music production pc build

odessy57095 · Mar 2, 2016

i'm looking for pc build mainly for music production. my budget is 1500 i know noting bout pcs the help will be very appreciated... if you don't mind can you build the pc using pcpartpicker just making it easy for me =)

Darkbreeze · Mar 2, 2016

Are you going to have any specific graphical requirements? Will it be used for gaming AT ALL? Any other considerations or preferences such as case style or colors?

odessy57095 · Mar 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

such as for a case i really don't mind as long its not super hideous 8)... gaming wise - not really and graphical requirements - not really

Darkbreeze · Mar 2, 2016

At what level of music production are were talking? And are we talking recording and mixing, or just editing and production?

At a professional level or is this to be a hobby/enthusiast music machine?

odessy57095 · Mar 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

hopefully you didn't read this yet but I may be doing some mixing sorry about that.. atm just production & atm it's a hobby

odessy57095 · Mar 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

only equipment i'm using is a midi piano keyboard for recording

Darkbreeze · Mar 2, 2016

This would work perfectly fine then, great even, for what you want to do, and just about anything else you would care to take on as well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus B150I PRO GAMING/WIFI/AURA Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $806.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-02 02:53 EST-0500

And then you want to add an audio interface which most likely you'll want to get from a separate source, like Musicians friend or whomever you prefer. The motherboard on this system has pretty decent audio, but you'll want midi inputs and separate shielded audio, so you'll want something that's probably divorced from the motherboard like a USB or specialized PCIe unit designed specifically for your needs. You might know all you need to about that, I don't know what your level of expertise is in this area, but I could probably make a couple of recommendations based on exactly what you expect to be able to do with the machine. Or you can research and find the most suitable interface yourself.

Keyboard, mouse and monitor are largely up to personal preference, so unless you totally have no idea on those, I'll also leave that up to your own tastes.

This would be an extremely capable machine, actually probably far beyond what's even necessary at this point, but it would allow you some room to grow in experience and expertise as well, and should be capable of doing what you need for at least the next five years, if not more.

odessy57095 · Mar 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

This would work perfectly fine then, great even, for what you want to do, and just about anything else you would care to take on as well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus B150I PRO GAMING/WIFI/AURA Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $806.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-02 02:53 EST-0500

And then you want to add an audio interface which most likely you'll want to get from a separate source, like Musicians friend or whomever you prefer. The motherboard on this system has pretty decent audio, but you'll want midi inputs and separate shielded audio, so you'll want something that's probably divorced from the motherboard like a USB or specialized PCIe unit designed specifically for your needs. You might know all you need to about that, I don't know what your level of expertise is in this area, but I could probably make a couple of recommendations based on exactly what you expect to be able to do with the machine. Or you can research and find the most suitable interface yourself.

Keyboard, mouse and monitor are largely up to personal preference, so unless you totally have no idea on those, I'll also leave that up to your own tastes.

This would be an extremely capable machine, actually probably far beyond what's even necessary at this point, but it would allow you some room to grow in experience and expertise as well, and should be capable of doing what you need for at least the next five years, if not more.

i really appreciate the time and effort really do. ima take your word on it. what are some of the recommendations that you would recommend?

odessy57095 · Mar 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

This would work perfectly fine then, great even, for what you want to do, and just about anything else you would care to take on as well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus B150I PRO GAMING/WIFI/AURA Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $806.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-02 02:53 EST-0500

And then you want to add an audio interface which most likely you'll want to get from a separate source, like Musicians friend or whomever you prefer. The motherboard on this system has pretty decent audio, but you'll want midi inputs and separate shielded audio, so you'll want something that's probably divorced from the motherboard like a USB or specialized PCIe unit designed specifically for your needs. You might know all you need to about that, I don't know what your level of expertise is in this area, but I could probably make a couple of recommendations based on exactly what you expect to be able to do with the machine. Or you can research and find the most suitable interface yourself.

Keyboard, mouse and monitor are largely up to personal preference, so unless you totally have no idea on those, I'll also leave that up to your own tastes.

This would be an extremely capable machine, actually probably far beyond what's even necessary at this point, but it would allow you some room to grow in experience and expertise as well, and should be capable of doing what you need for at least the next five years, if not more.

by the way may i ask whats the optical drive for?

Darkbreeze · Mar 2, 2016

If you don't have a need for an optical drive, I'd make a different case recommendation. A lot of cases don't have them these days, but a lot of people still want them for laying down older tracks into stuff they may have on disk. Personally, I prefer to use USB drives for everything and even my optical drive is a USB drive. It also helps isolate any drive noise from the actual recording device so it doesn't pick up any hum.

If you have no need for an optical drive, then you could do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus B150 PRO GAMING/AURA ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($122.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $760.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-02 04:09 EST-0500

kwa-e · Mar 2, 2016

Would still go for a mATX build for the expansion slots though, so he can add sound cards and GPU's in the future.

Darkbreeze · Mar 2, 2016

That's an ATX board in a mid tower case. There's plenty of room for expansion later if needed. The only thing that might be a consideration is having a case with external 5.25" bays for an audio break out box, but most of those are USB these days anyhow so the front panel bay probably isn't needed except for lower end break out boxes.

Edit: You were right, I accidentally put the mini-ITX version in there. It's fixed now.

odessy57095 · May 1, 2016

Darkbreeze :

all thee above. by no means i'm not a professional lol. more of a hobby.

Darkbreeze · May 2, 2016

Ok, so revisiting this, if you want something with a good deal more performance than what I listed last time, since prices have changed dramatically since then, this build using the i7-6700k offers significantly more and is a lot more likely to remain relevant for a longer period of time. I'd imagine you could easily get 5 or more years use out of this. Probably still be very capable when that time comes.

This would be a very powerful machine, using the highest quality components for the price range.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($337.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($120.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.50 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1029.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-02 00:26 EDT-0400

And you'd want to use something like this with it, for your instrument and recording.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/focusrite-scarlett-18i8-audio-interface

odessy57095 · May 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

This would work perfectly fine then, great even, for what you want to do, and just about anything else you would care to take on as well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus B150I PRO GAMING/WIFI/AURA Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($74.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $806.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-02 02:53 EST-0500

And then you want to add an audio interface which most likely you'll want to get from a separate source, like Musicians friend or whomever you prefer. The motherboard on this system has pretty decent audio, but you'll want midi inputs and separate shielded audio, so you'll want something that's probably divorced from the motherboard like a USB or specialized PCIe unit designed specifically for your needs. You might know all you need to about that, I don't know what your level of expertise is in this area, but I could probably make a couple of recommendations based on exactly what you expect to be able to do with the machine. Or you can research and find the most suitable interface yourself.

Keyboard, mouse and monitor are largely up to personal preference, so unless you totally have no idea on those, I'll also leave that up to your own tastes.

This would be an extremely capable machine, actually probably far beyond what's even necessary at this point, but it would allow you some room to grow in experience and expertise as well, and should be capable of doing what you need for at least the next five years, if not more.

will i have more then enough storage ?

dg27 · May 2, 2016

I use an M-Audio MBox 3 interface, which you can sometimes get with Pro Tools, which is regarded by many as the premier recording DAW. If you are serious about this then I would read up online as to what your options are. Different interfaces come with different recording software. Not knowing what you'll be doing it's hard to recommend either. A good source of information is here: http://therecordingrevolution.com/

Darkbreeze · May 2, 2016

odessy57095 :

2TB is a LOT of storage capacity, but depending on what kinds of file formats or compression values you'll be working with, lossless/raw type files for example use far more than .mp3 or other compressed file types, you might want a bit more to be on the safe side if you plan on storing a LOT of work and files.

This would still be within your originally stated budget and would offer twice the storage capacity.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($337.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($120.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($196.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1171.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-02 12:39 EDT-0400

As for the audio interface, many professional and high end hobbyists in the industry believe that Focusrite is the premier name in PC audio interfaces and that the Scarlett 18i8 is the best unit that can be had without spending over five hundred dollars on a piece of professional studio equipment.

odessy57095 · May 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

Ok, so revisiting this, if you want something with a good deal more performance than what I listed last time, since prices have changed dramatically since then, this build using the i7-6700k offers significantly more and is a lot more likely to remain relevant for a longer period of time. I'd imagine you could easily get 5 or more years use out of this. Probably still be very capable when that time comes.

This would be a very powerful machine, using the highest quality components for the price range.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($337.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($120.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.50 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1029.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-02 00:26 EDT-0400

And you'd want to use something like this with it, for your instrument and recording.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/focusrite-scarlett-18i8-audio-interface

i really like this build so far its good from research that iv'e done. isn't the HHD be to loud? also is it possible to get two quieter 2tb drives & can you add a decent GPU that can run cs:go, h1z1 simple games like those?

Darkbreeze · May 2, 2016

Is this the same person who posted this thread? Because I distinctly recall you saying:

gaming wise - not really and graphical requirements - not really

As far as the drives go, most modern hard disk drives have very similar noise levels. Choosing 2TB models isn't going to make it any quieter than larger capacity drives. If you want to eliminate source sound from inside the PC then I'd suggest you consider external storage or increase the budget for adding SSD drives for storage in addition to the SSD for the main drive. How soon are you wanting to pull the trigger on this? Prices change rapidly so suggesting a configuration now for a system that won't be purchased a week or longer from now will probably not even be relevant by then.

odessy57095 · May 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

yes, this is the same person. probably at the end of this most or close to the end of the month mostly like. how much more are we talking? also adding a gpu wouldn't hurt nobody good to always have.

Darkbreeze · May 2, 2016

I agree, better graphics provides a lot more optional capabilities, in case you decide you need or want them later. Better than not going with something and then having to readjust priorities at a later date when it may be more expensive to do so.

Let me rework this tonight, and I'll see what I can come up with. If the build budget didn't need to include a separate audio interface device, and just a high end sound card with inputs would suffice (Since I don't really know at what level or expectation of performance you require), or you plan to not include said interface device in the 1500 dollar PC budget, we could probably get almost exactly what we want. I don't think hard disk noise is really an issue. Modern systems have the electronics for the audio shielded from other devices in the system so that it's really not picked up much if at all, and to be honest I never hear any of my drives whatsoever. Using smaller 2.5" laptop hard drives may also reduce noise levels even further. 2.5" hard drives are nearly silent, or at least the ones I've been using and installing are.

My system is in a room that is virtually silent and excluded from outside noise and I cannot hear the drives over the sound of the case fans, even though my case fans are very high quality and are themselves incredibly quiet.

odessy57095 · May 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

I agree, better graphics provides a lot more optional capabilities, in case you decide you need or want them later. Better than not going with something and then having to readjust priorities at a later date when it may be more expensive to do so.

Let me rework this tonight, and I'll see what I can come up with. If the build budget didn't need to include a separate audio interface device, and just a high end sound card with inputs would suffice (Since I don't really know at what level or expectation of performance you require), or you plan to not include said interface device in the 1500 dollar PC budget, we could probably get almost exactly what we want. I don't think hard disk noise is really an issue. Modern systems have the electronics for the audio shielded from other devices in the system so that it's really not picked up much if at all, and to be honest I never hear any of my drives whatsoever. Using smaller 2.5" laptop hard drives may also reduce noise levels even further. 2.5" hard drives are nearly silent, or at least the ones I've been using and installing are.

My system is in a room that is virtually silent and excluded from outside noise and I cannot hear the drives over the sound of the case fans, even though my case fans are very high quality and are themselves incredibly quiet.

sounds great! i really appreciate all this time & effort your putting in to help me means alot. can't wait to see what you come up with, really excited!!!

)) how much more of a budget are we talking?

Darkbreeze · May 2, 2016

Well, not sure really. Let me work on it and we'll go from there. Like I say, we might even be able to stay within budget depending. We'll play around with a few options.

odessy57095 · May 2, 2016

Darkbreeze :

that's awesome to hear! how is everything working out?

Darkbreeze · May 3, 2016

So here's what I came up with, and of course there's always room to make adjustments or go a different direction.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($344.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 67.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler ($44.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($75.60 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($181.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 960GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($233.95 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($189.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
External Storage: Western Digital My Book 4TB External Hard Drive ($116.23 @ Amazon)
Total: $1571.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-03 03:09 EDT-0400

music production pc build

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