Before You Buy a new CPU or RAM for Music Production, Make Sure You're Doing This

TL;DR: Decrease your PPQ to 24 and use the Purge Function on Kontakt.
Thank me later. ;)
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🎻 LIBRARIES & SOFTWARE:
(For each module, the libraries are sorted based on how much I like them).
STRINGS: Metropolis Ark 1 & 3, Nucleus, Cinematic Studio Strings, Fluid Shorts, Cinematic Strings 2, Jaeger
BRASS: Metropolis Ark 1 & 3, JXL Brass, Nucleus, Twelve Horn Ensemble, CineBrass CORE, Century Brass, Jaeger, Angry Brass
CHOIR: Oceania, Metropolis Ark 1, Stormchoir 2
WOODWINDS: CineWinds CORE, Nucleus, Metropolis Ark 1 & 3
HYBRID PERCS & LOOPS: Damage, PercX, Decimator Drums, Cerberus
BIG CINEMATIC PERCS: Los Angeles Modern Percussion, New Epic Toms Ensemble, New Epic Dhol Ensemble, CinePerc
ORCHESTRAL PERCS: CinePerc, Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion, Kontakt Factory Library
PIANO: The Giant, Woodchester Piano, Spitfire LABS Soft Piano
HARPS & OTHERS: CineHarp, Kontakt Factory Library
SYNTHS: Juggernaut, Serum, Harmor, Jaeger, Evolution Atlantica,
ORCHESTRAL SFX: Metropolis Ark 3, Palette Orchestral FX
SOLO STRINGS: Tina Guo Solo Cello, Solos of the Sea, Cinematic Studio Strings Solo
SOLO VOCALS: Jaeger, Vocalisa
GUITARS: Basic Live Guitars & Bass routed into Waves GTR / Guitar Rig, Metropolis Ark 1, Heavyocity Atlantica
TRAILER SFX: Custom / Private Samples, AVA Instinct, Cinematic Trailers Designed, Epic Sound Effects Quantum, Scenes From The Multiverse Vol.1, Juggernaut, Jaeger, Evolution Atlantica, AizerX Classic Trailers Toolkit, AizerX Trailer SFX Tools
REVERB: ValhallaRoom, ValhallaShimmer
MIXING & MASTERING: iZotope Ozone 9 Advanced, iZotope Neutron, FabFilter Pro-Q3, FL Studio Plugins
DAW: FL Studio 20
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💻 HARDWARE & PC SPECS:
Desktop PC: 3.7 GHz Intel Core i7 8700k / 32GB DDR4 RAM / 2TB Samsung Evo860 M.2 SSD
Laptop PC: Asus ROG GLW752 (2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ / 16GB DDR4 RAM / 1TB Samsung Evo860 M.2 SSD)
Audio Interface: M-Audio M-Track Plus
MIDI Keyboard: M-Audio Keystation 49 MkIII

[@falkemusic4423]

As always, good advice. Especially the PPQ value is rarely ever mentioned in videos. But it is worth noting that how much RAM and what kind of CPU you need depends in part on what software you use and what DAW. For example, some of 8Dio's Century instruments use up to 300 MB fully purged (in contrast, many other developers including a lot of Spitfire stuff use only 50 MB), and there is no way to reduce that, since it depends on the scripting, the graphics, the effects included in the instrument (even if you switch them off in the instrument, they still use up RAM). If you use 20 tracks of them, that makes for almost 6 GBs without any samples loaded. If one uses a Mac, you can add to that 4 GB the system and the DAW needs to run, and you end up with not much RAM left even if you optimized the hell out of it. With those kinds of instruments, 40 tracks simply are impossible on a 16 GB computer. Of course, one rarely has projects with that many tracks of that RAM-hungry instruments, but it is a limitation one should know about. Also worth mentioning, some DAWs such as Logic do not allow you to temporarily unload instances to free RAM. You can silence tracks or deactivate MIDI, but the Kontakt instances and the instruments instances themselves still use up RAM. Long story short, on some systems and with some instruments, 16GB would really not get you very far. And yes, I have purged everything, limited voices in Kontakt, optimized the buffer size, etc. So, what you say is true for many home systems, but it does not generalize. The problem is that developers don't actually show you how much MB their instruments use, nor do reviewers usually check for this, so it is hard to know beforehand.

