Shuttle Micro Computer

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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cpyatak
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Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by cpyatak » Thu May 17, 2012 3:19 pm

Hi. I'm about to set up a small studio in an office space in my town. I'm a hobby musician, but am looking forward to having a space outside of our cramped apartment to set up my music gear and work free of distractions and interruptions. I've also been looking at getting a new computer -- I currently run a Dell XPS M1710 laptop and that's...okay. I've looked into MacBook Pro, and I would LOVE one, but just can't afford the outlay. So I was looking at other PC laptops and then decided to expand my search into desktops. Then I found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856101119

It seems like it would be a good little studio computer if I threw an i7 Quad core and 8-16M of RAM into it. My Laptop can be fine if I start playing out, but for "producing" I would like more power than my laptop has and is able to offer. Also my laptop is noisy as hell.

So my question is, does anyone here have any experience with these, or a similar product? What should I look out for?

At this price it seems like I could throw a pretty good processor, a bunch of RAM, and even an SSD into it and potentially have a powerhouse for a relatively low outlay (I already own Windows 7 so I won't have to purchase an OS).

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Chris

cpyatak
Posts: 381
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Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by cpyatak » Thu May 17, 2012 4:31 pm

cpyatak wrote: 8-16M of RAM
Hopefully it is obvious that I meant 8-16GB not 8-16MB.

carrieres
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Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by carrieres » Fri May 18, 2012 11:49 am

i love them, i have an old shuttle with a amd XP2500+ cpu still working :)
Yamaha CS-30, Roland SH-1 and MKS70, Focusrite Scarlett 18i6, Yamaha FS1R, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Novation Remote 37SL, Alesis M1Active 520, Novation Launchpad PRO
Intel i7-7700HQ, Windows 10, Ableton Live 10 Suite
http://soundcloud.com/ccarrieres

ST8
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Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by ST8 » Fri May 18, 2012 12:45 pm

Agreed, before i moved over to mac i ran a couple of shuttle type system for ages. Excellent little systems. Usually the only cavet is slightly limited power supply, but if you're not running a high end graphics card that wont be a problem.

cpyatak
Posts: 381
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:44 pm
Location: Vermont

Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by cpyatak » Fri May 18, 2012 12:46 pm

carrieres wrote:i love them, i have an old shuttle with a amd XP2500+ cpu still working :)
Cool! One thing I'm a little concerned about is the cramped space and keeping the thing cool. Has that been an issue for you? Glad to hear it's still going for you. How long have you had it?

Thanks for the reply,

Chris

carrieres
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Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by carrieres » Fri May 18, 2012 12:52 pm

i had some problem with 100% cpu usage when i was playing guild war the computer shut down by himself but when i cleaned the dust inside it never happen again
so with ableton you should not experience the same issue (100% cpu will mean crakkle and pop) and you know how to resolve it ;-)

i bought it in 2003 and i have to change the small battery now
Yamaha CS-30, Roland SH-1 and MKS70, Focusrite Scarlett 18i6, Yamaha FS1R, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Novation Remote 37SL, Alesis M1Active 520, Novation Launchpad PRO
Intel i7-7700HQ, Windows 10, Ableton Live 10 Suite
http://soundcloud.com/ccarrieres

cpyatak
Posts: 381
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:44 pm
Location: Vermont

Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by cpyatak » Fri May 18, 2012 3:44 pm

Wow, this is great feedback. Shuttle is definitely in the running. I like the idea of being able to spec out my own computer. I'm not a stranger to the inside of a desktop, but I've never built a bare bones kit before. Should be okay. I'm looking at putting a solid state drive in in addition to a 7200 rpm 500G drive (plenty for my purposes, and they're cheap if I need to upgrade in the future). Is there a benefit to loading my music software (Ableton Suite 8.3, Reason 4, Arturia, and a handful of 3rd party free VSTs) on a solid state drive? I've heard it just makes the program load faster. My inclination is to put just the OS on the solid state drive. Thoughts?

Thanks again!

carrieres
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Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by carrieres » Fri May 18, 2012 4:16 pm

you will win on the startup time with SSD but the most important thing is to backup to another drive, so don't waste money on SSD if you can't afford a second disk or an external one to backup or to transfer to work on your laptop
Last edited by carrieres on Sat May 19, 2012 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Yamaha CS-30, Roland SH-1 and MKS70, Focusrite Scarlett 18i6, Yamaha FS1R, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Novation Remote 37SL, Alesis M1Active 520, Novation Launchpad PRO
Intel i7-7700HQ, Windows 10, Ableton Live 10 Suite
http://soundcloud.com/ccarrieres

cpyatak
Posts: 381
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:44 pm
Location: Vermont

Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by cpyatak » Fri May 18, 2012 4:40 pm

Ok, so the SSD is primarily about load time, not program performance? I know most of Live's work is done by the CPU, and a healthy dose of RAM is good too. But if it's not going to streamline the performance of Live (for example how many tracks I can use, how many effects/instruments etc., before Live starts to glitch out) then it may not be worth it to go with an SSD. At least not yet.

cpyatak
Posts: 381
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:44 pm
Location: Vermont

Re: Shuttle Micro Computer

Post by cpyatak » Fri May 18, 2012 4:42 pm

Actually, if I'm going with a 7200rpm hard drive, and I don't really care how fast Windows or Live open, it probably makes more sense to get the best processor I can and save the money on an SSD for another time, yeah?

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