Comments | sayh: Geeks?? HELP!

sayh

Geeks?? HELP!

May 11, 2012 17:36

I am a little out of touch with hardware specs etc. So, I would like to ask some help from people who are better hardware geeks than me. I need a new computer. But what? Main problem is that it has to be able to handle a set of virtual synths / sample modules ( Read more... )

Comments 4

dragonheadthing May 13 2012, 02:38:54 UTC

So you are looking to buy a computer to do audio editing?

sayh May 13 2012, 08:45:32 UTC

Not exactly. To use the computer as a sample player. It would be somewhat like audio editing, apart from the fact that everything has to be done realtime. A sample has to be processed by adding effects to it, before it is mixed with other samples, and possibly have other effects added to them. All so fast that when you trigger the sample on a keyboard, you should not be able to hear the delay. The more samples and effects you apply, the more processing has to be done. In addition the computer runs the sequencer software that triggers the samples.

Basically, they have made software that emulates sample players, analog synths, effect processors etc, so you do not need a big rack of modules, only a computer.

Like this one.
http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/komplete-8/

dragonheadthing May 13 2012, 15:14:36 UTC

I sent this post to someone who may know better, but I would say at least 8 GB 1600 Ram, and a dedicated sound card would probbly help. The Intel core I3 and higher processors have on board video that is on the processor, but a separate area so that will take care of the video. Maybe installing the OS and audio software on an SSD, with the samples on a different drive, will help with performance.

sayh May 13 2012, 17:11:07 UTC

Thanks! :)

Yeah, SSD is definitely a good idea. Problem is the size of these virtual sound libraries. I bought a "mid size" one, and it takes 190Gb. Though I think I would expand to 16Gb RAM, and it would not need to stream a lot from disk then, so the instruments could be on a normal disk, and OS / Sequencer on a SSD disk.

I am getting Akai speakers with "built in sound card". I don't need help with the sound part of the computer, that is the one thing I have managed to keep on top of. I used to have real good grasp of hardware, but for now, sound hardware is the only thing I have kept up with.

I currently run this on my work laptop, a Intel core I7 with SSD disk, but only 4Gb RAM. It is a really good setup, but a bit more than I really would want to pay for a personal computer. And as I am getting tired of draggin the laptop home every day, I look for a stationary setup to run at home instead. My mac has issues and can in no way run this software. :|