Computer Specs For Music Production In 2022 | RAM, Storage, & CPU
Computer Specs For Music Production In 2022 | RAM, Storage, & CPU
How much RAM do you need to record music? Which processor do you need and how much storage capacity? In this video, Jim Slick is sharing the recommended computer specifications for recording and mixing music.
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00:00 – Introduction
00:13 – CPU / Processor
01:35 – RAM
03:04 – Storage
07:14 – Laptop vs Desktop
08:27 – I/O
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So would you say Intel > AMD for music production then? Could you use a Ryzen chipset for a good music production build?
Regarding RAM It’s actually quite easy to hit 128 GB when you load virtual orchestra samples. Keep that in mind 🙂
in terms of Ram .. Which Clockrate should be used and what about the CAS Latency ? now with new DDR 5 the Clockrate is extremly high but also the CAS Latency is much more higher as still with DDR4 . can you tell something about the Specs of Ram for Audio Workstations ? Would be a DDR4 3200 Mhz ram with a CAS Latency of 16 a good choice ?
Is daw laptop need a descrete GPU?
Very Great Video Bro
As someone who knows nothing about computers and I don’t even own one right now. I’m needing to buy a computer so I can start recording music and I have no idea what hes talking about.😂
What about those cool gaming computers do they work good with music recording long as it has 16 of 32 gb ? I core 7 go 9? Processor?
I’ve always just assumed a good gaming pc is a great audio pc so interesting
The most VSTis I’ve ran at the same time was between 10 to 12 (Nexus, HyperSonic, Nostalgia, SonikSynth for the most part). I wonder if 32 GB of RAM will suffice if I ran 15 to 20.
wow cool thanks for the info!
i9-9900KS killer !
That sound like I been a update system since I wanted to start my own music
Thanks so much for this video. I’m in the market for a new laptop/PC.
Thank you for this helpful video and sharing tips and recommendations that really make a difference. I am a VST instrumentalist/e-drummer and latency has always been my biggest challenge and concern, especiallly when playing live or in real time with other bandmates. I have gone back to using an older PC (16GB RAM) with an i5-7600 processor and 4-cores running at 3.8kHz because it has given me best results with having the lowest latency. The downside has been trying to upgrade that PC to Windows 11. My newer and Windows 11 upgraded PC (32GB RAM) with an i7-9700 processor and 8-cores running at almost 2.1kHz performs worse when it comes to latency, but I do use it for mixing and some mastering.
Straight forward …I love it , thanks for this video
I’ve hit a bottleneck with my old (we’re taking unable to run Windows 10 as it’s not supported by Dell) laptop. Sadly, I/O it gives some low-mid desktops something to consider even now, but it’s just too old. I’ve done all I can – paired down to a low demand OS (Lubuntu), CPU upgrade (i5 580m, 8gb DDR3 max) and memory… There’s just no more room. Yes it does run well, really well for what it is… But compared to a young system… It falls way short.
This was brought home, when I got a Probook i7 Gen 3 with a GPU on board, with a view of upgrading and flipping.
Under Linux it ate EVERYTHING I threw at it and just laughed. To bottleneck it, I would have to do around 4-5 times more at once than my older laptop could even cope with 😔
Upto 20 tracks 12600k is sufficient. For 100+ tracks 12700k is better and 12900 K is best. But both will work well. Ra
Ok I’m confused, he said that SINGLE CORE PERFORMANCE is the most important, then how can i7 be better than i5 when in fact i5 with 6 cores will have more single core GHZ than i7 with 8 cores.
DDR5 rams are more better than DDR4 in audio production ???
I love this channel
2000 tracks ?
Thank you so much. I’m looking at dropping apple like a toilet seat after 20 years and really trying to understand where I need to land.
This vid probably got you a lot of subscribers. This gentleman has knowledge. GREAT interview.
What about AMD? I got a 5600x system running 48Gb of ram for Ableton Live 11. I don’t often reach large projects, the largest I’ve made was probably only 60-70 tracks and my new system manages it well but my old system (an i7 7700k with 16Gb), struggled. I have 3 nvme gen 4 slots on my motherboard so it’s good. If I was to upgrade I’d go for a 5900x.
This.Is.Amazing. No bs and straight to the point. Loved it!
Been running the same desktop for 12 years to record my music. I use AudioBox interface, and Presonus Studio One. Looking to get a new desktop, does this sound like a good setup? Or could someone point me in the right direction. I also heavily use Photoshop, Lightroom and Sony Vegas.
