What computers work best for recording?

[korovamilkdud]

Clearly, I have a computer.



:wave:



However, I suspect it doesn't work well for any DAWs out there, or really much of anything else in terms or recording either.

I wish I could post a clip of the various flaws in recording, but alas, the little ACER notebook doesn't seem to be cutting it.

What computers are you guys using that seem to work really well for this kind of thing?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

Whichever one you can operate most quickly under pressure. *


If you are used to IBM-compatibles running Windohs, stick with that. Just get a really powerful PC. If you are used to Macs, stick with them.

Base your decision on what recording and/or sequencing software you require. For example, Adobe Audition only runs on PC. Logic only runs on Mac. Either of these product choices would force your hand over which computer platform to buy.

Another consideration is hardware. If you use a MIDI keyboard controller for any reason, make certain that drivers are available for your generation of OS. It might turn out to be smarter to buy an older PC running WinXP or Vista than the very latest Win7 system.

In the end, my personal decision came down to circular reasoning. I wanted Logic software. Since about v.5, it can only run on a Mac. (I also wanted a Mac for other reasons. I'm biased.)

* By this logic, I should stick with analogue multi-track tape, chinagraph pencils and an editing block. I wish!

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

If you're going to start from scratch I can't recommend Logic enough which means a Mac. That said I use both I have Logic 5 on my PC and Ableton Live on my Mac. I have tweaked WinXP to run very well with Logic 5 and know that both platforms can do pro work.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

I've only really used PCs for recording and I don' t know what your situation is, but there are a couple of things that I look for in a home recording computer:

- Quiet computer! Don't get a screaming graphics card with fans all over it, make sure your computer has a couple of quiet 120 mm fans in it rather than loads of loud 92mm fans, watercooling/heat piping are your friend here.
- Dedicated computer! If possible, have one computer in the house that is ONLY used for recording. Then optimize it for this purpose. It doesn't need a fast video card for gaming, it doesn't need an internet connection for potential virus problems. If you're not worrying about virus problems you don't need to run memory/processor intensive anti-virus programs. You won't have iPodServices running in your background memory, etc. etc.
- Get a couple of very large HDDs and run them in raid 1 (mirroring). This gives you a fail safe if one of your drives craps out on you. Trust me, things will go wrong . . . plan in advance so you don't end up in tears.
- Figure out your I/O needs and get an interface that makes sense for you. Just recording electric guitar? Get one of those line 6 things that work as DI's with amp modeling. Recording acoustic, or want to mic your cab? You'll need a mic pre, or interface with one. If you want to use condenser mics you also need phantom power. Recording practice sessions/drums? You need many inputs and your life gets complicated.

I've found that when building a dedicated computer to record only a couple of tracks at a time an older, slower computer can work just fine. The key is to optimize all of your windows settings to reduce processes that will slow your computer down. There are ton of tutorials that you can check out for ways to do this: (http://www.alesis.com/tipsnov08, http://www.audioforums.com/windows-vista-optimization.php, http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050225_optimize_your_pc_for_audio_and_video.html, etc. etc)

 

[Firechicken]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

Well this can be a deep subject and um...very subjective lol. I have NO experience with MAC so I can't comment there. However for PC use I am finding while windows 7 64 bit has been a great OS, I am finding it to be a little ignorant to me getting alot of my recording apps to play nice. I find latency has been a challenge as some of my ASIO drivers were causing some issue. In general it's just gonna take time for everything to get on board with windows 7. Many are getting perfect results with win 7, but just make sure like the previous poster mentioned, that your drivers and software will run wel with it.

I noticed you mention you have a little acer notebook, if it's got a dual core cpu in it it will more than likely just cut the mustard if your using the thing for everything else too. My Notebook is a dell 9400 and when running Vista 32bit on it, it's slow stubborn, and just barly gets the recording done. The slighest little background application firing up behind the scenes almost always does cause a scratch glitch pop in the tracking process, as it's dual core 2ghz cpu just can't handle it fast enough on demand sometimes. Notebooks suffer there as thier FSB (bus speed) is whats really putting a leash on the CPU anyways, I've seen many desktops running a simple 2ghz dual core cpu however instead of being leashed with a 5-6333 ish MHZ Bus speed thier running 800mhz to 1000 mhz busses, and the difference becomes night and day.

