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Audio workstation

P-90
By P-90
in New Builds and Planning
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Posted (edited)

Hi all,

         I am looking at setting up a home studio and want a pc to record with. I have a budget of about £600 (uk) to buy every thing minus the keyboard, mouse and monitor. What will I need? I am off to uni soon so dont want a giant PC as i will not be buying another one until at least 2017. Would a good laptop be a good alternative? Thanks 

 

I will be using Reaper

Edited by P-90
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Posted

Hi all,

         I am looking at setting up a home studio and want a pc to record with. I have a budget of about £600 (uk) to buy every thing minus the keyboard, mouse and monitor. What will I need? I am off to uni soon so dont want a giant PC as i will not be buying another one until at least 2017. Would a good laptop be a good alternative? Thanks 

 

I will be using Reaper

 

Your requirements will pretty much be decent CPU, more than average RAM wise (16 gigs probably), and a fast hard drive or two. Do you want a GPU at all? You don't really need one and that will keep the cost way down

Feel free to message me if you want to chat!

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Your requirements will pretty much be decent CPU, more than average RAM wise (16 gigs probably), and a fast hard drive or two. Do you want a GPU at all? You don't really need one and that will keep the cost way down

I was looking more for system specs, I will not really do any gaming, so probably wont need a gpu. How about the laptop idea?

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Here's a simple build according to Reaper's recommended hardware setup.

You can add another 8 GB of ram and a storage HDD or get an i5 4570 and still stay within budget.

 

If you change your mind about gaming, just add a 750 Ti and your PC will be good enough for gaming.

I am sure any laptop with 8 GB ram and an i3 or an i5 will do a great job for you. Reaper is not a very resource intensive program and encoding audio will never push your processor very hard.
 

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I was looking more for system specs, I will not really do any gaming, so probably wont need a gpu. How about the laptop idea?

 

I'll get round to that in a bit. Just needed a bit more info :P If you're after one PC, to take to lectures as well, then the laptop is obviously the way to go. And seeing as you don't need a GPU that's that awesome, you've got a lot of options. Make your choice, laptop or desktop? (Personally, I'd swat towards the laptop if I didn't already have one.

Feel free to message me if you want to chat!

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I'll get round to that in a bit. Just needed a bit more info :P If you're after one PC, to take to lectures as well, then the laptop is obviously the way to go. And seeing as you don't need a GPU that's that awesome, you've got a lot of options. Make your choice, laptop or desktop? (Personally, I'd swat towards the laptop if I didn't already have one.

I think a laptop would be best as I can take it to lectures and the like. Also, my budget needs to have a interface and a mic in it as well. So dont blow all £600 please.

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I think a laptop would be best as I can take it to lectures and the like. Also, my budget needs to have a interface and a mic in it as well. So dont blow all £600 please.

 

oooooh. That's gonna be tough. Do you need headphones or monitors? Do you have a preference inputs wise or a type of mic (condenser/dynamic) 

Feel free to message me if you want to chat!

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II am looking at starting with a dynamic (SM57 or E606?) and i do not need monitors/headphones

 

with an SM57 (I have one and love it BTW), and an interface from Behringer (*le gasp*) you're left with 450 quid for a laptop. Issss not looking so good. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/asus-x550ca-xx249h-15-6-laptop-21836943-pdt.html

something like that could be okay, I guess.

Feel free to message me if you want to chat!

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with an SM57 (I have one and love it BTW), and an interface from Behringer (*le gasp*) you're left with 450 quid for a laptop. Issss not looking so good. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/asus-x550ca-xx249h-15-6-laptop-21836943-pdt.html

something like that could be okay, I guess.

How much extra would I need to spend to get something that would definitely be good enough?

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How heavy is the audio work you'll be doing? What's it for?

If you ever need help with a build, read the following before posting: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/3061-build-plan-thread-recommendations-please-read-before-posting/
Also, make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

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with an SM57 (I have one and love it BTW), and an interface from Behringer (*le gasp*) you're left with 450 quid for a laptop. Issss not looking so good. http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/asus-x550ca-xx249h-15-6-laptop-21836943-pdt.html

something like that could be okay, I guess.

 

How heavy is the audio work you'll be doing? What's it for?

How about this? Seen the i7 and the price and got a bit interested...

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/laptops-netbooks/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-e1-572-15-6-laptop-21712969-pdt.html?sPageInfo=3_20&sSortInfo=price-desc

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More RAM than the other, so that's good. If you can stretch the budget and are happy voiding warranties, throw an SSD in there. Perfect audio laptop sorted

Feel free to message me if you want to chat!

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Mostly simple stuff on reaper to start with, only a few tracks (Rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, drums and maybe vocals)

What are you planning/hoping to do later?

That i7 is worse than some mobile i5's.

If you ever need help with a build, read the following before posting: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/3061-build-plan-thread-recommendations-please-read-before-posting/
Also, make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

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