Productivity Monster Audio Workstation Build

[andrewbrewer]

I'm considering a new PC to replace my DAW. At first I was targeting iMac Pro, but I see this article had some interesting advice for building your own PC, listed below. Don't really have a budget limit at this point, just looking for something that can run multiple high power vsts (u-he synths, spectrasonics, uvi, ableton, reaktor) without breaking a sweat.

What do you think?

http://www.logicalincrements.com/articl ... -audio-daw

Productivity Monster Audio Workstation Build ($2500)

When you absolutely, positively need to know that your PC will be able to handle everything you throw at it in terms of audio production—this is the sort of high-performance, professional-grade build you need to be looking at. Despite the monstrous music production and audio editing prowess of this build, it amazingly still manages to leave the door open for future upgrades as well (pending new releases).

CPU: AMD TR 1950X
Graphics Card: GTX 1070 Ti
Motherboard: Asus Prime X399-A
RAM: 64GB DDR4 (8 X 8GB)
Storage 1: 500GB Samsung 970 EVO SSD
Storage 2: 4TB HDD
Power Supply: SeaSonic 1000W
CPU Cooler: Enermax Liqtech TR4
Case: Corsair 760T
Operating System: Windows 10

[Artcutech]

they might move your thread to the lounge so if you don't see it it's prob there

I bought the iMac pro 8-Core 64gb of ram and 1TB ssd and that thing doesn't break a sweat, multiple instances of heavy cpu plugs on multiple tracks and I think I'm topping out at 30 or 40 percent with more than I could ever want, using multiple instances of Reaktor, Sampler(heavy treatment), Omnishphere and others, someone mentioned in a post they had 45 instances of reaktor on the base model IMac pro before theirs started breaking a sweat, so thats not to say you can't make it break a sweat, was messing with the fab filter's pro l in one of my heavy midi maxed out arrangements and decided to put the 32x(super cpu intensive) quality on and it jumped from like 30 to 60 percent on the cpu meter but held strong with no pops or crackles. I think the problems are that each track can only utilize so many cores, because my activity monitor doesn't go past 5-8 percent when my ableton cpu meter reads 40 percent, I mean honestly I can't believe how much easier my work flow has been since I got this thing, tact on apple care for about $135 for 3 years I can't see ever getting PC again, when the iMac pro first came I think building the same PC came in around $4500 in the article I was reading, with pricers dropping on certain components month to month, that was around December so I'm sure you can build one at a more competitive price, plus with the flexibility of being able to upgrade your PC behemoth sounds like a win, I don't have the time or patience to be constantly maintaining my rig so thats why I like the iMac pro

[andrewbrewer]

I bought the iMac pro 8-Core 64gb of ram and 1TB ssd and that thing doesn't break a sweat...

Artutech, thanks for the feedback! You've got me back to seriously thinking about the iMac again. I too don't really have much time for hassle. What I do have are CPU/ram hungry VSTs!

[Artcutech]

Keep in mind that results seem to vary with Ableton and other daw’s all the time, I keep almost everything on a external ssd and have recently enabled audio units and use those mostly now but also vst’s here and there. The iMac pro is a little pricey so if I was you I’d be prepared to return it if it doesn’t hold up to your highest expectations, from my experience Ableton can get super weird under huge arrangements no matter how powerful your set up, but whatever choice you make in the end I’m sure your ability to make music will be more enjoyable, nothing like cpu intensive vst's to kill the creativity and work flow

[jestermgee]

I use a PC and have less than the posted specs and unless i'm being unreilistic with what I want a computer to do, it runs everything I throw at it (though i'm a strong believer of "less is more" and have always tried to keep to as many tracks as I can to do the job) but I use Omnisphere, Serum, Avenger etc.

Really comes down to how you setup and use your system, not the underlying OS. If you have some in-depth knowledge into how to setup power management and services on a PC to get the most out of it then PS is great if that is what you are use to. Mac is also great to get started out of the box with less focus on "system management" and worrying about how your hardware might play together.

At the end of the day they are both just devices for crunching numbers. How you want to interact through the GUI is just a personal preference.

[andrewbrewer]

I use a PC and have less than the posted specs ...

jestermgee, that's good to know. I am more of a PC-user at heart, plenty of ingrained muscle memory over the years to where the PC interface feels second nature, whereas Mac always takes a bit of reorientation for me.

[miyaru]

As stated in my signature, I have an i7-7700 with 16 GB ram, 256GB M2 and a 2TB HDD and it runs smoothly on all my arrangements. I would like to replace my HDD for another M2 in the future though: faster and silent!

Your "dream" setup would take it all, so go for it!!!!

[andrewbrewer]

As stated in my signature, I have an i7-7700 with 16 GB ram, 256GB M2 and a 2TB HDD and it runs smoothly on all my arrangements.

speaking of intel, i've stumbled on at least a couple of articles that point out some problems with new generation AMD for DAW use (or rather, worse performance than new generation intel). that leads me to question the quality of the build that logicalincrements.com calls a "productivity monster" --- i plan to send them a message to see if they tested that build in real life