You can build your self a really fast quite dedicated recording PC for very cheap if you buy the components yourself from somewhere like new egg, tiger direct ect, or have someone that can put the parts together for you. Quad core all the way for CPU and a good 64 bit os makes things happy, though some plugins still won't work on 64 bit OS's

I just bought the new hex core (6 core) cpu for about 300 bucks and man I'll tell you what I get zero latency (which is only proper driver setup and other stuff rather than all CPU anyways) I can run a billion CPU intensive effects and plugins, and get no dropouts, nothing.

I can help you choose specific hardware if you plan to build your own PC, help you choose weather to go intel or AMD/ATI, motherboards ect ect, if you want to go PC and build it your self, or have someone put the bits together (not much harder than putting lego together now days)

If you co MAC then many here will help you on your way. There's just too much to list here in one post.

Cheers, Mike.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

Basically the most expensive, spec'd out desktop computer will be best.

 

[Vincent Vespa]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

I like Linux for recording. It utilizes memory better and the program Ardour solved the biggest recording problem I had. There were some plugins that I loved that only worked on PCs and some that only worked on Macs. Ardour can use both PC and Mac plugins. It doesn't have the pretty design of Logic or Pro Tools and you have to use different programs (for the time being) for Midi and such. Adrour also works for Mac, but Macs have a bit of a problem with memory usage for large numbers of plugins... If you're not going to use many plugins, I would say to maybe get a Mac. They're more user friendly.

I'd get a desktop from system76.com and use it just for recording.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

A fast one.

Seriously - that is the answer to the question.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

A fast one.

Seriously - that is the answer to the question.

Pretty much the only post you need to read.

 

[uOpt]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

Faster is, not surprisingly, better. But people have been doing recording with 1996 Pentium Pros, you know? So what speed is "required"? Whatever feels fast enough for you.

As for suitability, I would still argue that bang for the buck CPUs with less cores but higher per-core speed are better, because the multithreading state of things isn't too great and quickly gets worse as you use more exotic programs. Doesn't have to be Linux but on Linux you'll have even less multicore support in audio applications.

My current favorites are the AMD Phenom II CPUs which are much cheaper than equally fast Intels if you count in the mainboard required. The boards for the cooler Intel CPUs are very expensive. Of course if you have the cash then the fastest Intel is right as AMD doesn't compete in the top end. If you want to be really cheap but fast per core, then get the Phenom II dual-core with 3.1 GHz which can be had for a merge $100, and a good board (one of the Asus ones with AMD chipset) for $80. Also has an unlocked multiplier, virtualization support and other features that cost $1000 in Intel's world.

And get a good soundcard, no Creative junk.

 

[Rich_T]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

I've been rocking Macs for the last 6 years or so, used to be with pro tools, but switched to Logic about 18 months ago. Absolutely love it. iMac plus Apogee interface into Logic Pro 9. Hasn't given me a single problem so far, had the set up for about 2 months.

 

[Animal]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

If you're only recording a single or stereo track at a time and not using a bazillion plug-ins, then you don't really need the fastest computer out there. Go for a "bang for buck" system. Hardware is so powerful these days that handling uncompressed audio is no longer an impressive accomplishment for the home desktop pc.

Now when you're dealing with uncompressed HD video then you definitely need the most powerful system you can get your hands on.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

If you're just starting out with PC-based recording, then avoid the advice that says to spend big money on big equipment.

Look into a few recording programs like Audition and Logic and whatnot and see what fits your needs AND your budget - just because someone else spent $3000 on a pro-level package doesn't mean you should, regardless of their advice or how well it works for them.

The system requirements will tell you what you need to run those programs at minimum, and may have a recommended setup as well. Get as close to the recommended setup as you can. If there's no recommendation, shift the minimum specs 1 to 2 levels higher, according to your budget.

