Best Computer For Music Production 2019

1. Cheap Computer For Music Production
2. Best Computer For Music Production 2019 2020

27-inch 5K iMac — the best choice for music production The new 2019 hardware makes the 27-inch 5K iMac our top pick for your home studio. You can customize its RAM up to 64GB. The advanced processor lets you use all the features of pro audio editing apps. If you take your music production career seriously, or want the best performance that you can get, then this Pro Music Production PC build featuring the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is what you want right now.

In this article you can find all the specs, parts and descriptions of the components you need to use in order to put together the best computer for Audio and Music Production in 2019

How do you get the most value from your hard-earned money when buying a PC centered around music production in 2019?

Most think it's just about spending as much money as possible, but that just isn't true. Because of the 'serial' nature of audio processing there are ways you can optimise your hardware to suit your needs. You definitely want to avoid throwing money at components that aren't going to make a difference to your production workflow. The component choices featured in this article were made at the time of concept and we understand that there may be newer hardware at the time of reading.

Processor / CPU

Let's start with the CPU, this component is going to be the beating heart of your music production machine! The goal of your CPU is to keep your latency down and your machine running smoothly by handling all the requests you throw at it during your production sessions.

The CPU chosen for this build is the Intel Core i9 9900K. It has 8 cores & 16 threads, a base clock of 3.6GHz & a turbo clock of 5.0GHz. At the time of this build the 9900K was the best bang for the buck. Can i download snow leopard online. AMD have recently launched a few chips that are debatably better, but for this article we are going to focus on the i9 9900K. Why the 9900K was chosen will be the most difficult part of this process to discuss, it can totally depend on a users workflow and plugin usage.

The 9900K featured the best I.P.C (instruction per clock) scores within its price range. I.P.C is important for music production as there is more work done in a single clock cycle. This produces better real-time audio processing results due to more things being completed within the ASIO buffer cycle. ASIO buffers are a slice of time, if all the data is processed inside that time there will be no problem. But if it isn't processed within the time there will be unwanted audio crackles and drop outs. Each time the ASIO buffer calls your sequencer for data it will start racking up the channels to be processed.
Channel 1 and effects = CPU thread 1
Channel 2 and effects = CPU thread 2
Channel 3 and effects = CPU thread 3
Then as each thread finishes it requests another channel to deal with and they keep doing this until it either runs out of work to do, or the ASIO buffer resets and throws anything remaining in the bin.

One of the reasons Xeon workstation chips are not recommended for music production is they tend to favour more cores for parallel workloads, over high IPC. This means that for example you might pay £500 for an i9 with 8 cores at 3.6GHz with 4.9GHz turbo and compare it to a £1500 Xeon chip with 14 cores at 2.4GHz with 3.3GHz turbo. The i9 will likely win on heavy processing workloads, at least for real-time audio processing. The reason would be IPC and overhead for the processing chains. Each audio channel has to process it's entire chain on the same thread, you can't just go off-loading your reverb onto another thread, or pass your delay to another thread as it's simply too slow a process to be effective.

So, you could get a CPU with more cores and threads than the 9900K but the money that would need to be spent wouldn't necessarily reflect higher processing power when it comes to working with audio. Currently the 9900K will not only be able to handle almost everything you could throw at it but it's also future proof and will keep your workflow smooth for years to come.

Memory / RAM

Next you want to make sure that your memory has a large enough volume to be able to store all the necessary data for you to smoothly use all the features of your DAW, even with more complex sessions. If for example your projects use lots of virtual instruments you're going to want 32 GB or more. If your projects are smaller or less complicated you can get away with less.

In our case we've chosen four sticks of 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666MHz DDR4 for a total of 64GB. This amount of memory will come in handy for anyone who does sound engineering and mastering at a professional level. Some workload examples include orchestral compositions, large sample library use, multiple instruments recording, heavy plugin use, multiple large session use, and heavy composition template use.

Some things to keep in mind when purchasing your memory is whether the system can handle the memory you require. For example 32bit Windows 10 can only handle 4GB, whereas the 64bit version can handle 124GB in the Home Edition and 512GB in the Pro Edition. The CPU can also bottleneck the memory, the memory controller of the CPU needs to be rated for the same clock speed as your memory. The CPU also needs to be able to utilise the correct version of the memory E.g. DDR3 or DDR4. Finally, you want to make sure the motherboard you are looking at has the correct number of slots to make use of the amount of memory you wish to install.

Motherboard

Let's talk a bit more about the motherboard. You want to make sure the chosen board has the correct CPU socket, for example this build features the i9 9900K CPU so we need a board that has the Intel 1151 CPU socket. Because the i9 9900K is a DDR4 compatible CPU we can rest assured that the motherboard will also be DDR4 compatible.

