new member with no idea

[Paul Bush]

Hi chaps,

Well as the titel say`s I have no idea , Ive been recording many years on analogue taep and tthen with Samplitude and now I want to start  with and lab with all the bells and whistles it has,  so i´m starting from scratch really  Ive an audio interface and a lap top etc midi keybord guitares etc and Ive used drum loops so I´m not completely off track , my quetsion is can anyone (and its an impossible question) give me a guide of what type computer speicher  , grafic/soundcard would get me started  in the right direction at a budget but with reasonable sound and speed I shall be buying a new computer just for my music projects here is my      https://metapop.com/paul-bush        just to give you and idea of my music tatse thanks in advance any comments  chers Paul DB

EDDIES MASTER TSHIRT .MP3

[John]

I think you are approaching this with an attitude of too much humility.  If you ran Samplitude and were able to create with it you have nothing to be concerned  about.

Cakewalk is a lot like Samplitude. It is object oriented without touting that.  I have Samplitude X4 Pro. 

A desktop computer that is fast with at least 16 GB of memory will do well enough.  Fast meaning  3 or 4 to 5 gHz speed will do the job.  Graphics cards are not as important for DAWs any decent  one with work.  If you want dual monitors get one with adequate memory for two monitors. 

Speed is more important than cores or threads for the CPU. Though more cores are better than fewer. 

Cakewalk is a very easy DAW to get to know.  Yet it is able to do just about anything any other quality DAW can do.   

Plus you have the forum for those times when you get stuck

Also, welcome to the forum.  

[JoeGBradford]

Cakewalk software itself there are some excellent tutorials in the 'Tutorials' part of this forum and also see the link to the pdf guide.

People here are really friendly and helpful so never be afraid of asking what might be a stupid question - I certainly have ?

[Paul Bush]

39 minutes ago, John said:

I think you are approaching this with an attitude of too much humility.  If you ran Samplitude and were able to create with it you have nothing to be concerned  about.

Cakewalk is a lot like Samplitude. It is object oriented without touting that.  I have Samplitude X4 Pro. 

A desktop computer that is fast with at least 16 GB of memory will do well enough.  Fast meaning  3 or 4 to 5 gHz speed will do the job.  Graphics cards are not as important for DAWs any decent  one with work.  If you want dual monitors get one with adequate memory for two monitors. 

Speed is more important than cores or threads for the CPU. Though more cores are better than fewer. 

Cakewalk is a very easy DAW to get to know.  Yet it is able to do just about anything any other quality DAW can do.   

Plus you have the forum for those times when you get stuck

Also, welcome to the forum.  

thanks for the speed< reply John

[Paul Bush]

12 minutes ago, JoeGBradford said:

Cakewalk software itself there are some excellent tutorials in the 'Tutorials' part of this forum and also see the link to the pdf guide.

People here are really friendly and helpful so never be afraid of asking what might be a stupid question - I certainly have ?

Thanks for the encouragement , I´ll need a lot of tht in thefuture cheeers

[Corrado Prizzi]

Paul. Great question.

I have just upgraded to a quad-core i5 machine that I got off a kid for 50 bucks! He sold it cos he couldn'ät play games fast enouigh.

I've put 16gb DDR3 RAM in it - 70 europs and a 250gb Samsung SSD - 70e. I use the 500gb hdd it had for audio.

Man. It flies. I mean, it's truly a DAW stonker.

I run Windows 7 on it - no network, updates, etc. purely a machine for doing music.

As for graphics card, Anything on a PCIE slot is fine. Really anything.

I truly believe that 10-yr-old top tech is finally achievable for less than 200 space bucks and easily enough to keep you happy.

Edit: Then a FREE version of, imho, the best sequencer..

Edited August 12, 2019 by Corrado Prizzi
forgot!

[Paul Bush]

THANKS ! CP  once again you guys are really friendly , I´m using a ten year old laptop at the monment just to get the hang of things ..routine etc  it seems this bamdlab doesnt need such a high powered set up , so I wont be having to overide the natinanl grid to get enough processing power . thanks once again paul d b

[Corrado Prizzi]

Paul. What do you want to do? What are your expectations in terms of recording?

I doubt, by the sound of it, that your lappy's gonna cut it for recording audio ?

Have you got an AD-DA interface..?

Bandlab does require a fairly decent set up..