[@Evangelionism]

**Wakes up** **Quits job** **Drops out of school** **Bounces bills/rent** **Remembers to check Alex YT channel for potential updates**

[@Ciel069]

Lmfao relatable

[@synthwailer]

These videos are incredibly helpful even years after their initial release. Thank you.

[@Muzisoccer253]

Alex, I Would like to say a huge thank you for All of your work, your advises are tremendously useful for me, in my Journey. I follow the same dream as you and it's sooo good to know that the questions I have, you had the same in the past and you answer me on your Channel. Thank you and keep going !

[@CroElectroStile]

Can you help me out, does this purge trick, do you do it at the begining or after? what if i want to play allot first and find melodies then it's better to purge after, and then when i find the melody i want i record it and do the purge update, or do i just purge global, and then play play play till i find the desired thing and i purge global again and then record it? sorry for my English i hope you understand, if you can explain to me the order to this amazing insight i would appriciate it greatly , thank you!

[@Muzisoccer253]

​@@CroElectroStile Hello, i will tell you how I'm using this tool, perhaps not perfectly but it works for me. Imagine that we have 10 kontakt instruments in the kontakt player. if you are searching a melodie for the first instrument, you have to have every sample of the first instrument available in order to don't have any bug. So don't purge the first instrument while using it. But if you computer need it, you can purge the samples of all of the other instruments which are not used. In consequance, the computer keep in the RAM only the samples he need (the samples of the first instrument), you computer likes that and it's quicker :D To sum up, I think we have to purge the samples we are not using. When you want to listen to your whole track, you can do a "update sample pool", so your computer will keep in the RAM only the samples which are used by YOU into each instrument, not every samples of each instrument. So it's definitly lighter. Hope it will help you

[@givezaid]

Keep spreading the word Alex. Even after 5 years, this is a great demonstration and a very relevant subject. You are helping a lot of people. Cheers!

[@jandewilde3977]

"I see so many people buying hardware that NASA would use" 😂 Loved this line! Great tips indeed, I use them myself, as I too have 16GB of ram. However, if you do have the money for it, and you want to optimize your workflow, having 32 or even 64GB is not a bad investment, as you can then often open a single instance of Kontakt for each instrument. All the routing and then purging your instruments every once in a while might take up that little extra time you don't want to be losing. However, if you don't mind, these tips will definitely help! :-)

[@IsiahKendall]

Was having issues with Ram and came back to this classic video. Thanks Alex!!

[@PaulCassidyOrchestrations]

The kontakt purge I knew about but the PPQ tip was a god send! Cheers Alex.

[@MaksimVYSOTA]

very useful suggestions! Still "purge" tip when used limits quiet a lot the creativity (I mean when you play on self-made Kontakt Multi-instrument you want ALL samples be usable till the melody or the part is composed in your head) This year I grabbed iMac Pro 2TB SSD 64 GB RAM - and composing music became waaaaay more flexible. However, my MacBook Pro 2013 Late 512 GB SSD + 16 GB Ram is pretty tough guy and still "has it". I could keep using his potential to create new mixes. But with iMac Pro I am able to stay more focused on what exactly I do and on what I'd like to do. Those details are actually very important. And for the record, I still owe the bank 75% of Desktop's price - money is often only a question of priorities

[@richarddunn367]

Thanks for the shoutout! Appreciate it!

[@LevellerBeats]

Can you make a video about orchestral automation/modulation? That would be very helpful😋

[@AlexMoukala]

👍🏾👍🏾

@@AlexMoukala yes please! I know you have shared some tips in the past, but an updated tutorial would be amazing. Maybe sharing some new tricks?

[@DacianGradaMusic]

the purge function is a literal lifesaver!! thanks for this bro :)

[@azakitakanashi8168]

Notification squad! Love you and Love your work man...keep up the good work!

