(I really wish I could come up with a better and more totally descriptive threat subject title, but that's the best I could do. I pray you pardon me.)
Due to another thread and random thoughts in general, I wondered what the community at large may voice herein...
Let us say that someone confronted you with the relatively simple challenge of, today, utilizing computer specs of, say, a range that may fall within '06-'10 standards (I suppose Core2Duo, Athlon X64, etc.). Choice of XP SP3, Win7 or whatever OSX iteration is withing these similar constraints.
You are further limited to no more than 4GB RAM.
Your choice of VSTs is whatever may come with your choice of DAW and/or freeware.
The music is purely electronic. Be it on the order of something that may appear in a 70s sci-fi or fantasic pseudo-science-documentary or early 80s Tangerine Dream or synthpop or mid-to-late-90s EBM or whatever...
I've heard tell over the years of how cpu-efficent FL is, though I've zero experience with it. I know first hand how well Reason performs (having used 2.5 on an old G3 iMac for a couple of years quite some time back). I've not experienced anything better in recent times with my hardware than Reaper.
I'm a lover of the new genre of "synthwave" being a fan (and being born in '74) of the 80s and 'kid' of the 80s, I've noticed a number of artists in this field using FL and Live and simple VSTs, etc. Heck, the guy behind VHS Glitch recorded his album "Evil Technology" on a old computer with a Pentium processor back in 2013 and with FL Studio 9 and, as far as can tell, no third party VSTs and still produced a fully convincing 80s atmosphere synthwave album.
What might be your choices with regards to computer, OS, DAW and VSTs in this hypothetical case? How may you approach this? What might be your tactics or tricks? How may you handle your work, etc with these (today) limited resources?
If there was a low-spec challange...
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do_androids_dream do_androids_dream https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=164034 - KVRAF
- 2908 posts since 26 Oct, 2007 from Kent, UK
I don't understand what the 'challenge' part would be. The specs of a computer is not any kind of restriction or something to overcome in order to make music.
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- KVRAF
- 1676 posts since 17 Dec, 2002 from Yorkshire
i built a small portable pc (T7200-mobile core2duo, 2 gb ram) a couple of years ago and it worked well on xp.
used dune 1 & sylenth as primary vstis within studio one 2 and Cubase 5.
i also had till last year q6600 4gb and i could run anything i wanted without a glitch. bear in mind that i use samplers in limited amounts.
so yes i think it is doable. get a ssd drive remove all unnecessary components from the pc setup (eg fancy gfx) and you should be ok.
if required you may also consider getting a dsp card/audio interface with dsp (tc) to offload cpu while processing eg. uads pci/pcie go pretty cheap these days. i would not consider that as a must but it could be a nice addition.
used dune 1 & sylenth as primary vstis within studio one 2 and Cubase 5.
i also had till last year q6600 4gb and i could run anything i wanted without a glitch. bear in mind that i use samplers in limited amounts.
so yes i think it is doable. get a ssd drive remove all unnecessary components from the pc setup (eg fancy gfx) and you should be ok.
if required you may also consider getting a dsp card/audio interface with dsp (tc) to offload cpu while processing eg. uads pci/pcie go pretty cheap these days. i would not consider that as a must but it could be a nice addition.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 629 posts since 11 Jul, 2006 from Fayetteville, GA
I agree.do_androids_dream wrote:I don't understand what the 'challenge' part would be. The specs of a computer is not any kind of restriction or something to overcome in order to make music.
I suppose my...erum...wonderment? as it were is borne of how musicians/producers who utilize computer-based tech are often concerned with the bleeding-edge and somehow forgetting that, even they themselves were creatively productive with tools they possessed ten years prior. Therefore I wonder how they/we may 'creatively retro-grade' with what they/we did or may have had, again, say, ten years ago (or whatever).
I suppose it's little more than a thought experiment. I myself wonder what I may do if someone shoved my old G3 iMac back into my hands and said: "Make music now, you spoiled dummy.".
As a closely-related...umm...something...I have to wonder, with acknowledgement to the One Synth Challenge, how or what may come of a like challenge: one wherein the actual challenge of the month would be to use computer and softs of such-and-such a time period. I'd find that incredibly fun and inspiring as an outsider, but being as it may be a more difficult thing to realize in actuality it's nearly equally entertaining and inspiring to me to at least hear how persons may do so even if it is not actually done. Does that make any sense or illuminate how or what I was leaning towards in my OP hypothetical?
"The last man on earth doesn't miss anyone at all." - Haujobb, Faith In Chaos
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- KVRian
- 1134 posts since 22 Aug, 2004 from Edge City, the Low Country
First of all, I'm not a professional. Just a hobbyist who likes to experiment with soundscapes and atmospheres.