[John]

Recording audio is not as CPU intensive as some think. What really are the CPU hogs are plugins and virtual instruments. Sample libraries need RAM. Audio is streamed  from disk.  USB audio devices are very competent especially if they are USB 2.  

Keep in mine we were doing all this back in the last century.  

[Paul Bush]

hi well upuntill now Ive been playing almost everything live except for toontracks drums   to be honset all my stuff is just demo quality  like getting a song down cocept sound make a demo cd, usb and then go to a proper studio and record again so I´m nt expecting much  have a listen to my metapop page and you`ll see what i mean   https://metapop.com/paul-bush       thanks for your time and advice CP  regards paul DB

[Bristol_Jonesey]

On the subject of graphics cards, as was noted above, anything half decent will be fine as Cakewalk isn't heavily dependent on it.

Just make sure you get a passively cooled one i.e. a heatsink - no fans! Eliminate as much noise as possible

[Paul Bush]

Thanks Jonesy, thats the sort of advice I can relate to , I´m not looking to invest too much money, for me it`s just a hobby I try not to take it too seriously although , I do get caught up in it  and drive myself mad , cheer`s  PDB

[mettelus]

As John mentioned, unless you get heavy-handed with plugins or synths, using CbB as a "digital tape machine" isn't going to stress a system meeting the minimum requirements for CbB. Bumping up audio buffers for post-production is pretty standard, and if/when you begin to hit hurdles on the system, there are ways to reduce system load (bounce tracks and archive originals, freezing synths,  etc.).

If the work flow of tape is your preference (or what you are most familiar/started with), you are actually going to be less challenged than someone who is just starting with music on a DAW.

[Paul Bush]

Thanks for the info  Mettelus , I´m really just a guitare based musician with added keybord chords (thats all i can manage) so I´d be using a midi drum track and the rest would be bass, vocals, keys and a few strings , maybe a bit of brass Ive never used more than 12  tracks on any of my songs , usually just 8 or 9 so a huge production is not my thing , but you never know  https://metapop.com/paul-bush 

[Paul Bush]

I´m thinking of buying this computer any comments would be greatly apprieciated Pau l Bush

 

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07P7NMFFH/ref=cm_sw_r_fm_apa_i_rDVwDbKZDD8XW?fbclid=IwAR3MhpJVdICeOrkDO3LCsvePa2I_blD6anzoWMHI8VmZ3Dms6u2DrFYYPiE

[John]

I would talk to Jim Roseberry. He builds audio desktop  computers and laptops. He has one heck of a good reputation here.  I would trust him. 

[mettelus]

+1, I retired a 2600k a year and a half ago that stills runs fine, but that machine above is a little light for power supply and has no HDMI video connection. I am assuming you are planning to use hardware from an older machine with it? Can you share what you are using now?

[Paul Bush]

2 minutes ago, mettelus said:

+1, I retired a 2600k a year and a half ago that stills runs fine, but that machine above is a little light for power supply and has no HDMI video connection. I am assuming you are planning to use hardware from an older machine with it? Can you share what you are using now?

Yep i couldnt find an hdmi port I need one to use as a monitor , Well i do  have an M audio its old though maybe ten years , i now hace bought a Behringer UMC204HD  interface with midi ,cheers paul

[Starship Krupa]

That system would handle many times more than what you describe doing.

To be honest, I've not felt the limitations of my aging i5 notebook and not much on my even older Core 2 Quad system when running Cakewalk.

You will hear from people who will say that you "need" such and such to run a DAW in 2019 or such claims, but often to me it seems like what they are talking about is a system capable of composing movie soundtracks with huge sampled orchestral VSTi's and many CPU-hungry plug-ins on every track, in a high-pressure professional situation where time is money and you can't let the client down. Or similar. So it's true that some people need that, but certainly not all people.

The fact of the matter is that there is a vast spectrum of uses for a DAW, especially Cakewalk, and it's possible to get focused on our own use. For me, it's strictly a hobby, mostly audio, I've never loaded more than 2 VSTi's in a project. I should probably increase the RAM in my computer from 8G to 16, but when I went from 4G to 8G in my notebook it had so little effect on my use of Cakewalk that I just keep letting it slip.

My audio projects at this point are indie rock affairs, I favor minimalist production, my track counts seldom nudge into the 20's, if that. My reverb is all done via sends. My FX are deliberately-chosen CPU-friendly ones like Meldaproduction. My only "extravagances" are that I sometimes put iZtope Neutron or Ozone on a bus during mixing.