SKU:
ST-ChronosW-0254-CC
CPU:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core 3.6 GHz (4.2 GHz Turbo)
Case:
Skytech Chronos, White Edition w/ Front Mesh
CPU Cooler:
Wraith Stealth Cooler
Fans:
3x Skytech RGB 120mm Fans
Motherboard:
B550M
RAM:
16GB DDR4 Gaming Memory 3200 MHz
Graphics:
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Primary Hard Drive:
1TB NVMe SSD
Power Supply:
650 Watt 80 Plus Gold Certified
Networking:
802.11 ac
Operating System:
Windows 10 Home, 64-bit
ha ha Slick Audio is a scam. They just put a Slick Audio sticker on their so called pc builds. They don’t build shit just a fucking sticker.
M.2
There are ways to optimize your system’s limits. For example, if you have an audio track that you have a lot of effects on you You can bounce that audio with the effects and you won’t have to worry about running the VST’s while you’re playing the track saving computer processing speed.
what is the best i7- 12700k board for audio production? Most connectivity as possible ? Does every z690 have wi fi ?as I understand, all z690 boards have ThunderboltEX4 connectivity.
For all of you that have amd machines, how well does music production and/or film scoring work for you all? I’d like to switch from Intel to AMD because I read that their processors aren’t compatible with a lot of software.
Awesome content! I have a 2TB SSD on my MacBook (2017). Is it alright if I store my projects (and/or samples) on it as well for now? Because I’m just starting out and my applications do not really take up that much space and I feel it’ll just be a waste having all that free space while having to get ANOTHER SSD
I hope you can consider Apple’s M1/ M2 processor chip and other specs aside from Intel’s specs on the next video. 🙂 Looking forward to it!
So the less cores, the better?
I’m looking at a "i9-12900HK (24 MB cache, 14 cores, 20 threads, up to 5.00 GHz Turbo)".
Will that be slow?
How about horizontal scaling with Vienna ensemble pro? Is it worth the cost?
Fantastic. And apologies if this is off topic, but as someone sitting on the fence between Mac and Windows right now, it would be great to see the same harsh glare of truth cast on the Mac M1 machines.
I got a Ryzen 5 4600g
RTX 2060 super
32GB RAM
1TB Nvme PCI ssd
869$ on eBay. Refurbished prebuilt. Best deal ever
Wait does graphic card matter? Like at all?
Thanks for sharing ~
Here’s a secret for you, shop around you could save yourself 100s
I7+
32gb+
3 hardrives. 2 1/2 ssd. 1tb+, 2tb, 4tb
desktop
Does processor speed matter? I see some people saying the lowest is 3.0ghz
good advice except for the bit abour i5’s. Modern i5’s (the last couple of years 12th gen -13th gen are plenty powerful enough to run an audio pc.
<CPU/Processor>
CPU heat can be negated by sufficient cooling. I have a 18 core / 36 thread i9 CPU with noctua cooler that I installed a second fan. This is in a 4U rackmount case so a smaller height cooler and fans were needed in order to physically fit.
I haven’t bothered with overclocking on this machine as I would rather longevity & reliability over performance however I did go with a top end motherboard that supports overclocking so I have a choice should it become an issue in the future. I would only ever overclock a machine if it becomes necessary and the only alternative is to purchase faster machine/components.
<Cooling>
Every fan in this machine is variable speed Noctua controlled by the mainboard and ramps up only when needed. This keeps it reasonably quiet under load.
<RAM>
I have other requirements for the machine where I have virtualization of multiple hosts in virtual networks so it has 128G of RAM (50% capacity) and is also why I went with 18 core / 36 threads.
I went with two 64Gig packs with the same timing/stepping as 128G packs were sold out before my order could be processed and it turned out cheaper to by 2 x 64G packs than 1 x 128G pack.
<Primary Storage Devices>
I went with 2TB nVme Drives for the Operating System Drive and two Primary Data Drives. (Primary in the sense that current projects being worked on are stored there).
The motherboard is "workstation" grade so it comes with 2 x nVme pcie drive slots and 1 x u.2 pcie connector.
I used Icy Dock ToughArmour Removable U.2 M.2 SSD Enclosures. These can be connected via … to u.2 pcie connector which generally supports hot-swap.
I was forced to buy in the middle of the supply shortage so I had to compromise on the mainboard. The best I could get was one with two M.2 PCIe ad one u.2 PCIEe connectors.
I would have rather got a board with as many u.2 connectors as they support hot swap with a bit of bios configuration and drivers installed.
Each nVme PCIe drive in the drive bays connect to the mainboard using SilverStone CPS04 Mini SAS SFF-8643 to Mini SAS SFF-8643 cables to the u.2 connector and StarTech u.2 to M.2 adapter to connect to the two other nVme PCIe slots respectively.
