The Best Computer For Music Production - What's Needed And Why!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Here's an updated PARTS LIST with amazon links for the best computer for music production in 2022 based on the Intel i9-12900k: Check out my new and updated video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6rXaWCpbJyWh9U ☑Performance option: CASE: geni.us/define-r6usbc Main Board: geni.us/z690-f CPU: geni.us/i9-12900k CPU Cooler (Water): geni.us/pl360-flux CPU Cooler (Air): geni.us/NH-D15S RAM: geni.us/KFB-DDR5 POWER SUPPLY: geni.us/RM750x SSD (M.2): geni.us/SN570 VIDEO CARD: geni.us/RTX3050 Total cost: 2500 USD (approximately) ☑Budget Option: CASE: geni.us/corsair-110q Main Board: geni.us/A520M CPU (With cooler): geni.us/AMD5600x RAM: geni.us/kingston-ddr4 POWER SUPPLY: geni.us/NWE-Bronze SSD (M.2): geni.us/Kingston-NV1 VIDEO CARD: geni.us/RX6500 Total cost: 880 USD (approximately) ☑Accessories: Keyboard: geni.us/g213 Mouse: geni.us/logitech-g402fury Audio interface: geni.us/scarlettsolo-3rd-gen Headphones: geni.us/akg-k612pro Studio monitors: geni.us/Yamaha-HS8 Ultrawide monitor: geni.us/Samsung-49 Standard monitor: geni.us/spectre27 ☑prebuilt performance computers: Statationary (Intel): geni.us/Prism-12900k Stationary (AMD): geni.us/MEK-5950x Laptop (Intel): geni.us/G533ZW laptop (AMD): geni.us/ASUS-G15 ☑Prebuilt budget computers: Stationary (Intel): geni.us/cyberp-i5 Stationary (AMD): geni.us/ibuy5600 Laptop (Intel): geni.us/HPcorei5 Laptop (AMD): geni.us/HP-ryzen550 Here's the ORIGINAL list of components used for this video: ☑️ Case: geni.us/define-r6usbc ☑️ Power Supply: geni.us/corsair-rm750x ☑️ Main board: geni.us/asus-rog-maximus ☑️ CPU: geni.us/intel-i9-9900k ☑️ CPU Cooler: geni.us/noctua-nh-d15 ☑️ RAM: geni.us/corsair-lpx32gb ☑️ SSD: geni.us/mx500 ☑️ Video Card (Optional): geni.us/asusgtx1070 ☑️ Case fan: geni.us/fractaldesign-xpgp14 ☑️ Mouse: geni.us/logitech-g402fury ☑️ Keyboard: geni.us/g213 ☑️ Screen: geni.us/lg29wk600-w ☑️ Studio monitors: geni.us/Yamaha-HS8 ☑️ XLR Cables: geni.us/monoprice104761 ☑️ Headphones: geni.us/akg-k612pro ☑️ Audio interface: geni.us/scarlettsolo-3rd-gen Here's the AMD equivalent with the new Ryzen CPU's (Just replace motherboard and CPU): ☑️ Main board: geni.us/asus-rogstrixx570 ☑️ Ryzen 3900X: geni.us/ryzen9-3900x As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Support This Channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/firewalkmusic Support us with a one-time Paypal donation: www.paypal.me/firewalkmusic Need feedback on music, mixing, mastering? www.fiverr.com/firewalk

[@Wwaps]

Nice!

[@paulluna8099]

So basically $3,000 setup.

[@RuneKatashima]

Hi, looking at this for a friend. Is it right that your soundcard and audio interface link to the same item? Is the interface also the sound card?

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@RuneKatashima Hi, must be a double posting. I'll correct it. Yes it's the same thing. The audio interface is basically just an external sound card.

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@paulluna8099 If you buy everything from scratch, like monitors, audio interface etc then it will be quite expensive indeed. I think I spent around $2200 for just the computer. If you already have an older stationary computer then you can usually just upgrade it. In that case you can probably get away with just a new main board, CPU, RAM and possibly a new cooler for the CPU as well, unless you buy one with the cooler included. You don't really need to spend money on video card for music production. If you go for a CPU with integrated graphics then that will usually be more than good enough. :)

[@eggsrael4889]

I love how you sound like the guy from how its made.

