lower end 5 years ago, that makes it closer to 6-7 in technology terms.

The one thing I am seeing with my particular software is the IO activity. This is where I think an SDD would come in handy has a "active project drive" or maybe target application drive, not sure. If it is used as a system drive, once you boot up, the fetches and write backs are less. So, 7200 RPM as a system hard drive (as IO tends to be less after boot and stabilization), SDD for application, library and active project storage. I am going to test this soon, but if my understanding of all the mechanics are correct, This type of setup should improve performance on almost all machines as IO is the weakest link in any system.

If you bring up your resource usage monitor in Windows (I am sure Apple OS has something like it) look at what's going on, you will probably see disk activity being large (Check CPU and memory, CPUs are pegging and the system is having to swap with virtual memory, could be a sign to add more memory if you have 64 bit as 32 bit machines have a 4Gb limit). Even if you have virtual memory, it still has to fetch from a physical hard drive and it needs to do a seek as not all data is stored contiguously (not fragmented). SSD, $150 for 128Gb.

Could save you from a new computer, so food for thought. Look at your system resources, that will give you the answer.

 

[ashcat_lt]

The last I heard, there was still an issue with the longevity of the SSDs, it can only do so many reads and writes before it craps out, and this is much less than the magnetic types. This, to me, seems like a very bad thing for a DAW, since damn near everything we do is either reading or writing to the disk. Was a couple years ago that I really looked at it though...

OTOH, if you grab the freeware program called RAMDisk, you can allocate a portion of your RAM and make it look like an HD to your OS, even if it wouldn't normally be able to access it as RAM. My recording machine runs 32 bit XP, and I have 8Gb RAM. The 5Gb that Windows can't use is a tiny little hard drive that I use for my virtual memory. So, the page file is just as fast as the RAM that it's "emulating". Works pretty damn slick.

 

[DM60]

The last I heard, there was still an issue with the longevity of the SSDs, it can only do so many reads and writes before it craps out, and this is much less than the magnetic types. This, to me, seems like a very bad thing for a DAW, since damn near everything we do is either reading or writing to the disk. Was a couple years ago that I really looked at it though...

OTOH, if you grab the freeware program called RAMDisk, you can allocate a portion of your RAM and make it look like an HD to your OS, even if it wouldn't normally be able to access it as RAM. My recording machine runs 32 bit XP, and I have 8Gb RAM. The 5Gb that Windows can't use is a tiny little hard drive that I use for my virtual memory. So, the page file is just as fast as the RAM that it's "emulating". Works pretty damn slick.

Your are correct about the life of SSDs, but as a temporary working area, could still breath new life into an old computer. And yes, this was my point, Read and write is the weakest link in the computers we use for creating. Speed that up and ...?

 

[Chili]

I heard the same rumors about SSD's too. I did a little digging and maybe it's not such a concern anymore. It's recommended to buy a larger drive than you need and only use about half. SSD's have a utility that will move the data around to different areas of the drive so it's not writing to the same cells all the time.

I also heard that SSD's have a higher than usual infant mortality rate, but average lifespan is about the same as a hard drive. If you can get past the first year without a failure, you'll probably go 5 years with no problem. Which is about the same for hard drives.


I bought an SSD a few months ago. I hope it don't crap out.

 

[JMN]

Useful thread! Thanks guys

 

[tranquillant]

Yeah I have to chime in as I've been building computers for quite a bit!

I would say that in optimizing computer for any software that uses multithreading is to get as many cores (I think 4 cores is the minimum for this) as you can into the machine (and you hjave to go into your computer registry and change it that the computer uses all cores at all times...allthough some people say this can be quite straining to the computer I have never had any problems with this). Get a 64 bit operating system (xp 64 can handle up to 128 Gb of RAM.) Get good internal hard drive. Get at least 6 Gb of RAM. Get good external hard drive for backing up your stuff. Get a decent video card, it doesn't have to be the kind that one would use for extreme gaming but one day you will want to get a second monitor so you'll need a video card that supports such an option. Get a good sound card (this is usually solved when you'll buy an audio interface).

