I guess I too will have to look into upgrading by the end of 2018.
Motherboard + CPU + Ram...
I honestly have no clue for what I'm going to go.

pcrecord, post: 456607, member: 46460 wrote: I guess I too will have to look into upgrading by the end of 2018.
Motherboard + CPU + Ram...
I honestly have no clue for what I'm going to go.

My options for the moment were a new 2013 era dual 8c/16t xeon server, or the new Ryzen. I decided ryzen so far because cost is significantly lower than intel, an performance marks are competitive. Plus, the Store in Boston sells all the parts, so i dont have to wait for mailorder from several different sellers.

this will be my first daw build, and i need to start somewhere with this rig, so i figured the ryzen would be a good indicator of whether or not the dual processors will be necessary, or a luxury. i bought an amd a6 laptop 6 months ago to handle all my admin tasks, and toy with the new software since my other hardware is still boxed for over a year ago... anyway i put in a PNY120gb ssd, and fresh w10 pro, and ive been happy with the computer. so based on that, and ryzens solid rep, i feel confident going ryzen for my more economy based builds or perhaps even in general.

kmetal, post: 456609, member: 37533 wrote: My options for the moment were a new 2013 era dual 8c/16t xeon server, or the new Ryzen. I decided ryzen so far because cost is significantly lower than intel, an performance marks are competitive. Plus, the Store in Boston sells all the parts, so i dont have to wait for mailorder from several different sellers.

this will be my first daw build, and i need to start somewhere with this rig, so i figured the ryzen would be a good indicator of whether or not the dual processors will be necessary, or a luxury. i bought an amd a6 laptop 6 months ago to handle all my admin tasks, and toy with the new software since my other hardware is still boxed for over a year ago... anyway i put in a PNY120gb ssd, and fresh w10 pro, and ive been happy with the computer. so based on that, and ryzens solid rep, i feel confident going ryzen for my more economy based builds or perhaps even in general.

Good to know about the Rysens...
After years of building my own DAW computers, I feel CPU isn't that much a fail factor regarding recording audio. Where it counts is when mixing with tons of plugins or Vsti.
For recording, so much goes to the OS and drivers handling. Even the most powerfull CPU will still drop audio if pushed too far.
Of course I can understand this is critical for someone mixing a 128tracks project. But for my own needs (30-40tracks) My old Intel I7 (first gen) is still working.

pcrecord, post: 456615, member: 46460 wrote: Where it counts is when mixing with tons of plugins or Vsti.

(y)

Nice to hear your still getting mileage out of the first gen i7!

ive never owned more than a dual core cpu, and the studio macs were dual, then quad, they may have started using the 8 core by now. im generally in the same range of track counts persnonally as you. who knows what to expect as from the online clientele.

all said, the (1st gen ryzen 1700) im looking at is 8c/16t, running 3-3.8ghz. So i think it should be a good test system, to see if i lack speed, or power, and how the same computer fares as a master, vs slave. I started renting an entire house instead of an apartment, and that practice room i was interested in. so while im looking for one to buy, i figure this should be a nice, low cost, computer to kinda feel out my needs, then when i find a house, ill do the xeon big dogs in my server room.

Having never really worked much with video, im expecting a learning curve, and i have no idea what to expect as far computer performance. basic editing worked in media composer and video prox, on the dual core AMD laptop, so thats encouraging.

im hoping to be able to get away with the AMD level price/performance levels, for my slave machines. im digging how the film composers ive been watching, have tons of VSTi and Plugs all pre loaded, on tap, in there template. Latency is determined by the Master Daw, so if its kept as bascially a summing mixer, and multi track, Master machines i think, can be fairly modest/typical daws.

Do you guys, or anyone, use the processing allocation features in Samp? ive never used that type of feature before, it seems genius. i know Vienna player also allows cpu allocation as a feature.

kmetal, post: 456618, member: 37533 wrote: Do you guys, or anyone, use the processing allocation features in Samp? ive never used that type of feature before, it seems genius. i know Vienna player also allows cpu allocation as a feature.

no.
It didn't seem to be as stable for me. IMHO, most of the DAW stability is in the converter, interface and driver. I've listened to many say converters are all the same. Well they are wrong! lol. At least where I am sitting.

And of course, less plug-in bloat the better which is why I stick with Samplitude and appreciate Object Processing.