I also have a spare 2TB nVme Drive as mirror image of the Operating System Drive.
When needed, it is inserted into the Icy Dock M.2 NVMe SSD to PCIe 3.0 x4 Removable SSD Mobile Rack for PCIe Expansion Slot card. This can be set in the BIOS to become the boot drive should disaster strike. As it is a contingency drive, it does not remain in the machine when not in use.
<Secondary Storage Devices>
I had some 8TB WD Red Pro drives gathering dust on the shelf so I loaded them up as secondary storage for now. I had purchased a set of 5 x 20TB WD Red Pros but I decided to put them into a NAS instead.
I have some 4RU Rack Mount cases I have used for the last 10 years. The cases have two sets of 3 x 5.14" drive bays and three sets of 2.5" drive bays. I loaded them with two sets of the Icy Dock Black 5×3.5" in 3×5.25" Hot Swap SATA HDD Cages, The Icy Dock ToughArmor MB834M2K-B 2 Bay M.2 PCIe 3.0/4.0 NVMe SSD Mobile Rack for External 3.5” Drive Bay and Icy Dock Black Industrial Full Metal 2 x 2.5" SATA/SAS/SSD for 3.5" Front Device Bay.
So this machine has 2 removable NvMe 2TB drives and 2 hot-swap 2TB NvMe drives, 5 x 8TB WD Red Pro SATA Drives and is ready to accept another 5 x 3.5" SATA as well as 2 x 2.5" SATA drives. The Mainboard has 8 SATA ports and I installed a host bus adapter to cater to the shortfall.
<External Storage>
I also built a custom NAS using 8 core intel xeon on an entry level Intel Server board, 64GB RAM with 10G Ethernet . It houses 5 x 20TB WD Red Pros.
The Operating System is TrueNAS Scale that serves network shares to the workstation and has a secured backup volume.
I do not use RAID, rather ZFS which does not rely on hard drive controller for the redundancy. So if the board/hard drive controller fails, the drives can simply be relocated to another machine. The operating system can be installed onto a system drive and a back-up of the configuration uploaded and we’re back in business!
I use StorageCraft ShadowProtect SPX to perform incremental back-ups every 15 minutes. This can be periodically switched off if it interferes with very heavy a/v processing.
The TrueNAS runs a Virtual Machine that does the image management and when I have time I plan to install the workstation’s back-up nVme Drive for the operating system and run StorageCraft’s headstart restore. This will keep the installation on the back-up drive current up to a week just in case it takes time to notice an infection. So if the main system drive fails or there is corruption/infection, the back-up drive is ready to move across and not much time needed to restore the changes over the last week.
<Some Points>
When selecting the Processor, Mainboard and SSD Drives note there is currently PCIe gen 3 and PCIe Gen 4. The later has double the throughput/performance capacity.
With SSD, there are different types of NAND chips that impact performance and longevity.
<Laptops>
I have been a computer technician, network and systems administrator since the early 90’s. Many of the companies I have worked for were the major manufacturers and have repaired countless computers of all sorts. I would only ever resort to a laptop or an all-in-one if I had no other choice. Desktops are more flexible, expandable and easier to maintain. I would rather have a travel case for a desktop and take it with me. That being said, I would not leave a heavy graphics card in the machine if it is going to be handled by couriers or baggage handlers who think they are football players.
<Purchasing Philosophy>
If you spend $50 more on a product than you needed to, you have invested that $50 into future proofing. If you spend $50 less on a product you needed to, you have wasted all of your money on a product that cannot do the job or if you persist in using it will continue to cost you money in lost productivity.
Whatever the specification is for the software you aim to use, I would double it and then you will have a machine that is more likely to still be able to do the job efficiently in five years time. Always factor the cost of replacement in five years. Every year it lasts longer than that is a bonus. Good quality well maintained systems can last as long as 10 years but you will probably repurpose it to a less demanding role in 5.
How much noise your pc makes is key
I5-12600K is enough
but you would need at least 32gb ram
I’m currently still on a Ryzen 7 5700G and I plan to upgrade to an i9 10900K. Is the i9 10900K still worth it in 2022 ??
in the aspect of CPU, what if I do the both live performances and mixing? and also some video editing stuffs.
Can you guys give some tips?
Awesome! Thanks for this great video.
Wow the music production world really knows little to nothing about pc’s if someone is doing hip-hop mostly 9 tracks max why the hell would we want a pc that can take 2,000 tracks this is insane.