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Author Topic: Building a custom PC for music production. Halp.  (Read 7936 times)

Zoraiz

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Building a custom PC for music production. Halp.
« on: January 11, 2016, 05:11:15 pm »
Hey guys!

I don't know how much at all about computer hardware and am pretty new to producing. Yet somehow, I did build my own PC in 2012 with the following specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hsHMnQ.

It was a build for a gaming PC, but now that I have started producing music I'm realizing that although it still works great for gaming, I experience crashes when running more intensive plug ins like Serum (my CPU meter in Ableton says it uses 45-60% and then crashes, not sure if that should be happening either), and my samples load a bit slow (I'm thinking because of the low ram).

My question is; if you had around $500 to upgrade certain parts, what would you upgrade to improve my performance when it comes to music production? Or in general, if someone could explain what parts of a computer do what in relation to music production (for example, I think more RAM allows you to load samples and play them quicker or something). Thanks a bunch!  :)

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Heymac

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Re: Building a custom PC for music production. Halp.
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2016, 05:36:07 pm »
For load times I would get another SSD or two and have the entire DAW and samples and everything on those.

Ram is always an easy boost but you do get diminishing returns after a certain point (16gb is usually more than enough)

Sometimes it might be that you're just running too many instances of certain VSTs so it gets bogged down.

Hope that helps!
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Babasmas

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Re: Building a custom PC for music production. Halp.
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2016, 05:47:58 pm »
Quote from: Babasmas on January 10, 2016, 01:39:47 pm
If you're looking to upgrade or to buy a new computer, i would recommend you build it yourself. that way, you'll know what you have and you'll also be able to upgrade it if required.

here's specs for an ultimate Desktop PC for music and games It's a bit long but, it's very helpfull ;) (made by Kerosyn):
Kit's Ultimate Guide to building your Perfect Desktop PC

Read everything, and you'll know everything you need ;).
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Al_N

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Re: Building a custom PC for music production. Halp.
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2016, 09:25:27 pm »
Quote from: Zoraiz on January 11, 2016, 05:11:15 pm
Hey guys!

I don't know how much at all about computer hardware and am pretty new to producing. Yet somehow, I did build my own PC in 2012 with the following specs: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hsHMnQ.

It was a build for a gaming PC, but now that I have started producing music I'm realizing that although it still works great for gaming, I experience crashes when running more intensive plug ins like Serum (my CPU meter in Ableton says it uses 45-60% and then crashes, not sure if that should be happening either), and my samples load a bit slow (I'm thinking because of the low ram).

My question is; if you had around $500 to upgrade certain parts, what would you upgrade to improve my performance when it comes to music production? Or in general, if someone could explain what parts of a computer do what in relation to music production (for example, I think more RAM allows you to load samples and play them quicker or something). Thanks a bunch!  :)

Curious, what version of Serum are you on? Steve's released some seriously great updates since launch that save a lot of CPU/RAM usage. I'd make sure you're updated if not. You already have a solid setup, though. Swap out your two dimm slots for four dimm slotted ram. (Four cards rather than two) and upgrade to 16gb+. Honestly though, update your serum. That's probably your issue. Also, if you're running a 32gb DAW, you're not fully utilizing your system.
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vinceasot

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Re: Building a custom PC for music production. Halp.
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2016, 12:48:16 am »
id recommend ableton live, its on pc and mac

all you need is 8gb ram, 1-2tb hard drive space and an i5 at least, dont go too fancy, you need to learn your daw, you can even make music on a 400 dollar laptop but laptops batteries need to be replaced after a few years, go with a computer and you can upgrade it over the years
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