Hi All
I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to Pc's but I need
to be pointed to in the right direction or re-assured regarding purchasing
a PC which will solely be dedicated for home studio recording.
Of course budget is restraining but would I be right in saying something
with a 3ghz processor, 8 gig ram and say 160gigHDD and say Windows 7
be adequate to accommodate most home studio requirements.
I am currently using Acoustica Mixcraft 6 Pro and use a fair amount of sampled sounds for bass,brass, drums etc (I understand good sampled sounds are a burden on the processor...?...no?)
And finally how important is the on board sound card?
Any help would be appreciated
Bryzar
Pc upgrade
-
- KVRian
- 504 posts since 11 May, 2006 from Northern Germany
It does of course depend on how limited your budget is ... Some general advice:
Processor: If you're going for an intel processor, the so called i7 are good, but if too expensive, an i5 will probably cope as well. Reaching 3 ghz is not too important, as these are multicore processors (be sure that your host software supports multicore, but most of them do). There are decent AMD processors as well, but about these I don't know.
8 GB RAM should be alright for 99% of what you'll do (but you can only use more than 4 GB of RAM if your OS and your host are both 64 bit).
Windows 7 runs very stable on most systems. About Windows 8 I'm not sure. Some people report many problems, others seem to be getting along quite well with it (quite some threads about this here on KVR).
HDD: I daresay that 160 GB is by far not enough if you're going to work with sample libraries and want to use that PC for several years. I think you do yourself a favour if you get 1 TB at least, and it's probably not much more expensive than a small HDD. Modern libraries tend to use a lot of disk space (I think that Kontakt comes with something like 40 GB...). In addition to that: many people suggest to have 2 HDDs, so that samples can be stored on a drive that's not your system's (better for performance if you're using a lot of samples in your projects). A second drive is also very convenient for making backups of important data. - On the other hand, you can get of cours a second harddrive later if you need one, if the case of the PC allows it.
Another important point is the power supply, something where I'd go for quality if your budget allows it (especially because a cheap or under-dimensioned PSU can get noisy quite easily, and it's important for overall system stability as well).
On-board-soundcard: If budget allows, you should get a dedicated audio interface (something decent should be available for about 150 EUR), which gets you many advantages sound- and especially performance-wise, and maybe mic-preamps for recording with a Mic (if you plan to do that). I wonder how you got along without one so far.
Well, I think that covers quite some of the basics, hope it helps.
Processor: If you're going for an intel processor, the so called i7 are good, but if too expensive, an i5 will probably cope as well. Reaching 3 ghz is not too important, as these are multicore processors (be sure that your host software supports multicore, but most of them do). There are decent AMD processors as well, but about these I don't know.
8 GB RAM should be alright for 99% of what you'll do (but you can only use more than 4 GB of RAM if your OS and your host are both 64 bit).
Windows 7 runs very stable on most systems. About Windows 8 I'm not sure. Some people report many problems, others seem to be getting along quite well with it (quite some threads about this here on KVR).
HDD: I daresay that 160 GB is by far not enough if you're going to work with sample libraries and want to use that PC for several years. I think you do yourself a favour if you get 1 TB at least, and it's probably not much more expensive than a small HDD. Modern libraries tend to use a lot of disk space (I think that Kontakt comes with something like 40 GB...). In addition to that: many people suggest to have 2 HDDs, so that samples can be stored on a drive that's not your system's (better for performance if you're using a lot of samples in your projects). A second drive is also very convenient for making backups of important data. - On the other hand, you can get of cours a second harddrive later if you need one, if the case of the PC allows it.
Another important point is the power supply, something where I'd go for quality if your budget allows it (especially because a cheap or under-dimensioned PSU can get noisy quite easily, and it's important for overall system stability as well).
On-board-soundcard: If budget allows, you should get a dedicated audio interface (something decent should be available for about 150 EUR), which gets you many advantages sound- and especially performance-wise, and maybe mic-preamps for recording with a Mic (if you plan to do that). I wonder how you got along without one so far.
Well, I think that covers quite some of the basics, hope it helps.
-
- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 23 posts since 11 Jan, 2013
Txs Streifentier
It looks like I will have too exceed my budget but thats ok as long as I get the results.
I will take what you have said on board and get it right.
I have not been involved with home recording for that long so its a bit a of learning curve eg using a DAW, Kontakt,VST's etc not to mention things like convolution reverbs which I think are sensational.
So I have only been using guitar plugins,synths, drum libraries etc but no live recordings.....hence your amusement at not mentioning a mic pre-amp....
I think Steinberg offer the best gear in this area.
Once again thanks for your advice
Bryzar[/b]
It looks like I will have too exceed my budget but thats ok as long as I get the results.
I will take what you have said on board and get it right.
I have not been involved with home recording for that long so its a bit a of learning curve eg using a DAW, Kontakt,VST's etc not to mention things like convolution reverbs which I think are sensational.
So I have only been using guitar plugins,synths, drum libraries etc but no live recordings.....hence your amusement at not mentioning a mic pre-amp....
I think Steinberg offer the best gear in this area.
Once again thanks for your advice
Bryzar[/b]
bryzarofwales