I still use a Core2Duo from '06, 4 Gb RAM and W7 32 bit. I like using Aero but turned off all the animations (gets annoying anyways). Furthermore I 'purged' background processes and -services.
Frankly, I don't get it! All the hype ... zdf filters, 64-bit, audio-rate modulation, etc., etc. Don't even know what most of it means ... !
All i know I can make great sounds with e.g. Tera or FM7 or another 'no-CPU' VSTi. I think the likes of those are still great and I can explore them to my final days and still discover new possibilities!
just my € 0.02 .
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- KVRAF
- 3186 posts since 18 Mar, 2008
Well I would use same stuff I use now, Macbook 2.1 Late 2006 White with 2 Gig's of RAM with 10.6.8 and MuLab 7 with his own MuX for most parts and some 3rd party freebies for mixing&mastering or even only just Logic 9 for whole process. 
Guess lot of freezing and bouncing, actually this is quite capable little laptop for even todays low end standards, cheapest stuff are in his spec. range today (also judging by benchmarks), quite an awesome thing really for his age.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/m ... specs.html
Wouldn't complain to be "stuck" for another decade with something like Mac Pro 1.1, that would definitely do it for me, actually considering getting one, they are going really cheap these days.
Guess lot of freezing and bouncing, actually this is quite capable little laptop for even todays low end standards, cheapest stuff are in his spec. range today (also judging by benchmarks), quite an awesome thing really for his age.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/m ... specs.html
Wouldn't complain to be "stuck" for another decade with something like Mac Pro 1.1, that would definitely do it for me, actually considering getting one, they are going really cheap these days.
This entire forum is wading through predictions, opinions, barely formed thoughts, drama, and whining. If you don't enjoy that, why are you here? 
ShawnG
ShawnG-
- KVRAF
- 8413 posts since 4 Jul, 2012 from Alesia
My low spec system was a Core2Duo 2.0ghz, 4GB ram, 7200rpm drive and i had it running WindowsXP with the bare essentials for audio.
I used Live 8 and Reason 6 rewired and found i could get up to 50+ reason instrument tracks running before getting cpu problems.
It was a fun setup.
I used Live 8 and Reason 6 rewired and found i could get up to 50+ reason instrument tracks running before getting cpu problems.
It was a fun setup.
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- KVRAF
- 15135 posts since 7 Sep, 2008
I still use a Core2Duo and its perfectly adequate
It's running Cubase 8.5 and Komplete 10 et al.
It's running Cubase 8.5 and Komplete 10 et al.
"I was wondering if you'd like to try Magic Mushrooms"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
"Oooh I dont know. Sounds a bit scary"
"It's not scary. You just lose a sense of who you are and all that sh!t"
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 629 posts since 11 Jul, 2006 from Fayetteville, GA
The responses have been very illuminating.
However I wonder if I, even further explaining myself above, if I somehow yet obfuscated what was in my mind... This is, of course, my fault as I was fumbling even after thinking it through before I wrote the OP.
I suppose it boils down to this:
I wonder more if many/most folks are...
1. Waiting around for tech to 'catch up' to how they wish to work.
2. Work with what's current and work in a way that current tech facilitates.
3. Work in a certain way and if/when tech advances they change the way they work due to x or y.
4. Work in a certain way and if/when tech advances they embrace some or all of the new to allow 'overhead' to how they did work and continue to work.
5. Very few, if any at all, advances in hard or software do not impact/impress the way someone works.
I wonder how our collective way of music production 'maps' to these advancements. If more are still wishing for tech to 'finally' grant the ability for this or that or if more are moving right along with tech or how many are just looking at advancements and saying, basically, "Well, that's nice I s'pose but...whatever..." or whatever else.
If someone thrust upon you what you were using, say, ten years prior, would you still work the same as you do now? Would you attempt multiple work-arounds to still work as you do today? Might you work the same and accept that some things you may be able to manage today would be things you may ignore or otherwise 'let go'? Or perhaps would you simply say: "Well. Here's how I worked then when this was the case, so I'll work the way I did...well...then.". Surely there may be some few who will not be rocked in any way at all, or at least not in any significant way.
That's sort of what I'm attempting to...eerrumm... roughly 'measure' I s'pose.
If I was smarter, these posts would be sharper and more concise. I apologize if it seems I'm jumping all over and clouding the very issue I wish to learn from others.
However I wonder if I, even further explaining myself above, if I somehow yet obfuscated what was in my mind... This is, of course, my fault as I was fumbling even after thinking it through before I wrote the OP.
I suppose it boils down to this:
I wonder more if many/most folks are...
1. Waiting around for tech to 'catch up' to how they wish to work.
2. Work with what's current and work in a way that current tech facilitates.
3. Work in a certain way and if/when tech advances they change the way they work due to x or y.
4. Work in a certain way and if/when tech advances they embrace some or all of the new to allow 'overhead' to how they did work and continue to work.