The motherboard chosen for this build is the ASUS PRIME Z390-A. It features all the correct sockets to connect our CPU and memory as well as some other really useful features. Most notably multiple video outputs. We can couple this with the integrated graphics chip in the 9900K and run two monitors simultaneously. In the past solely using integrated CPU graphics was not enough, but due to advances in hardware we can now completely remove the need for a dedicated graphics card in PCs that are optimised for music production. This is where a big chunk of your budget can be saved and put into more important areas such as the CPU.

Storage / M.2

Moving on you have your storage solution. One thing that can make your user experience smooth and fast is having lightning fast storage. Fast storage means fast loading times and it makes flicking through your presets and libraries a breeze. If you want to keep your production workflow constantly moving with no waiting around this is definitely an important factor.

The storage solutions chosen for this build feature a 1TB Samsung M.2 NVMe drive for the operating system drive. These drives are extremely well regarded. They are fast, with a superb reliability record that makes them an easy choice for the drive that contains your OS install. The build also features the cheaper but larger 2TB Intel M.2 NVMe for mass storage. Whilst slower than the Samsung OS drive it is still three times faster than an SSD while offering far better value than the more costly Samsung. Once you start looking at the larger capacity drive sizes the Intel is the bang for the buck choice.

Monitor

You can't produce music on a computer without having something to view your projects on, you're going to want a screen with a high resolution to see all of those fine details when working in your DAW. This build features the Acer EB321HQU 31.5' WQHD IPS monitor. This monitor has a great combination of having a crystal clear resolution at 1440p while keeping the cost down by having a refresh rate of 60 frames per second. For music production a high refresh rate is not necessary, 60 is plenty. These qualities make this high quality monitor the best bang for the buck, not to mention the colours and manufacturing of the product look beautiful.

Other Essentials

You can now move on to some of your finishing touches. First off the CPU fan, optimally it should be quiet for when you're listening to your production or mastering and also great at cooling down your machine when it's at full load. This build features the Be Quiet! Dark Rock PRO 4 and it works excellently. Next you may need a Thunderbolt card, they're still widely used for audio equipment and should definitely be considered if you're going to be connecting a lot different hardware. The card in this build is the Asus Thunderbolt EX 3. It hosts 1x Thunderbolt 3 port, 1x USB 3.1 Port, and 1x 9 pin TB header. Another card implemented into this build is a wireless internet card. It's still handy to have a fast WIFI connection and that's exactly what the Asus PCE-AC56 brings. Another thing that is still very useful to have while mastering is a CD/DVD drive, this build has a LITEON External Slim USB DVD-RW. The good thing about this DVD-RW is that because it's external it is not limited to just one PC.

Finally you want something to put all your components in and a keyboard and mouse to control your PC. The case featured in this build is the Be Quiet! SILENT BASE 601 Orange Midi Case. It has superb noise dampening which is great for when you don't want any distractions from your music, and it can easily fit all our components and cooling solutions. Not to mention that sleek orange finish that will light up your studio. The keyboard and mouse are both by Corsair, they are the K68 IP32 RBG Mechanical Gaming Keyboard and the M55 RGB PRO Gaming Mouse. Both of these pieces are visually stunning, feel great with excellent performance, and are built to last.

Conclusion

To summarise, just buying expensive parts won't reflect in a proportional increase in performance. You want to focus on what's going to really assist in your music production workflow. You want to spend less money where it doesn't count and more where it does!

We asked Scan.co.uk (3XS Custom Series department) to put together a PC for us that would not only be optimised for music production, but that would also be the best bang for the buck.

You can get the computer already assembled here: https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/3xs-dms390-doctor-mix-edition

Here's the complete list of specs, click on the product number to go to the respected page at Scan.co.uk:

Guide To Building A Music Production PC 2019

PC vs Mac, the never-ending battle of music making computers. What matters the most here is your personal choice and what you are used to working on. Whereas Macs come pre-built to the spec based on your order, PCs are usually built based on a choice of components. But even though there are some amazing music PC builders out there, this post will focus on helping you build your own music making PC.

Budget Options:

First things first, how much are you willing to invest in your PC? PCs can range from $400 to $5000, it all depends on what you want and how big your budget is. Let's say you're a working composer willing to invest a whole lot of money, because this is your main workstation PC it needs to last at least 5 years. One thing I learned is that buying the most expensive components will not give you the best results. The price tag doesn't guarantee quality, trust me. I built my PC for a little under $2500, and I can still upgrade it if I want, because everything can be replaced.