I use utilities like Task Manager and Process Explorer to see what's running on my system and turn it off if it's not necessary. I increase the buffers in my audio interface's driver during mixing to let Cakewalk breathe easier if it needs to. I often forget.

As you have seen, your 10-year-old notebook can hold its own with Cakewalk. @John said it all: to use your money wisely, higher clock speed is more important than number of cores, and if you want to use multiple monitors, get an accessory graphics card. My onboard Intel HD graphics are fine for Cakewalk, but I run two monitors so as to have the Multidock (Console/Mixer and Piano Roll, etc.) on the second monitor, and it's just better to have more dedicated video RAM. Any new system will have USB3 ports, so you're covered there.

Don't fret about the monitor connection. I looked at the back panel connections and the photo shows that it has a Display Port (that's the thing  just to the left of the DVI), which means that with an adaptor, you can connect any type  of monitor you wish. My Dell has the Intel onboard HD graphics similar to that system and I connected a HDMI monitor via a Display Port-to-HDMI adaptor. I now use the adaptor to connect the monitor to my Radeon 5770.

One thing to be VERY aware of when buying a preconfigured system such as the one you are considering is that part of the way the company who sells them makes money is by installing many, many demo programs that you most likely don't want and that may run at startup. To get maximum efficient use of your system it's necessary to get rid of this "crapware." There is software to help you do this, and Windows 10 even comes with a feature called "Fresh Start" that will install a "clean" copy of Windows 10 without any installed 3rd-party software.

[Paul Bush]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

That system would handle many times more than what you describe doing.

To be honest, I've not felt the limitations of my aging i5 notebook and not much on my even older Core 2 Quad system when running Cakewalk.

You will hear from people who will say that you "need" such and such to run a DAW in 2019 or such claims, but often to me it seems like what they are talking about is a system capable of composing movie soundtracks with huge sampled orchestral VSTi's and many CPU-hungry plug-ins on every track, in a high-pressure professional situation where time is money and you can't let the client down. Or similar. So it's true that some people need that, but certainly not all people.

The fact of the matter is that there is a vast spectrum of uses for a DAW, especially Cakewalk, and it's possible to get focused on our own use. For me, it's strictly a hobby, mostly audio, I've never loaded more than 2 VSTi's in a project. I should probably increase the RAM in my computer from 8G to 16, but when I went from 4G to 8G in my notebook it had so little effect on my use of Cakewalk that I just keep letting it slip.

My audio projects at this point are indie rock affairs, I favor minimalist production, my track counts seldom nudge into the 20's, if that. My reverb is all done via sends. My FX are deliberately-chosen CPU-friendly ones like Meldaproduction. My only "extravagances" are that I sometimes put iZtope Neutron or Ozone on a bus during mixing.

I use utilities like Task Manager and Process Explorer to see what's running on my system and turn it off if it's not necessary. I increase the buffers in my audio interface's driver during mixing to let Cakewalk breathe easier if it needs to. I often forget.

As you have seen, your 10-year-old notebook can hold its own with Cakewalk. @John said it all: to use your money wisely, higher clock speed is more important than number of cores, and if you want to use multiple monitors, get an accessory graphics card. My onboard Intel HD graphics are fine for Cakewalk, but I run two monitors so as to have the Multidock (Console/Mixer and Piano Roll, etc.) on the second monitor, and it's just better to have more dedicated video RAM. Any new system will have USB3 ports, so you're covered there.

Don't fret about the monitor connection. I looked at the back panel connections and the photo shows that it has a Display Port (that's the thing  just to the left of the DVI), which means that with an adaptor, you can connect any type  of monitor you wish. My Dell has the Intel onboard HD graphics similar to that system and I connected a HDMI monitor via a Display Port-to-HDMI adaptor. I now use the adaptor to connect the monitor to my Radeon 5770.

One thing to be VERY aware of when buying a preconfigured system such as the one you are considering is that part of the way the company who sells them makes money is by installing many, many demo programs that you most likely don't want and that may run at startup. To get maximum efficient use of your system it's necessary to get rid of this "crapware." There is software to help you do this, and Windows 10 even comes with a feature called "Fresh Start" that will install a "clean" copy of Windows 10 without any installed 3rd-party software.

 Thanks starship I´m in no rush so I´m going to take my time and find something that really does the job for my live simple projects thanks once again for your input and advice ,cheers