I look at tracking and mixing like the old days. When it comes to mixing, I don't need 15 varieties of EQ and compressors. I just never understood why I need more than what comes stock in good DAW platforms.
When I don't add third party into my DAW, they always seem to perform smoother.

audiokid, post: 456619, member: 1 wrote: no.
It didn't seem to be as stable for me. IMHO, most of the DAW stability is in the converter, interface and driver. I've listened to many say converters are all the same. Well they are wrong! lol. At least where I am sitting.

ill keep that in mind. i Samp hardly crashes even when i try, on this little test laptop, using the onboard soundcard and driver. thats strictly mixing. i think the drivers and interfacing comes into play more on the tracking side, but im not sure.

audiokid, post: 456619, member: 1 wrote: And of course, less plug-in bloat the better which is why I stick with Samplitude and appreciate Object Processing.

ive purposely added my entire new software set, and some old stuff, to gauge the performance decrease as the programs and apps accumulate. its noticeable in everyday operation, and using programs. its stable and runs things fine, but more sluggish performance things, more errors, and definitely slower. i think having an SSD makes this problem less significant than on my other computers. My goal is a 1:1 ratio for Daw/NLE to computer ratio. For this im going to pick my Main Daw and NLE , and favorite effects, then i'll parse out the system further as i become more aware of my needs.

audiokid, post: 456619, member: 1 wrote: I look at tracking and mixing like the old days. When it comes to mixing, I don't need 15 varieties of EQ and compressors. I just never understood why I need more than what comes stock in good DAW platforms.

im sorta of virtualizing that mentality. with the slaves handling most of the pluggin processing/busses/vsti's, and a decoupled capture rig, the daw gets reverted back to being primarily a sequencer/editor. this keeps a nice set of clean, purpose driven machines, and an overall streamlined set of demands on each machine. I really hear a difference in various pluggins, and i also fin some easier since they may do something specific very easily. the Samplitude processing is great, and ive got some new favorites as well for mixing, but by and large i go to the same few. I have a good variety of generally high quality 3rd party stuff for two main reasons, compatibility with other sessions, and because i wanted certain shades of cheesy and odd as part of the slave sections' processing. my preferred mix stuff lately is super clean and modern, and those dont do grimy, the way certain things need it.

i arrived at this after seeing systems get gradually more and more unstable as new 'upgrades' were done. i think this is a good way to have a variety of sound sculpting capability, while keeping each computer streamlined and focused as far as software. in the old days your tape machine didn't also efx process, sum, have effects, and i think asking one computer, regardless of how powerful, is not the way its done best.

kmetal, post: 456620, member: 37533 wrote: i think the drivers and interfacing comes into play more on the tracking side, but im not sure.

Yes, that could be. Good call. :)

I need to remember (my head is in the hybrid bubble) to clarify in my posts how a mass amount of my opinions are usually based on hybrid mixing which uses the DA side of converters as well. Mixing in this case is way more ADC intense for my CPU requirement because I would have 32 DA going all the time.

kmetal, post: 456618, member: 37533 wrote: Do you guys, or anyone, use the processing allocation features in Samp? ive never used that type of feature before, it seems genius. i know Vienna player also allows cpu allocation as a feature.

I'm not there yet ;)

kmetal, post: 456620, member: 37533 wrote: this keeps a nice set of clean, purpose driven machines, and an overall streamlined set of demands on each machine. I really hear a difference in various pluggins, and i also fin some easier since they may do something specific very easily.

Having a dedicated computer for Vsti might be the best thing but some underestimate the freeze fonctions of many DAWs including Sonar and Samp. Once my midi/VSTI are set to my taste I always freeze the tracks which remove a lot of processing in the CPU queue. If I have many ampsim I will do the same. Kind of an old habit ;)

pcrecord, post: 456626, member: 46460 wrote: Having a dedicated computer for Vsti might be the best thing but some underestimate the freeze fonctions of many DAWs including Sonar and Samp.

That’s something I’ve been anxious to incorporate into my workflow. There’s so many advantages to it. And with modern computers the renders and re renders are really fast, they don’t kill the flow. It used to take a while for adobe audition to render previews of some of its intense effects like convolution reverb. Lol making the move without hearing it, pressing preview, then hearing it 15 sec later. That’s what it was like on my 566mhz celeron (hp pavilion). Computer I was using in the audition era. A step up from my first computer, a custom, pentium 2 built by my cousin. I think it was 366mhz with 128MB if ram. Something like that. I used a program called N-track, which was a surprisingly good daw, and cost maybe $5. Ahhhhh the days of innocence and floppy disks.

Nowaday, I work the midi tracks into a sound I like (listening to them live with other tracks) and then I click on freeze. Takes a few second and it compile effects and vsti sounds but I still can change the volume panning and other settings... So I can easily finish the mix without being drag down by the vsti... ;)

I should say that some effects like time strech or pitch shift should be frozen to hear the finish sound. With ARA, melodyn affected tracks can also be frozen...

Also, Canada is about to legalise marijana, so many of us will become expert in frozen things .. ah ah