Adequate system requirements for a Windows PC running TW?

[Ally007]

Hi folks, I'm finding that my old 2012 PC is now struggling to perform smoothly with my increasingly elaborate TW projects. I'm running an old Win 7 64-bit, system with 8GB of DDR3 RAM and a 4-core Intel i5 2500S cpu. This PC is pretty-much maxed out as far as upgrading CPU & RAM goes, so I'm thinking of buying or building a fresh PC that will cope better, when working in TW. Can any of you suggest budget-friendly minimum (but adequate) specs to go for? Sometimes, I record with mics in a confined environment, so it needs to be pretty quiet. I already have several high-capacity SATA HHDs an SSDs that can be moved over to the new system.

Thank you for any advice, as always!

[dysjoint]

The i5 12600k was really popular with gamers last year and should be down in price now (guessing) 16 gb of ddr5 ram, if you can afford 32,go for it. Run your os and Waveform off the fastest ssd you can afford and have second ssd for samples and recordings, plus large (any) drive for storage. Just starting the convo, it's a big rabbit hole.

[Peter Widdicombe]

Yeah, really depends on the VST's you use (number and size of sample libraries). I have an older i5 laptop with 4 Gig, and it works reasonably, until I try loading, say, BBC symphony orchestra. Hiccups and non-responsive for maybe 15 seconds each time you change instrument.

Sometimes even simpler things, like using Keyzone Classic, if I'm playing lower octaves and reach over to play a few notes in the high octaves, will "stall" briefly, presumably loading new samples. Always play through once before recording or rendering !

[Ally007]

The i5 12600k was really popular with gamers last year and should be down in price now (guessing) 16 gb of ddr5 ram, if you can afford 32,go for it. Run your os and Waveform off the fastest ssd you can afford and have second ssd for samples and recordings, plus large (any) drive for storage. Just starting the convo, it's a big rabbit hole.

That's helpful, thank you! That CPU looks appealing due to it's no of threads, which I think it would help when rendering video edits (something I have to do, quite often). My total budget can stretch to about $500 tops, so I might have to settle for a DDR4 system. I'd also like to know which of the Ryzen CPUs would be adequate when working on elaborate TW projects, using numerous VST plugins.

[nowgad]

I would like to know what build of computer Tracktion Waveform is tested on and where there are no bugs...

[Watchful]

On the other end, I'm running a 12th-Gen Intel i7-12799K @ 3.60 Hz / 32 GB of RAM / Win 11 with very few system performance issues. All my Waveform issues are Waveform-generated.

[Ally007]

Yeah, really depends on the VST's you use (number and size of sample libraries). I have an older i5 laptop with 4 Gig, and it works reasonably, until I try loading, say, BBC symphony orchestra. Hiccups and non-responsive for maybe 15 seconds each time you change instrument.

Sometimes even simpler things, like using Keyzone Classic, if I'm playing lower octaves and reach over to play a few notes in the high octaves, will "stall" briefly, presumably loading new samples. Always play through once before recording or rendering !

Good input, thank you. Yes, I was wondering if it's the VSTs I'm using that's been causing my own hiccups, because it was after I started using one or two new VSTs that the problems started. (MT PowerDrumKit might be the culprit). My project usually plays back okay, but the TW interface sometimes becomes unresponsive, and the vertical playhead line often gets stuck in one place, despite playback audio proceeding as normal.

[dysjoint]

Bugs be still bugging. I still get that unresponsive thing where the audio keeps going, occasionally, even after building a new pc. (not often, but it exists) I think it's Tantra?, from the PA mega Bundle does it to me. But in general it's so much more enjoyable with the extra ram and processor power. (my laptop started struggling even with three or four instances of Serum, for context)

[Ally007]

Bugs be still bugging. I still get that unresponsive thing where the audio keeps going, occasionally, even after building a new pc. (not often, but it exists) I think it's Tantra?, from the PA mega Bundle does it to me. But in general it's so much more enjoyable with the extra ram and processor power. (my laptop started struggling even with three or four instances of Serum, for context)

I've now found that these problems have vanished, for me, after I deleted my MT-PowerDrumKit-2 step clip track, after rendering it to an audio clip. (Thanks to Peter Widdicombe for the clue!)