Audio PC Build recommendations (1k and under budget)

AZG said:
Again, it's like saying a low end Ford and a Ferrari are the same because they both have wheels and engines while ignoring the quality and experience are worlds apart. Similar to saying the Axe Fx II = POD.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Likening Apple to Ferrari is laughable. Ferrari build limited quantities of high end performance cars and engines in Maranello, same place as their Formula 1 cars. Apple contract out their mass production/assembly work to Chinese slave labour factories, where they whack together the largely off the shelf type components for as long as they can hold out before committing suicide.

So I have a low end Ford. At least I paid for a low end Ford, rather than paying Ferrari prices for a Fiat Punto with the prancing horse badge stuck on it.
 
DNW said:
Likening Apple to Ferrari is laughable. Ferrari build limited quantities of high end performance cars and engines in Maranello, same place as their Formula 1 cars. Apple contract out their mass production/assembly work to Chinese slave labour factories, where they whack together the largely off the shelf type components for as long as they can hold out before committing suicide.

So I have a low end Ford. At least I paid for a low end Ford, rather than paying Ferrari prices for a Fiat Punto with the prancing horse badge stuck on it.
Click to expand...

Your analogy is just as laughable to be honest.

An Apple costs what? Two to three times more than a Windows build. I would love to see the Ferrari you can come up with at even five times the price of a low end ford or a Fiat Punto.
 
Well just to prove a point... I pulled out my old windows xp machine that is now 11 years old. It has core 2 duo @ 3 ghz, 4gb 800mhz ram, an 80gb 5400rpm hdd and 8 usb 2.0 ports.

I loaded ableton live 8.1 on it and my behringer drivers and multitracked all 32 channels with no latency.

I was able to put a seperate reverb, delay, compression and EQ on each stem and send it back to the behringer x32 again over usb and it was maxing at 9 to 10 ms of latency.

You don't need much to record or process audio.
 
Minotaurean said:
Kind of leaning towards a laptop for portability. What do you guys think of this? Lenovo Y50 4K (59425943) Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4700HQ (2.40GHz) 16GB Memory 256GB SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB 15.6" 4K Windows 8.1 64-Bit - Newegg.com
Click to expand...

I'm still in the group that says you don't need an SSD. Same laptop with a 1TB hard drive saves you a bit of money and gives you more room to work. 256GB SSD just seems to me like it would fill up pretty quickly, even if it would boot faster. $200 less money and I'd recommend getting the 1TB drive and use the money saved on an external USB3 hard drive for running your audio files from. Traditionally, most people recommend having your audio on one drive and O/S on another, but drives these days are faster than they used to be, and it all comes down to how many tracks of audio you'd be trying to run as well. I'd list the external drive as an optional item, but I think it would be a good optional item.
 
Still on the fence whether I should get a laptop or desktop. I know that a laptop is an inevitable purchase for me due to the live applications (Axefx patch changes, samples, click track for drummer, etc.) so a SSD for def be the best choice for a laptop. As far as a desktop is concerned I'm open to a HDD for the sake and peace of mind of having more memory.

Newegg.com Shopping Cart
Here's a desktop build that I based off of USMC_Trev's recommendation.
Let me know what you guys think
 
Rex said:
Updates have matured. Tdon't cause nearly as many problems as they did a few years ago.
+1.
Click to expand...

Preface: A packet sniffer isn't a bad idea ever. OP there are several freeware packet sniffers that will let you know if there is network activity when you're not activitying. Suspicious activity when no one is doing anything can be a great indicator that something is amiss.


But the same way it only takes one bad site, it only takes one bad update and *poof* As evidenced by august of last year (or maybe the year before) when microsoft bricked their whole customer base with a bum update.

OP, search the term "computer unable to start after windows update" and just read for a little while....and weigh that out vs people who have had problems because of _not_ updating past reliability.



Rex, I'm pretty sure you and I are the only ones who care about this. So let me say this, I don't have a dog in the fight really, don't give care how you or the op run your machines. There's an inherent risk just being connected to the internet that you can't eliminate, that being said....being reasonably safe while being stable has always been my goal. The people who work for DHS say we could be blown up at any moment by a terrorist but statistically we're more likely to get killed by vending machine falling on us than that. While the risks you highlight exist...there are certain online behaviors we can avoid to greatly reduce the chance for potential exposure to them and the benefit/hassle screwing up a work machine because I'm worried something about as likely as a terrorist attack dictates that I just keep cruising . As always...Y(op too)MMV.
 