5. Very few, if any at all, advances in hard or software do not impact/impress the way someone works.
I wonder how our collective way of music production 'maps' to these advancements. If more are still wishing for tech to 'finally' grant the ability for this or that or if more are moving right along with tech or how many are just looking at advancements and saying, basically, "Well, that's nice I s'pose but...whatever..." or whatever else.
If someone thrust upon you what you were using, say, ten years prior, would you still work the same as you do now? Would you attempt multiple work-arounds to still work as you do today? Might you work the same and accept that some things you may be able to manage today would be things you may ignore or otherwise 'let go'? Or perhaps would you simply say: "Well. Here's how I worked then when this was the case, so I'll work the way I did...well...then.". Surely there may be some few who will not be rocked in any way at all, or at least not in any significant way.
That's sort of what I'm attempting to...eerrumm... roughly 'measure' I s'pose.
If I was smarter, these posts would be sharper and more concise. I apologize if it seems I'm jumping all over and clouding the very issue I wish to learn from others.
"The last man on earth doesn't miss anyone at all." - Haujobb, Faith In Chaos
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 629 posts since 11 Jul, 2006 from Fayetteville, GA
For the record, what I was using hardware-wise about nine years ago is the same as today. A desktop with an x64 Athlon dual-core at 2.4Ghz and 2GB RAM with XP SP3 and a netbook with a rather simple AMD Vision processor (a little dual-core @ 1.3Ghz) and 4GB RAM w/ a 64bit Win7 HP. I've used Reaper nigh-exclusively for around about 6 years (before it was energyXT, Podium Free and MU.LAB). After I moved to Windows about ten or eleven years ago, I've only ever used freeware VSTs (as, on Mac I never used anything other than Reason).
Even in recent times I don't recall ever using up even as much as 40-50% of cpu and rarely anymore than 2GB of RAM in any given project, despite the (today) very lean power in my two computers. I've never needed to freeze tracks.
In fact, loading up my 'biggest' project (nothing rendered) and I see that it's only 13 tracks, 9 VSTs, 3 samples, a few effects, very little automation. (On my modest netbook) Task Manager shows an average of about 25% cpu and around about 1.82GB RAM used. This is with Firefox still loaded with six tabs open and Avast! Free running in the background. *shrug* So, that's how very, very minimal my own personal needs are (far, far below most I'd gather). lol
Even in recent times I don't recall ever using up even as much as 40-50% of cpu and rarely anymore than 2GB of RAM in any given project, despite the (today) very lean power in my two computers. I've never needed to freeze tracks.
In fact, loading up my 'biggest' project (nothing rendered) and I see that it's only 13 tracks, 9 VSTs, 3 samples, a few effects, very little automation. (On my modest netbook) Task Manager shows an average of about 25% cpu and around about 1.82GB RAM used. This is with Firefox still loaded with six tabs open and Avast! Free running in the background. *shrug* So, that's how very, very minimal my own personal needs are (far, far below most I'd gather). lol
"The last man on earth doesn't miss anyone at all." - Haujobb, Faith In Chaos
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- KVRAF
- 5648 posts since 15 Dec, 2011
Still on a 2008 C2D here with 2GB RAM on Win7 x32. I run out of resources pretty quickly. But I recently discovered this thingie called 'Bounce to audio'. Seems to do miracles so far with the likes of Aalto and Bazille.
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- KVRAF
- 3186 posts since 18 Mar, 2008
Recently had conversation with friend who dropped music making decade ago after doing it decade before that, did little catching up on new tech and all, we are planning to do some project together, all that kinda fits in this threads topic somehow, so based on our convo, gonna share some more taught's on this.
What surprised him the most is the quality of new stuff, especially quality of Kontakt libraries, also how much one get's today with one DAW purchase, especially Logic X.
But overall music making didn't changed much all this time, but ITB quality did significantly and computers got stronger to support that need, we forget easily what comes purely from the box and how much less that cost's us and all.
Does pain have gain, not always it seems, when outcome starts to suffer because of it, than it's not worth it really, whatever get's job done.
What surprised him the most is the quality of new stuff, especially quality of Kontakt libraries, also how much one get's today with one DAW purchase, especially Logic X.
But overall music making didn't changed much all this time, but ITB quality did significantly and computers got stronger to support that need, we forget easily what comes purely from the box and how much less that cost's us and all.
Does pain have gain, not always it seems, when outcome starts to suffer because of it, than it's not worth it really, whatever get's job done.
This entire forum is wading through predictions, opinions, barely formed thoughts, drama, and whining. If you don't enjoy that, why are you here? ShawnG
ShawnG