System Configuration Recommendation For Studio

[AC1DFOX]

I have a very good friend who has a podcast and several radio shows, and he is currently running everything through an old Dell laptop, and an old  Zotac Zbox ID42. He puts together quite a quality set of shows with this setup, but he really needs a better setup. He currently runs IPDTL, and Adobe Audition from the Zotac and everything runs through a Mackie ProFX8v2 mixer. He then has the Dell Laptop hooked up to the Mixer as well, primarily to play audio into the mix from YouTube and other sources. He wants to upgrade and possibly put everything into one system if possible, instead of having several systems hooked up to the mixer. He needs 2 people to be able to work at once, and would prefer to be able to have two instances of Audition open, so both people could be using it. Is that even possible on a single system? So, I am looking for ideas for a system build that would allow him to be able to consolidate (IF POSSIBLE) into a single machine, and also to do what he does now, with better efficacy and speed, Any recommendations?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id woud'nt use multipoint of when you have 2 monitors+ seprate sessions on each. Other than the 500 bucks for the copy of windows server and the 120 dollars per user, its a pain to use in some cases and audio can be annoying. VM's are also annoying, and not simple to setup and use, and normally cost more.

 

Id just get a few laptops. Look at something like a dell e5470. Use docking stations if you want a external keyboard and monitor.

[Guest Kloaked]

29 minutes ago, AC1DFOX said:

He needs 2 people to be able to work at once, and would prefer to be able to have two instances of Audition open, so both people could be using it. Is that even possible on a single system?

Probably not unless you use some VM out there that may or may not let you do that. I still wouldn't recommend doing that. You'd be better off getting two different systems.

 

If you want better speed and such, look into possibly quad-core laptops or desktops with SSDs installed instead of HDDs.

[Drak3]

You would be looking at a KVM like UnRAID. One could run two instances of an OS, or two different OS's, on a single CPU by giving each OS access to certain cores. One could use an 8 core as two quadcores this way.

 

But they should consider 2 systems in a case made to house two systems - one ATX and one ITX. This way, you don't have to worry about Ryzen's RAM channel limitation or deal with the cost of an Intel 8 core ($1000 for the CPU itself, you can get 2 7700K's and one mainboard for that price alone, and at stock, the 7700K's will perform much better than 1/2 of a 5960X or 6900K). One would be required to have one GPU per user, and an extra one for the setup of the KVM (although that can be a cheapo card like the GT 210). The only potential savings would come from the single power supply, single CPU cooler, and single case. Then there is the man hours it takes setting up a KVM on top of installing two operating systems/

Or just running 2 smallish ITX systems next to/on top of each other.

 

But if they're using an old Dell laptop and a Zbox, they don't even need the power that the 7700K affords them. They could easily use a pair of Skull Canyon NUCs, and attach those to the back of their monitors.