[@lowellp7275]

Thanks for demonstrating the Kontakt purge function! So cool.

[@abinj8054]

i have 8 gb ram and making a orchestral song.opens up damage .0.75 gb ram.i was like WTF.now i can use purge.thanks a lot mate

[@epiczeven6378]

Where is your cape? cause you are a hero ;)

[@DJSiTTriX]

Not all hero's wear capes

[@stg8385]

He's not a hero, just a nice man lol

[@CroElectroStile]

does someone uses the DFD buffer size trick as well with this purge? if yeah i would like to know how does that work then

[@urichsounds7370]

Thank you so much! You just saved me from spending a needless amount of money on extra ram! There is also a lot of clueless people doling out advice on how you need at least 64 gigs of ram to uninformed people like me.. your video answered all the concerns I had :)

[@Dohpamine_Design]

First like and view , keep up with the good work and I have been going through cpu issues and this video helped alot !!!!

[@PursonMusic]

This is a godsend Alex, I've just got a brand new iMac and despite being 6 years newer than my mac book pro it's been struggling. Nearly sent the thing back!

[@PursonMusic]

Also do you know if there an equivalent of the timebase setting in Logic X?

[@PursonMusic]

also my computer has a pathetic 5200rpm HDD, would it be a good idea to upgrade to a usb SSD to store libraries and samples?

[@NeekoFreeman]

I just purchased a 16gb hp desktop. It's entry level but it gets the job done. thanks for the kontakt tips. I will definitely try that out. I didn't know about the PPQ. I've been lurking around your Discord but haven't posted. That will change soon. :)

[@vinxvbbxbxb8190]

Watched a few of your videos,you just solved all my problems thank you so much 😊

[@greenguren]

seriously man, thank you so much! this video helped my GREATLY

[@jannohoeven2318]

Thanks for this mate. I was quiting produce house music because the cpu and this works

[@shamshirsound]

Fabulous thanks Alex, I make edm but I use kontakt often so this will help!

[@kinzokumusic6250]

wow, you have helped me so much Alex, the fact that you do all these tips and tutorials for me just baffles me, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have learned a lot from you, i compose orchestra too, but i wouldn't if it were not for you, I'd be lost, I hope to keep learning from you in the future, thanks man! also what library do you suggest for video game music that's not too hard on the cpu?

[@upallnighttmic2387]

Wow so Glad I came across this video 🙏🏾🙏🏾

[@MsZastra]

Thank you, Alex! Amazin' advice!

[@pederpontare3154]

Now it's later, thanks!

[@manuel0695]

In Italia! Ti senguo da tantissimo tempo ho sembra pensato fossi tipo americano, ora che mi dici che stai in italia la cosa mi lascia basito... Mi piacerebbe un sacco incontrarti un giorno. Buona fortuna a Londra!

[@Shin_v2]

Thanks for the tips, really useful !

[@adihaddad2060]

amazing video, thank you for the helpful advice

[@softmoneyy]

Great video! I’m subbed!

[@PrasannaBhojashettar]

Greetings from India.. you are really doing good work.. thanks a lot and keep doing more.. 😊👍

[@TroyJamz]

Thanks a lot, I appreciate the info. big up ya self King.

[@Tenon96]

Guys does anyoneone know how to set PPQ in Cubase LE 9? Great tutoril! Thank you Alex!!!

[@ABE2000]

I wish there's your first Disney Orchestral Template, just like Alan Menken, Hans Zimmer, and Danny Elfman. Cause it will be cool. I hope.

[@donseitan]

Besides I'm not a Fl Studio User, this video is gold.

[@goreseven6299]

Very helpful thank you!!

[@shayan333]

Wow this is amazing!! thank you so much :)))

[@vc2tb]

Thanks for the purge tip 👍👍👍👍

[@GutjahrSoundtracks]

Really useful tipps!

[@aarkay_music]

Thanks 🙏

[@Verdegrand]

My PC just came back from the dead and told me to say thank you.