To my experience with using the prices in Finland at the moment it would be apporoximatelly 500 - 600 euros (650 - 750 $) to build a maching like this (excluding the audio interface).

I know nothing about MAC's though... Never used them and never will use them... Apples are for eating.

 

[YXrecordings]

I use both MAC and WINDOWS operating systems
I have to say, I sometimes find problems with windows, and if you have never used MAC, I recommand you buy a MAC or at least use the operating system and check and see how much faster and easier it is to use MAC,
I use Live 9 and Komplete 9 Ultimate Library, my MAC runs it almost 2 times faster although my PC is more powerful, only because WINDOWS SUCKS...
Apple is expensive for its parts, but imagine if you build a PC with installing MAC operating System OSX lions on it... that would be a great saving

 

[tranquillant]

I use both MAC and WINDOWS operating systems
I have to say, I sometimes find problems with windows, and if you have never used MAC, I recommand you buy a MAC or at least use the operating system and check and see how much faster and easier it is to use MAC,
I use Live 9 and Komplete 9 Ultimate Library, my MAC runs it almost 2 times faster although my PC is more powerful, only because WINDOWS SUCKS...
Apple is expensive for its parts, but imagine if you build a PC with installing MAC operating System OSX lions on it... that would be a great saving

I once thought about installing second operating system to the computer and thought of Linux... Yet as soon as I saw friend's Linux and used it for awhile... it was a disaster...
and when ever I've tried to do something with a mac it's been a disaster... Windows I know inside out and i've never had anything come up to me I couldn't do with Windows... and trojans, malware, viruses only come when you surf ****...

 

[DM60]

I use both MAC and WINDOWS operating systems
I have to say, I sometimes find problems with windows, and if you have never used MAC, I recommand you buy a MAC or at least use the operating system and check and see how much faster and easier it is to use MAC,
I use Live 9 and Komplete 9 Ultimate Library, my MAC runs it almost 2 times faster although my PC is more powerful, only because WINDOWS SUCKS...
Apple is expensive for its parts, but imagine if you build a PC with installing MAC operating System OSX lions on it... that would be a great saving

If I am not mistaken, that would be illegal. Apple doesn't work that way, Microsoft does, but not Apple.

 

[tranquillant]

If I am not mistaken, that would be illegal. Apple doesn't work that way, Microsoft does, but not Apple.

Yeah you need to buy that pricey, shiney new mac to get the OSX... those bloodsuckers...

 

[Steenamaroo]

If I am not mistaken, that would be illegal. Apple doesn't work that way, Microsoft does, but not Apple.

There's a damn good reason for that, in my opinion.
If apple allowed the reverse of bootcamp they'd be immediately inundated with complaints and issues.
The reason for the greater majority of issues on windows platforms is the massive availability of hardware.
$5 FW card doesn't work right and all of a sudden windows sucks?!

I mean, I don't like windows, but it gets a bad rep for the wrong reasons.
Mac stay to their extremely limited (and expensive) range, and for that reason a lot less is likely to go wrong.

A carefully planned PC build and educated setup can give you just as stable and capable a system as any mac, but not everyone knows how to do that.

Is hackintoshing illegal? I never heard the final say on that.
I know it's illegal on a commercial level but for a home computer? I don't know.

 

[DM60]

There's a damn good reason for that, in my opinion.
If apple allowed the reverse of bootcamp they'd be immediately inundated with complaints and issues.
The reason for the greater majority of issues on windows platforms is the massive availability of hardware.
$5 FW card doesn't work right and all of a sudden windows sucks?!

I mean, I don't like windows, but it gets a bad rep for the wrong reasons.
Mac stay to their extremely limited (and expensive) range, and for that reason a lot less is likely to go wrong.

A carefully planned PC build and educated setup can give you just as stable and capable a system as any mac, but not everyone knows how to do that.

