upgrade pc

[Snolfington]

Hi there, I am looking for some help and advice on upgrading pc. Its a big investment so I want to choose wisely and make sure I am taking everything into account, get the best performance possible for the budget, optimised for music production with heavy plugin usage (some external inputs for a synth + microphone & vocoder).

(I currently run live 5.2 on windows xp, using a 4gb pc and a motu 828 mk2 firewire. Obviously a very old setup.)

I will be getting live 11 and push, I am thinking I will keep the motu interface.

The pc I am looking at is:

https://www.paradigit.nl/paradigit-work ... 12/product
(i9, 32GB ram, 1TB SSD)

I will need a pci firewire card for the motu as it doesn't come with the machine, and I am also looking at an additional 2TB traditional hard disk (both of which would be fitted by paradigit as part of the overall order):

https://www.paradigit.ie/delock-pci-exp ... 65/product
https://www.paradigit.ie/seagate-barrac ... 30/product

The overall cost of the pc + the pci firewire + hard disk is 1700euro, approx.

I am looking for any advice on this, do people have any feedback on paradigit as a provider, any alternative suggestions for the budget of 1700. Any other considerations I may not have thought about?

Many thanks, all advice is greatly appreciated

[miyaru]

Are you from the Netherlands?

If so, look at: https://i4studio.nl/studio-computers/da ... -computer/

They have PC's taylor made for making music!

[Snolfington]

Hey, thanks for that website link, it looks great. I am in Ireland but they say they can deliver here.

I've never heard of them before, are they a good, reliable source? From their about info they look to be.

[miyaru]

Good, very good and reliable…..

[miyaru]

But beware with your MOTU, it might not work anymore with win 10 or 11……..

[Snolfington]

ok thanks again for the steer. Yeah I think the motu has seen its day

[miyaru]

ok thanks again for the steer. Yeah I think the motu has seen its day

You better check it first to avoid extra costs, but yes maybe it's days are over........

On the other hand: for € 500,= you buy a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen. An easy and proper interface with 18 ins and 20 outs. I have one too, and really love it soundwise.

[Snolfington]

Great thanks yes I am actually looking at the 8i6 as that will probably suffice for my inputs requirements.

Just on the subject of audio interface - do you think a microphone preamp is needed with the focusrite? it does have 48v boost.

I am looking at the Audio technica AT2020 microphone. I will be using it for straight vocals, vocoding (roland vt4) and to mic up a piano (amateur recording). Limited budget for the mic. But would it do a decent job, without a preamp?

I have no real experience with mics to date so just want to make sure I get the best possible for the budget

Thanks

[miyaru]

Focusrite’s have decent Mic pre amps. The AT 2020 is also decent, and budget friendly. Also the build quality of AT, and their service is superb. I have this mic from 1999 from AT, the 3035, and it is still in service with me. Last year I needed the special rubberbands from the shockmount, and got them for free as service from AT Japan.

I also have this Røde NT 1a Condenser MIcrophone, which is nice too for the money, and proberly a bit more sensitive than the AT 2020..

Also with the Røde you can have this kit with a shockmount, popfilter, cable, pouch and a nice dvd with tips and tricks for around 180 euro’s.

Don’t expect super resuts with this gear, but you can have more than decent recordings with this gear. You are on a budget: this is the way to go!

[Snolfington]

cool thanks I will probably stick to the at2020 so .

fyi I went with a more local source for the pc (pczone.ie). They do gaming builds mostly but I discussed DAW focussed build with them and I've just cut back on the graphics and focussed on max cpu,ram & storage for the budget. Got this for just under 1400 euro which looks to be the best price I could find. (i4 looks like a great supplier alright but it made more sense to stay local I think)

Cases: Kolink Mid Tower - Black €15.00
CPU: Intel Core i9 11900KF 3.5GHz (5.3GHz Turbo) €+75 €75.00
Cpu Cooling: Jonsbo ANGELEYES TW2-240 Pro €+75 €75.00
Motherboards: Gigabyte B560M DS3H
Memory (RAM): G.Skill 32GB 3600 MHz DDR4 Memory + €120 €120.00
M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD): 1TB M.2 NVMe Fast Drive €+75 €75.00
Solid State Drive 2.5" (SSD): Not Wanted
Hard Drive 1 (HDD): 2TB Seagate Barracuda Hard Drive 3.5 SATA III €+70 €70.00
Graphics Card (GPU): NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 2GB €-120 -€120.00
Power Supply (PSU): 700W Aerocool 80+ Certified + €18 €18.00
Wi-Fi Card: 600Mbps Wireless Dual Band PCI + €35 €35.00

[miyaru]

Looks good!!!!!

Do they install, and finetune Windows for you? If not are you capable to do so? If you have to do it yourself check this out:

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/ ... Windows-10 for Win10.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/ ... Windows-11 for Win 11.

[Snolfington]

oh great thanks, some really handy tips on that page & video.

One thing I was thinking as well was to get the ssd partitioned into c: for os and virus protection apps, and a d: for audio applictions and projects

any thoughts on that? what would be an adequate size for the os?

The hdd would be used for sample library

[miyaru]

I think for OS and stuff around 250GB…..

I have a 256 GB m2 for my OS and other software, a 512 GB m2 for audio and a 1 TB HD for backups and samples.

Thisis the fastest way for all your stuff and audio.

[Snolfington]

super, thanks a mil

[miyaru]

You’re welcome. Have a good musical time with your new gear!!!!