Audio Computer Advice

[BlazingDragon]

I've worked a ton over the last few weeks and saved up to buy a decent computer for composing. However, I'm not sure how to best spend my money. My budget is roughly $1100 or less, and I'm hoping for a decent amount of ram, as I am thinking of running FL Studio and Goliath from East West once I purchase it (I am currently just using free soundfonts and an FL Studio demo).

-How much ram, etc. should I buy?
-Is a quad-core fine, or should I invest in an Intel i7 computer?
-For $1100, what would be a decent computer?

Thanks!

[jarrydn]

At 6/12/09 01:26 AM, BlazingDragon wrote: -How much ram, etc. should I buy?
-Is a quad-core fine, or should I invest in an Intel i7 computer?
-For $1100, what would be a decent computer?

Thanks!

- 4 gigs
- Quad core is fine
- Where are you sourcing your parts from?
- Put a banging donk on it

[nathanallenpinard]

Get 8 gigs, not 4. Play takes a bit of RAM and CPU at times. Kontakt can even be worse.

To avoid the RAM limits, you can operate EW libs outside of your sequencer in stand-alone mode.

[Mushroomhead18nc]

At 6/12/09 01:26 AM, BlazingDragon wrote: I've worked a ton over the last few weeks and saved up to buy a decent computer for composing. However, I'm not sure how to best spend my money. My budget is roughly $1100 or less, and I'm hoping for a decent amount of ram, as I am thinking of running FL Studio and Goliath from East West once I purchase it (I am currently just using free soundfonts and an FL Studio demo).

-How much ram, etc. should I buy?
-Is a quad-core fine, or should I invest in an Intel i7 computer?
-For $1100, what would be a decent computer?

Thanks!

4Gigs is fine.. You can maybe go to 6gb if it makes you feel better.. I just paid $1800 for a new comp as well..
Dell studio.. it has a Quad Core processor 2.8Ghz as well and recording is just fine for me.. I use fruity loops and Adobe Audition 3 as well and have had no problems
Mine has 8gbs of ram.. but honestly you will never use it all.. right now my computer is limited to 4Gbs unless it gets bogged down then it uses the other 4gbs I have.. helps alot with pc games that I dont play.. but for music.. 4Gbs is fine..

[Khuskan]

Screw the extra ram and get yourself an SSD to use as a scratch disk.

[nathanallenpinard]

4 gigs isn't enough if you get track heavy with EW libraries. Anything with high quality samples can required a lot. For instance, I have 16 in mine. It gets up to 13gb used on heavy projects.

[chimpspanner]

Christ I'm so behind the times with my computer setup! 2Gig of RAM is the most my board and OS will take at the moment, as I'm avoiding Vista like the plague. Then again I use a lot more synths than I do samplers so for now I'm okay on a dual core with my lowly 2Gb. If anything the CPU is starting to suffer now.

I do need to sort it out sooner or later though as a lot of Kontakt stuff I simply can't use in my projects. Not without using 'placeholder' sounds first then dropping in the full patches later. Better get saving!

[nathanallenpinard]

At 6/12/09 01:28 PM, moose3642 wrote: if you want more than 4 gigs of RAM, you will need a 64-bit operating system. However, I operate with less than 1 GB of RAM myself, and I do just fine.

this might help you:
MHz CPU speed+MHz video card speed+MHz audio card speed+MHz whatever other processors you have= MB RAM necessary to handle all that efficiently. round UP lol

You're not taking into account that East West libraries are samples that need to be loaded into RAM. There are sounds out there that require LARGE amounts of RAM. If he is going sample heavy, then 1GB is not going to be "just fine". If it was all generated synths, it would be more CPU heavy, but in this case it's more RAM heavy. And while they do stream from your hard drive, the RAM is still taken up for allocation.

While a 64bit OS is recommended, you can still get around it by running EW libraries in stand alone either using Kontakt (if the EW lib isn't as new) or PLAY (which is the newest sample engine that comes with some EW libs) Or, if you have the cash run your sample libraries from several slaves using audio cards with lightpipe. This gets expensive though and isn't exactly for beginners.