[@juninhogomesgt]

Amazing words, man. I have a i7 4790k and 16Gb of RAM. I'll definelly always use purged samples from now. I think, I could maybe load all samples when I'll be writting for especifics instruments, and, once I write, I'll purge them again. Thank, man. You saved my money. Great video. By the way, when you purge all samples, can you play and hear the sound straightaway? Can your Evo 860 M.2 handle this perfectelly, or do you use other methods to write (maybe like I mentioned above)?

[@vic2net]

Thanks, you are awesome!

[@scoresbymj]

Hello Alex, thank you for this great video! Will reducing timebase effects the track any other ways? Did you use this technique for you mock ups like pirates of the Carribean and that cow boy kinda track which is awesome?

[@anshuman9400]

Alex=legend

[@CamiloMultiplex]

One year later I see your tutorial and is really awesome. Thanks so much for that information. But I have a question, how can I use the function of "time base" in Ableton? Cause I'm having the same problem with CPU even if I increase the buffer in the audio interface

[@YK1593]

Thanks so much for this tip... That's why I was in trouble...

[@DigitalCollision]

I just started shopping for a new computer. Now, perhaps I can wait ...

[@J-A-Music]

Amazing! Thanks :)

[@eliasandersson1254]

King!😀

[@johnzachariahg]

Yay.

[@jeranx1]

I humbly recommend NVME SSD's which are up to 5X speed than the current one. If you have to.

[@RichardBoyer]

Thank you for giving us this tip What is time bass ?? I don't have that on my DAW REASON

[@PuipinM]

Do you know if you are able to purge with EW as well? I have one of their libraries.

[@AakashRMusic]

*Ultimate.* ✅

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

do you have performance tips for Opus? I have to purge all one by one, what a primitive I got nightmares with 32 gb ram, 50 tracks, EW +Waves basic mix with basic FX and 3 min. If you have any tips , idk if this is normal. I am also not totally sure with is the best setup for Logic Pro in the audio preferences

[@davidbrussard-composer7372]

Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition has a lot of content, so it's going to be more intensive on your PC than other libraries. However, there are a few things that you can do to help with this. There's an option in preferences that loads samples in a purged state from the get go. Also, you can use one instance of Opus with multiple outputs for every instrument. You can then purge samples much faster when everything is conveniently inside one instance. You can also change the ratio of how much is loaded into RAM and the CPU, so if you're having problems with RAM, you can reduce the stress on it and put some of it onto your CPU instead. Also, are you using the Diamond or Gold edition? If you're using Diamond, only load up one mic position and use the others towards the end of the project.

[@Hamed.Comedyoon]

Tysm

[@nicolasarianos9731]

Hi.. what you think about 256GB ? Its ok for orchestral music composition?

[@jmxl5431]

Very good

[@efs797]

Are you using am ethernet box hookup of multiple laptops to divide cpu load for a samples only laptop and a daw only laptop?

[@Phoenix-tq8lt]

What was the first thing you did to drop it to the 90s in the beginning bro??

[@martindelcastillo9340]

Hey Alex, Question? I purchased Valhalla (Reverb) some time back after watching one of your videos. I stopped using it as it caused heavy CPU usage. Do you know why? Specs IMac 16GB i7

[@AlexMoukala]

How many instances of ValhallaRoom are you using in your project?

[@martindelcastillo9340]

Alex Moukala I only use one. I set up a FX track and bus. I get the same issue with H Reverb (Waves)

[@falkemusic4423]

I don't know what DAW you are using, but in Logic Pro, it can be important to not select an instrument track during playback. If so, I recommend creating an empty audio track (no effects, no busses, no Kontakt etc.) and select it during playback. See whether that reduces the CPU usage. It could be that you are overloading a single core because selecting an instrument track puts it into Live Input Mode, which is very CPU intensive.

[@martindelcastillo9340]

Falke Music thanks for responding. I’m using Cubase.

[@falkemusic4423]

​@@martindelcastillo9340, ok. Sorry, then someone else will have to help out. Good luck!