While I know for a fact Windows carries issues (as do all OSes) but as you stated very there are two primary problems with Windows. One, cheap hardware (most issues I had with the older versions were due to hardware issues), if a board goes out or a driver is written poorly (and they do write at a very deep level, C code or lower like Assembler) the computer is going to fail. Another area Windows suffers is that Microsoft keeps a lot of legacy code for backward compatibility. Apple usually just cuts bait and runs to the next generation. Meaning, go by new stuff. MS. for what ever reason, keeps legacy hardware/software running. I have some software (haven't tried it with Win7) dating back to the early 90's I could still run and I can still read my files from the 80's.

But, to be balanced, Apple took a different approach (system approach) and suffered for it through out the 90's and early 2000's as PCs were much cheaper and therefore received the lion's share of the market. Which is helping them now vs. MS and the perception of instability by not controlling hardware.

But, as try to to steer people one way or another. What ever gets the job done. (I dislike Apple the company for various reasons and they are not the nice guys on the block despite what many may think. Just look at their patent lawsuits which they have practiced for decades, they should be happy Xerox didn't have that mindset. OK, now I am ranting.)

 

[Steenamaroo]

Apple usually just cuts bait and runs to the next generation. Meaning, go by new stuff. MS. for what ever reason, keeps legacy hardware/software running. I have some software (haven't tried it with Win7) dating back to the early 90's I could still run and I can still read my files from the 80's.

But, to be balanced, Apple took a different approach (system approach) and suffered for it through out the 90's and early 2000's

That's true man.
It's risky business. You either become the trendsetter, or shoot yourself in the foot.
Even things like dropping PCI-e card slots and optical drives from their machines.
Will people embrace new technology or just cling on to what they know/like/can afford?

 

[Postecutioner]

Didn't see anywhere to post this particular question, but I'm looking at off the shelf PCs, and wondered if this was a good starting point, HP Envy 700-214, 4core i5 4440, 12GB DDR3-1600 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD, 3GHZ 3. SOMETHING IN TURBO, A gazillion usb 2.0, and 3.0 ports, tons of pci slots, and more card readers than I knew existed. I'd need to wipe the crap, and it is win8.1, and it has three monitor outputs. All for $749.00, with keyboard, and mouse, which are wireless, so I guess they won't get used. So, good starting point for a Tascam DP-24 owner planning to edit, and use VIs in Reaper?
Please, I know you're out there Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!!!

 

[DM60]

Didn't see anywhere to post this particular question, but I'm looking at off the shelf PCs, and wondered if this was a good starting point, HP Envy 700-214, 4core i5 4440, 12GB DDR3-1600 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD, 3GHZ 3. SOMETHING IN TURBO, A gazillion usb 2.0, and 3.0 ports, tons of pci slots, and more card readers than I knew existed. I'd need to wipe the crap, and it is win8.1, and it has three monitor outputs. All for $749.00, with keyboard, and mouse, which are wireless, so I guess they won't get used. So, good starting point for a Tascam DP-24 owner planning to edit, and use VIs in Reaper?
Please, I know you're out there Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!!!

Seems like a good start. May need to remove some bloatware that HP puts on, for virus scanner I use Malwarebytes, one time $40 updates for life (at least when I purchased it). Doesn't do crazy crap like Norton and those other virus creating companies. You might think about going ahead and getting that and uninstall the one they provide with a 6 month free trial.

I personally wouldn't have an issue going into recording battle with that tank.

 

[Postecutioner]

Thanks David, I know nothing about DAW, coming from the days when ADATs were first appearing, but thought it would be a good start. So you don't think windows 8.1 will be a problem, as long as I scrub it squeaky clean of bloatware, malware, and unneeded programs? And, can you recommend AV cards for me that won't kill my wallet?
Thanks for your kind reply, Keith

 

[Beck]

A carefully planned PC build and educated setup can give you just as stable and capable a system as any mac, but not everyone knows how to do that.

Yup, that's the truth and is why I hang on to good motherboards for years. Great hardware doesn't come along all that often.