The Components:

If you don't know anything about PC components, these are the important ones:

• Processor (CPU)
• CPU Fan (Cooler)
• RAM
• Motherboard
• GPU (Graphics Card)
• Hard Drives (HDD)
• Power Supply (PSU)
• Case (Housing)

The Processor (CPU):

A question as old as 'Mac or PC', do you choose Intel or AMD. Personally, I would always go with Intel as it is an industry-standard for music production due to its greater processing power. AMD is a lot more affordable but the processing power sometimes just isn't enough to push your big orchestral template smoothly. This is all based on personal experience.

The best solutions from Intel are i7 5960x, i7 6700k and i7 7700k.

The best solutions from AMD are Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen Threadripper 2950.

The Processor (CPU):

A question as old as 'Mac or PC', do you choose Intel or AMD. Personally, I would always go with Intel as it is an industry-standard for music production due to its greater processing power. AMD is a lot more affordable but the processing power sometimes just isn't enough to push your big orchestral template smoothly. This is all based on personal experience.

The best solutions from Intel are i7 5960x, i7 6700k and i7 7700k.

The best solutions from AMD are Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen Threadripper 2950.

CPU Fan:

Cheap Computer For Music Production

The CPU fan stops your CPU from overheating with a lot of help from the thermal paste you get with it. The best solution is to find a fan that is really quiet because you don't want any noise coming out of your computer while working. Imagine you are recording an acoustic guitar and you can hear hum from the fan on the recording. That's just plain bad. Thermaltake and Noctua make awesome coolers with really low noise ratio.

Best Computer For Music Production 2019 2020

Thermaltake Engine 27 has 1500-2500 RPM at an excellent 13-25 dBA noise.

Noctua NH-L9i has 600-2500 RPM at 14.8-23.6 dBA noise.

RAM Memory:

RAM memory is probably THE MOST important thing for a music production PC. You'll need a lot of it. The more RAM you have, the better your PC will work with all of those heavy-weight sample libraries like Spitfire, EastWest and Orchestral Tools.

DDR4 is the latest and greatest and the best ones come from G. SKILL and T-Force. There are also more affordable options from Kingston Hyper X series. The number of RAMs in your PC depends on your motherboard and how much it can support, so keep that in mind.

Motherboard:

You choose your motherboard based on your choice of CPU. Some of the big names out there are Asus, Gigabyte and MSI. The best motherboard option for you is something that's heavily marketed for gaming because it can take a lot of RAM and a very powerful CPU. This is the hub for all of your components.

MSI has Gaming Series, Asus has ROG and TUF. Those are the ones you would want. MSI Gaming Series X99 can support up to 128 GB of RAM DDR4 which is quite enough. Plus it is built for Intel CPUs and natively supports USB 3.0 and 3.1.

Graphics Card (GPU):

Another infinite battle is between Nvidia or AMD. It all comes down to personal choice as both brands make some amazing cards. If you are a working game composer you might want to invest in a good graphics card in order to test your music to unoptimized game build, so something like Nvidia Geforce GTX 1600 Ti series or AMD Radeon RX 580series will do the trick. If you are working on films, then a little less powerful ones from the GTX series will do.

Hard Drives (HDD):

SSD, it's all about SSD these days. They used to be rather expensive, but nowadays you can get them rather cheap with a lot of storage space. Kingston, Verbatim and Samsung are the brands to look out for. You will need a lot of Hard Drives. One is for your system (C partition), and it should be around 256-500 GBs. The others are for samples and your projects. Hard Drives for projects don't need to be an SSD, but they should be fast enough, something around 7000 RPMs like Western Digital Caviar Black.

Power Supply (PSU):

None of these selected components will do their job if they don't get enough power to keep them running. This is where power supply or PSU comes into play. Let's say for example you bought all of the components that are suggested, you will need a PSU of 850W-1000W to power all of them properly. The best and quietest PSUs come from Seasonic and EVGA.

Seasonic Focus Plus Series is a great 1kW PSU, while EVGA Supernova 859 G2 is a great alternative. Minecraft 1 13 download apk pc.

The Case (Housing):

This is where you decide on the visual identity of your PC. But keep in mind that it is more important to have a case that can accommodate all of your components than actually looking cool. Let's say that you will add more HDDs later on, or maybe some PCI cards like UAD, so besides motherboard slots you'll need actual space in your case for all of that. The best and most elegant looking cases come from NZXT, Fractal Design and Cooler Master.

These are your core components for every music PC out there. We haven't included audio interfaces because you are not likely to buy them together with your PC. We wanted to concentrate solely on the actual DAW machine.

If you use a PC for music production you will naturally use 64bit Windows 10 Pro as your OS.

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