[loansindi]

At 6/12/09 03:05 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote:\

While a 64bit OS is recommended, you can still get around it by running EW libraries in stand alone either using Kontakt

The trouble is a 32 bit OS can only address so much RAM. A 32bit OS (we're talking windows here) will address 4 gigs of ram. having more simply won't help, because the OS won't use it.

64 bit versions of windows will address ridiculous amounts (except for vista home, that's limited to either 8 or 16gb depending on the version, just because microsoft is douchy).

this might help you: MHz CPU speed+MHz video card speed+MHz audio card speed+MHz whatever other processors you have= MB RAM necessary to handle all that efficiently. round UP lol

This just doesn't make any sense.

[nathanallenpinard]

The trouble is a 32 bit OS can only address so much RAM. A 32bit OS (we're talking windows here) will address 4 gigs of ram. having more simply won't help, because the OS won't use it.

Hmmm. So the PC doesn't limit your RAM per application? Instead it's the entire OS? That's quite different than Mac's.

My Mac is 64bit, but because the code hasn't entirely been implemented yet, I have to use applications outside of Logic. Which actually overall makes it better, since I don't have to load samples again when switching projects.

[loansindi]

At 6/12/09 03:56 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote:

The trouble is a 32 bit OS can only address so much RAM. A 32bit OS (we're talking windows here) will address 4 gigs of ram. having more simply won't help, because the OS won't use it.

Hmmm. So the PC doesn't limit your RAM per application? Instead it's the entire OS? That's quite different than Mac's.

Yeah, at this point it's pretty arbitrary. They 'fixed' the problem in 64 bit XP, and then fiddled with limits on low-cost versions of vista because... why not I guess.

[nathanallenpinard]

At 6/12/09 04:09 PM, Bjra wrote:

At 6/12/09 03:56 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote:

The trouble is a 32 bit OS can only address so much RAM. A 32bit OS (we're talking windows here) will address 4 gigs of ram. having more simply won't help, because the OS won't use it.

Hmmm. So the PC doesn't limit your RAM per application? Instead it's the entire OS? That's quite different than Mac's.

My Mac is 64bit, but because the code hasn't entirely been implemented yet, I have to use applications outside of Logic. Which actually overall makes it better, since I don't have to load samples again when switching projects.

You use a mac. GAH

I went to guitar center the other day, and made the mistake of mentioning i used winows to produce on. 6 people around me started heckling me.

you can have your macs. BAHUMBUG

10 years ago when I first started with a home studio PC's were no way near Mac's when it came to production. Now, they even out. And it depends mainly on what DAW you want to use when deciding which to get.

If I had it up to me, I'd use my Mac as a host, and have about 3 slave PC computers to host the samples.

[loansindi]

At 6/12/09 04:09 PM, Bjra wrote:\

you can have your macs. BAHUMBUG

When I try to use macs they crash.

[InGenius]

If you are on PC, 4 gigs. Because alot of midi controllers don't like 64-bit OS. None of the Behringer gear works right on 64-bit Vista, Vista itself doesn't even work right on 64-bit Vista it would seem. Regardless, 4 gigs ram will work fine, and unless you're overloading your music with E/W samples, you'll be fine. I'd worry more about the other gear and less about the system, myself, unless you already own midi controllers and the like. I can't live without my keyboard, motorized faders, and rotary knobs anymore, esp. since I tinker with softsynths so much now. And I'd say 1100$ can buy a really good desktop.

[BlazingDragon]

This is all pretty helpful. I'm thinking that I may just wait until Windows 7 comes out to buy a computer, because Vista is apparently evil, and I can't afford a good Mac.

I plan to be using East West Goliath pretty heavy, and hopefully EWQLSO (?) Platinum Version in the somewhat near future, like next summer when I can buy it. On the website, it said 8 gigs of ram is recommended for a PC, so I think I'll do that. I'm just trying to decide if I should save the money and get an Intel Quad Core, or invest in the Intel i7 processor (HP sells an i7 computer starting at $899). I don't do much synth music right now. I plan to do some big, orchestral, film score type music.

[loansindi]

At 6/13/09 02:35 AM, BlazingDragon wrote: because Vista is apparently evil

false.

vista received ZERO developer support. not the fault of microsoft. none of the hardware producers wrote drivers for vista that were worth a shit, in spite of its SEVEN year life cycle.