- Apr 8, 2014
- 7
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- 4,510
Hi, first let me thank you in advance for your input. All repsonses are welcome as it is a complex topic. I am mostly interested in CPU, Motherboard, and I/O method at the moment but welcome suggestions on anything music production related. I apologise for the length of this post but I am trying to provide a good base of information.
The DAW PC I have now works but is aging and I have the rare opportunity to move into something new. Trying to decipher which CPU, Motherboard, and I/O method would serve this purpose best has been making my head swim. I want the best performing PC without over spending on features and specs that produce no bennefit to music production. My budget is about $3k but that includes the PC, Audio Interface, OS, and DAW software.
My current DAW is Reaper which has served me well. I would consider Sonar or others if there is a performance benefit although I think reaper is pretty good. How I typically use it is I record drums, bass, keys, rythm guitar, and a scratch vocal track then over dub from there. I don't use any virtual instruments or loops. I do use digital effects like reverb and compression.
My current Audio interface is a Tascam US-1800. There has been a lot of criticism of this device mostly related to issues with it's device drivers. I struggled to get it working and have managed to tweak the system into decent performance. Now it is stable and does the job but I am looking at this as an opportunity to upgrade. The I/O choices seem to be primarily between Thunderbolt, USB 2, and Firewire. USB 2 seems to have the most devices to choose from although Firewire, from what I understand, offers slightly better performance while thunderbolt offers significantly bettter performance only at a price. Of the devices I've looked at the Motu 16a looks promising. I can use all 1/4 connectors as I have 16 channels all coming from mixer sends. The limitation I see is that the PC sits in an adjoining room and the cable needs to be about 20-25' long. I believe that is a problem with thunderbolt. USB 2 works fine at that length with the right cable.
The most daunting question for me is the CPU and Motherboard. Most things I've read have focused on gaming which is not a concern for me. Trying to sort through the mariad of specs and make sense of them and understand their relevance from a DAW perspective has left me tired and baffled. I would greatly appreciate some enlightenment.
Thank you for you help!
The DAW PC I have now works but is aging and I have the rare opportunity to move into something new. Trying to decipher which CPU, Motherboard, and I/O method would serve this purpose best has been making my head swim. I want the best performing PC without over spending on features and specs that produce no bennefit to music production. My budget is about $3k but that includes the PC, Audio Interface, OS, and DAW software.
My current DAW is Reaper which has served me well. I would consider Sonar or others if there is a performance benefit although I think reaper is pretty good. How I typically use it is I record drums, bass, keys, rythm guitar, and a scratch vocal track then over dub from there. I don't use any virtual instruments or loops. I do use digital effects like reverb and compression.
My current Audio interface is a Tascam US-1800. There has been a lot of criticism of this device mostly related to issues with it's device drivers. I struggled to get it working and have managed to tweak the system into decent performance. Now it is stable and does the job but I am looking at this as an opportunity to upgrade. The I/O choices seem to be primarily between Thunderbolt, USB 2, and Firewire. USB 2 seems to have the most devices to choose from although Firewire, from what I understand, offers slightly better performance while thunderbolt offers significantly bettter performance only at a price. Of the devices I've looked at the Motu 16a looks promising. I can use all 1/4 connectors as I have 16 channels all coming from mixer sends. The limitation I see is that the PC sits in an adjoining room and the cable needs to be about 20-25' long. I believe that is a problem with thunderbolt. USB 2 works fine at that length with the right cable.
The most daunting question for me is the CPU and Motherboard. Most things I've read have focused on gaming which is not a concern for me. Trying to sort through the mariad of specs and make sense of them and understand their relevance from a DAW perspective has left me tired and baffled. I would greatly appreciate some enlightenment.
Thank you for you help!
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