[@gokulkrish3839]

Thanks a lot..bro..

[@DmitryMiroshkin]

Thanks, Alex! Does anyone work in Cubase? I correctly understood that the settings in Cubase are in Preferences - midi? But here Midi display resolution is default is 120 and PPQ becomes 480. But Alex has another numbers of PPQ.

[@OneShortMoment]

That’s just the DISPLAY value for the PPQ (a.k.a. MIDI „ticks“ in Cubase.) The actual, internal PPQ value in Cubase is very high (1920) and can’t be changed. See also my other reply for this topic above (or below... wherever YT shows it)

[@Raja.222.]

Hi .I'm a complete beginner for to learn a daw. Is i3 core processor is good for install a music Daws ? Or i5 is good ? Can I buy i3 processor laptop? Which one is good for me like a total beginner one . And INFINIX laptop is good for music Daws? Plse reply bro

[@medbrahimabdelbeki9971]

Hey alex great video as always

[@AlexMoukala]

The outcome of article 13 is still uncertain, but I certainly don't want to let years of work go to waste. If things vo sideways here on YT, I'll try to find ways to publish my videos elsewhere. However, if you want to make sure to not lose touch with me if youtube goes down, join my Discord server or my email newsletter. You'll find links to both in the video description. ;)

[@medbrahimabdelbeki9971]

@@AlexMoukala I have already joined since a month or more I think... Okay then, thank you for the answer, God bless u

[@CroElectroStile]

Can you help me out, does this purge trick, do you do it at the begining or after? what if i want to play allot first and find melodies then it's better to purge after, and then when i find the melody i want i record it and do the purge update, or do i just purge global, and then play play play till i find the desired thing and i purge global again and then record it? sorry for my English i hope you understand, if you can explain to me the order to this amazing insight i would appriciate it greatly , thank you!

[@adityaghosal1000]

I don't know whether I am late or not but you generally purge all samples when you are starting an arrangement because that removes all the samples from the RAM and then when you slowly buildup the entire arrangement and you move to mixing it, you should update your sample pool, which essentially keeps the samples that are only required in your arrangement. Hope this helps!

[@yhwhrevength622]

How much ram would you recommend for DI guitar/bass with vst's plugins and midi tracks up the wahzoo? 100-200 tracks per song.

[@AlexMoukala]

I'm using less than 100 tracks per song I believe, and most definitely not 200, so you should probably get yourself hardware that is better than mine. CPU and SSD is probably what will need the most critical attention though in that case.

[@yhwhrevength622]

@@AlexMoukala Would 32gb of ram be enough? PLanning on building a system based around an i7 8700k or an i9 9900k..but I might wait until the new AMD CPUs.

[@AlexMoukala]

I suppose? Again, I don't use as many tracks in my music so I can't really give you a solid reply there as I personally never had a reason to go beyond 32GB i7 3.4GHz.

[@int3533]

I’ve got 32gb of RAM and that.... that didn’t make a dent.

[@charliexu5013]

Hi, could you make a video talk about how to find the cue and tempo? especially work with FL Studio, the video player is kind of confusing, I really want to know how do you work with it, appreciate.

[@adam91876]

Finding a tempo you can just right click on the tempo and click detect tempo. Or you can tap manually.

[@chosenplay6896]

wait.. you live in italy? :O

[@kriscody3577]

PPQN = RESOLUTION

[@callumhoskin]

Purge options are more limiting in other players like play

[@simonlegrec]

u speak very fast your music is amazing in the background

[@arielellunatiko2761]

Ugh i didnt know about this i only have 16 gig of ram plus i have 12 core processor i can max out the ra up to 128 guess ima have to go super man on my computer

[@nicksaya]

Where in cubase is that time base setting?

[@samratkundu8737]

For mid range setup which CPU should I buy..? CORE i5 or RYZEN 5?

[@chaseh.8447]

same but 5 gen above is good for FL!

[@samratkundu8737]

@@chaseh.8447 what about the latest i5? Can I use this al least for 4 years.. then I'll upgrade into an i7!