Ron_R said:
Nope. You sure don't. As I said, if a Grammy Award winning Mixer can do what he needs to do on a 5 year old machine, the outrageous specs people are quoting in this thread are just that. Outrageous.
Click to expand...

Outrageous is you calling it outrageous. I give you Louis C.K.:

“As humans, we waste the shit out of our words. It’s sad. We use words like “awesome” and “wonderful” like they’re candy. It was awesome? Really? It inspired awe? It was wonderful? Are you serious? It was full of wonder? You use the word “amazing” to describe a goddamn sandwich at Wendy’s. What’s going to happen on your wedding day, or when your first child is born? How will you describe it? You already wasted “amazing” on a fucking sandwich.”
Click to expand...

That's what I think of when I see you call a simple thing like a ~$1000 spec outrageous. Lighten up, guy.
 
Minotaurean, if you follow Ron_R's logic to it's conclusion this is all you really need:

EdisonPhonograph.jpg


Do not buy a computer less than 5 years old.
 
Slow down there.

What we are saying is to record and process audio, you don't need a gaming computer or a video processing computer used to design games or edit video.

As for the audio... Even a 5400rpm hdd is sufficient to record 32 mono streams in WAV 24 bit 48khz streams and usb 2.0.

All an SSD will do is speed up how fast your computer boots and loads your DAW. The audio will not benefit.

If I was just buying strictly for audio, I would get a basic 64 bit PC with at least 6 gigs of ram, use the money saved to buy a external drive and a usb hub, and a nice wireless mouse, a midi interface, and an audio interface (cause while the axe is ok, if you run high CPU presets, the usb audio suffers)
 
Severed said:
Slow down there.

What we are saying is to record and process audio, you don't need a gaming computer or a video processing computer used to design games or edit video.

As for the audio... Even a 5400rpm hdd is sufficient to record 32 mono streams in WAV 24 bit 48khz streams and usb 2.0.

All an SSD will do is speed up how fast your computer boots and loads your DAW. The audio will not benefit.

If I was just buying strictly for audio, I would get a basic 64 bit PC with at least 6 gigs of ram, use the money saved to buy a external drive and a usb hub, and a nice wireless mouse, a midi interface, and an audio interface (cause while the axe is ok, if you run high CPU presets, the usb audio suffers)
Click to expand...

Careful now, or USMC_Trev is going to start calling you out!!!
 
TexasChris said:
While the risks you highlight exist...there are certain online behaviors we can avoid to greatly reduce the chance for potential exposure to them,,,
Click to expand...
You're absolutely right. A few changes to online behavior can dramatically reduce your attack surface.


TexasChris said:
...and the benefit/hassle screwing up a work machine because I'm worried something about as likely as a terrorist attack dictates that I just keep cruising . As always...Y(op too)MMV.
Click to expand...
When you look at the attacks that have been successful, whether against large corporations, small businesses, or individuals, you see that most of them are based on known vulnerabilities for which patches are widely available. Regular updating would have stopped them in their tracks. You have a much better chance of having your identity stolen (which happens to millions of people every year) than of being killed by terrorists (which happens to a few thousand).
 
Minotaurean said:
Kind of leaning towards a laptop for portability. What do you guys think of this? Lenovo Y50 4K (59425943) Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 4700HQ (2.40GHz) 16GB Memory 256GB SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB 15.6" 4K Windows 8.1 64-Bit - Newegg.com
Click to expand...

Super solid choice, my friend works for Lenovo and has this laptop for personal use. Does everything and more that he needs it to for gaming. It will definitely serve you well for recording and then some! Get the SSD for onboard performance alone. If you need "more space", just get a 1TB USB portable drive to place your music files. Hard disk drives are rapidly becoming outdated technology because of the heightened performance solid-state "flash" storage gives you along with the power savings not having to spin up a drive.

SSHD just combines SSD and Hard Disk technology. It adds very little benefit to you as a user that just requires fast data reads on-demand along with spindle tech. That Lenovo will definitely do anything and everything you need. Just get it and let the rest of the forum debate Mac OS/Windows/Hard-Disk/Solid-State-Disk's all day ;) .

I work in IT for a large firm (28K+ computers on Microsoft technology) so I understand this realm quite well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom