Studio Computer? Options

[Qenzoz]

'Ello, I am currently in the process of maybe starting to build my own little studio, but I want to make my PC really great for it. So I was wondering what are the things I need to focus on? I will get an SSD sooner or later, but besides that what really matters in a PC to make it great for studio use?

Cheers & thanks in advance.

Tobias

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[Saoirse O'Shea]

In short how quiet it is, how fast it is and how well it can run the software you need, how easy it is to maintain and how eay it is to onnect to the equipment you have and need.

Some of the things that you also need to think about are:

How quiet it is - you should try and reduce the noise from it as much as you can. Consider using large, slow rotation speed fans and a passive cooled video card. Also look at good
connector cables that are designed to help air flow and sound insuation in the case.

How much ram it has and what type. Same for the CPU. These will affect how well the software runs and how much you can run at a time but they aren't the only consideration as you also need to look at how quickly data is passed across the bus. Also, some of the newer low form factor CPU chips can also help with reducing noise as they produce less heat and so the fans don't run as much.

What other hard disc drives and CD and DVD drives it has. You should try to have a primary drive for the OS, a secondary drive for programs and other drives for music/audio files. You should also try to think about external drives to back up files and programs regularly. Get good quality CD and DVD drives - Plextor are used by mastering engineers but you may struggle to find these in shops. Poor quality drives are more likely to either not read or write well and may result in corrupted data on discs.

How it will interface to external outboard and internal devices/cards. If you need USB then 1.1 is a minimum but you should try and spec it to have several USB 2 and possibly a couple of USB3 ports. You may also want firewire, spdif, and toslink i/o. You need to think about what internal cards you might use and how they connect to the mobo. There are still a lot of very good audio cards around that use the old internal PCI interface rather than the PCI express slot.

How easy it is to maintain and upgrade - a large tower case means that you have much more space to work in if you want to change and/or add stuff at a later date. They also tend to have better air flow than small cases.

Whether the OS is ok for legacy equipment/software if you have any and how future proof it is.

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[Qenzoz]

Thanks for your answer! , I found some of those Plextor on the internet, so they're possible for me to get here in Denmark.

But how much money do you think one should put in to get something that could be classified as good? Also I am a Windows person.

Thanks again!

Tobias

In short how quiet it is, how fast it is and how well it can run the software you need, how easy it is to maintain and how eay it is to onnect to the equipment you have and need.

Some of the things that you also need to think about are:

How quiet it is - you should try and reduce the noise from it as much as you can. Consider using large, slow rotation speed fans and a passive cooled video card. Also look at good
connector cables that are designed to help air flow and sound insuation in the case.

How much ram it has and what type. Same for the CPU. These will affect how well the software runs and how much you can run at a time but they aren't the only consideration as you also need to look at how quickly data is passed across the bus. Also, some of the newer low form factor CPU chips can also help with reducing noise as they produce less heat and so the fans don't run as much.

What other hard disc drives and CD and DVD drives it has. You should try to have a primary drive for the OS, a secondary drive for programs and other drives for music/audio files. You should also try to think about external drives to back up files and programs regularly. Get good quality CD and DVD drives - Plextor are used by mastering engineers but you may struggle to find these in shops. Poor quality drives are more likely to either not read or write well and may result in corrupted data on discs.

How it will interface to external outboard and internal devices/cards. If you need USB then 1.1 is a minimum but you should try and spec it to have several USB 2 and possibly a couple of USB3 ports. You may also want firewire, spdif, and toslink i/o. You need to think about what internal cards you might use and how they connect to the mobo. There are still a lot of very good audio cards around that use the old internal PCI interface rather than the PCI express slot.

How easy it is to maintain and upgrade - a large tower case means that you have much more space to work in if you want to change and/or add stuff at a later date. They also tend to have better air flow than small cases.

Whether the OS is ok for legacy equipment/software if you have any and how future proof it is.

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!