[@chaseh.8447]

Yes u can use the latest i5 7 gen

[@samratkundu8737]

@@chaseh.8447 well I wanna get at least 8th gen so which one would good...!?

[@redlgv7977]

How do you make FL use 15 gb of ram? i have 24 and it never used more than 1.7 gb :( my cpu is at 20% usage as well and this freaking DAW is lagging and stuttering and i just don't know what to do

[@XplusX12345678]

Red LgV I have an older version, but you have to use the 64 bit version.

[@nikaapo5571]

Does any of you know where to change the timebase/ppq in Reaper?

[@haupusimte7460]

Is this a flim music

[@jzilla_grudgegang]

I’m pretty sure ram has nothing to do with the performance of a vst

[@j.d.5709]

What program is this?

[@vrod2144]

I didn't understood this part? what did you do? 1:00

[@MrFerriirawan]

Change ppq setting to the lowest

[@chandravadan555]

you tips are real hacks

[@KeithMarvK]

I just want my computer to stop crashing when I'm using kontakt vst and reason together, or superior drummer3 and reason together. I'm at my wits end at this point. Aorus z390 ver.10 i9cpu 8cores 3.6ghz 64GB ram, force m.2 2tb Windows 10. ALL audio settings are at 24bit 41000 256 buffer

[@paulli7696]

Did you ever figure it out ?

[@KeithMarvK]

@@paulli7696 yes. It was my power supply as I suspected. Turns out the corsair CM750x is known to have an issue. Upgraded to the platinum rated 850. No issues.

[@MoeWAlsaadMusic]

Anybody, Is there is an equivalent to "Time base" options in Cubase and how to modify it?

[@OneShortMoment]

Moe W.Alsaad Music - No, there isn’t. You can set the DISPLAYED resolution of the „MIDI ticks“ to a lower value in Cubase, but that doesn’t do anything to the internal timing / the actual PPQ (which is something like 1900, I believe) that can’t be changed.

[@MoeWAlsaadMusic]

I see, Thanks!

[@6lackcomedy]

ARE YOU RUNNING 32 BIT OR 64 BIT FL STUDIO? I SEE YOUR RAM IS AT 17000 AVAILABLE FOR USE.....WHATS THE SECRET @Alex???

[@aldobriantlangi3416]

My RAM 12GB but ini FL studio detected 4GB, can you fix it ?

[@AlexMoukala]

Use FL64 instead of the nroaml FL Studio

[@samratkundu2799]

How would be an i7 8700 non k For music production?

[@davidbrussard-composer7372]

I'd say it'd be pretty good. I'm working on an i5 laptop, and it still works fine. RAM will probably be what you have most problems with, so I'd say that having about 8-16gb of RAM would be a good amount to get.

[@samratkundu2799]

i5 vs Ryzen5 for long lasting music production!?

[@ThomasEmain]

Get the new Ryzen!

[@samratkundu2799]

@@ThomasEmain really... Bt Intel works better.. Every producers say so!

[@ThomasEmain]

@@samratkundu2799 Only the i9s work better than the new Ryzen. Get like ryzen 3700x or 3600. You can view a comparison here www.scanproaudio.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Dawbench-DSP-Chart-2019Q3-1.jpg

[@sasufreqchann]

But we have FL studio 20 now ;3

[@Evangelionism]

Come back to version 11, bro. FL11 FTW

[@yaakovda]

Just use Reaper

[@Evangelionism]

*Even better: just install Coustic 3 and call it a day.*

[@Muthugaming843]

Please make udemy course

[@amou95]

step number 1: Move to ableton.

[@lldjwhyteell]

Haimin 123 this is incorrect

[@tranceemerson8325]

Alex: Says RAMs Me: *leaves*

[@Fabi-es1xy]

lol i only have 4 gb ram

[@sasufreqchann]

How can you make videos about what I think at the moment ? XD

[@Evangelionism]

Alex is within you.

[@stg8385]

Hey African Man! Welcome to America 😂👏