At the minimum for quality performance you'll want 2 7200RPM hard drives - one strictly for the OS and one strictly for your music stuff, a dual-core processor (as long as the app you want can support that), 2GB of RAM (or 1.5 times whatever the DAW you want says for a minimum), and an add-in or external audio interface. Built-in motherboard audio hardware has always been and will always be crap, even on "built-for-extreme-movie-watching-and-Warcrafting-RAGHHRRR" boards.

Don't fear the SoundBlaster, but don't get that crap from WalMart. Order online and get something with lots of memory/power in it (256MB is weak - get at least 2GB).

Onboard video is fine, as long as it can support a decent screen size. 800x600 is not enough for most apps these days because of all the stuff on the screen (which you may or may not need) and 1024x768 may be the most a certain mobo can handle without refresh issues. Look into all that.

If you're looking at a laptop to do it, the only correct answer is "the one that costs the most". There's a literal ton of cheap laptops out there that are nothing more than overweight iphones - surfing, email, Office, Solitaire - that's it. Try to do anything worthwhile on them and they choke, regardless of the 12-core Celeron (which would equal a Pentium 166 in "real computer" terms). Since you can't really build your own laptop like you can a desktop, you're at the mercy of Dell and HP on those.


Plugins (VST and such) are never a necessity and should only become a consideration at your leisure. What you're looking at right now is getting individual tracks into a computer for multitrack mixing.

Unless you want to jump into the deep end and go for the 12-track interface right away. Be my guest. It's your sanity at risk, not mine.

 

[J Moose]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

However, I suspect it doesn't work well for any DAWs out there, or really much of anything else in terms or recording either.

I wish I could post a clip of the various flaws in recording, but alas, the little ACER notebook doesn't seem to be cutting it.

Roughly 80% of getting a computer to work well as a DAW comes down to setup and tweaks. Bios, memory (virtual) configurations, hardware settings... that sort of thing.

Its entirely possible to drop $1k on a brand new machine and have it run like crap while an old PIII spins rings around it... really depends on how its configured.

That said, all the advice on chips and buss speeds and mac vs. PC is bunk right now.

First question that needs to be answered is this;


Whuddaya wanna do with the computer?


Do you want to do band-in-a-box MIDI stuff?

Track your band with 16-24 inputs?

Use it as a 4 or 8 track replacement for demos & putzing around?

Something else?

The use needs to be defined before anything else can be addressed.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: What computers work best for recording?

Roughly 80% of getting a computer to work well as a DAW comes down to setup and tweaks. Bios, memory (virtual) configurations, hardware settings... that sort of thing.

This stuff is all handled behind the scened by the OS nowadays, for the most part. I don't think I've touched a BIOS in 5 years.

I've been running DAW's for many years, dozens of tracks, piles of plug-ins, and IME the only things you really need to do, other than have a good machine, are:

- Do all your recording onto a separate drive, i.e. not the one your programs and OS reside on. This is by far the most important tip. A separate partition is not sufficient - it has to be a second physical drive. A second internal drive is best, but a good USB or Firewire external will suffice if you can't put in a drive for some reason. eSATA is by far the best way to hook up an external drive, so if your computer has that, take advantage.

One of the side benefits of recording to an external is portability of your session. You can record on any computer and your session goes with the drive. This is exactly how my band recorded our recent demo.

- If you're using an external drive, your audio interface should be on a different bus. The easiest way to solve this is to use USB for your hard drive and Firewire for your interface. Most of the best interfaces are Firewire, and most external drives are USB only, so Having the interface on Firewire will also prevent things like the keyboard and mouse from bumping into it (though this is a minor concern at best).

- Shut down wireless networking, antivirus, firewall, and as many background apps as you can while you're working in the DAW. When I recorded on a Windows machine, I wrote a couple of bat files to bring everything down and back up again with one click.

That's it. I have a song that has 38 tracks, 3 buses, compressor and EQ on every track, and a couple of reverb plug-ins; it hasn't cracked 10% on one core of the CPU of the base model iMac I bought last year.