[@FireWalkMusic]

😎

[@MaxUgly]

Today on How its Made we will be looking at DAW personal computers....

[@AC-hg5id]

he sound a bit like bright side

[@GCAT01Living]

I literally did a double take at the title to see if I had accidentally clicked on a "How It's Made" video.

[@herbyverstink]

Mr Brooks Moore

[@user-lt2rw5nr9s]

Can we just talk about how that lady is holding that cpu in the thumbnail?

[@rapidfiremuzik_official]

🌳👀🌳

[@MrJackrockerman]

Lol 😂👍👍

[@fritzvegaph1252]

Lol

[@gnudez1373]

xD

[@laishrambikramjit2429]

And the type of music he makes with his awesome set up 😢

[@neils9420]

Listen to that music makes my brain 100% loaded

[@FireWalkMusic]

😃

[@NoctumusTV]

Keep in mind that while single core performance is very important for the master output, all the "per track/instrument/plugin/group/..." processing can still be distributed among multiple CPU's. For example, the processing of the bass VST (and any effects applied to it) and the one of the drum VST can still be handled by two different cores (before reaching the master bus).

[@FireWalkMusic]

Indeed. All VST's can usually be processed separately. Additionally, every mixer track is generally an opportunity for the CPU to process in parallel. The problem is mainly all the waiting that needs to take place further down in the chain. Unlike with video editing and such, this becomes a problem because the sound needs to be played back in real-time. This is why fast processing is generally more important than having a large number of cores. The 9900k is great because it's located in the sweet spot where you have a good amount of cores, and at the same time very good single core speed. As you keep adding cores, single core performance tends to go down. If you look at the 9900x for example, which is a workstation platform, you get more cores, but about 12% slower single-core speed. The 9900k can also be overclocked to run at 5 ghz on all cores with no problem. Large overclocks will typically not be possible on CPU's with huge amount of cores since more heat is generated. To quote the developers (This is from the manual): The logic of audio processing - There is a long list of tasks that must be processed in sequence, and this means logically can't be processed in parallel (multithreaded). For example: Plugins must wait for instructions from the Piano roll and Playlist before they make sound. Effects must wait for the audio from upstream instruments and FX before they can process it. Further, it's not possible to parallel-process (multithread) instruments and FX that are on the same Mixer channel (their audio is mixed together), or even in the same Mixer routing pipe-line (when one Mixer track is linked to another and another, even FX processing has an order from top to bottom in the FX stack). Then, the Master Mixer track must wait for every instrument > mixer track > effect to be processed before it can process the audio through the Master effects. So logically, there is a lot of waiting that is a natural and unavoidable fact of DAW music processing. Think of a production line. This means the CPU may not be particularly busy, using all its cores and processing slots, yet it runs out of time to fill that tiny 5 ms audio-buffer because there was a lot of waiting for things that needed to be processed in sequence. It should be clear that fast processing is very important and this is not the same thing as multi-core processing. The best CPU is one that has enough cores to spread the work around AND can do the most work on a single core during each buffer time-slice. Which leads to our TIP: When comparing CPUs, look for the fastest single-core performance scores in a package with at least 4 physical cores.

[@cholst1]

@@FireWalkMusic "As you keep adding cores, single core performance tends to go down" - This is more of a intel problem. AMD bins in a way that more cores generally means higher single core, because the best binned chips go to top skus. And as for single core, there is very little seperating the 3900x/3950x and the 9900k. And scanproaudio did a proper dawbench review back in july, where the 3900x at times manhandles the 9900k: www.scanproaudio.info/2019/07/12/amd-ryzen-3600-3700x-3900x-dawbench-tested-3-is-it-the-magic-number/

[@1972OGTony]

@@FireWalkMusic Would getting DSP card from UAD help with DSP in a DAW?

[@larryfleming7295]

the ZEN 2 core has higher IPC than the current intel cpu...that means AMD has the fastest core

[@larryfleming7295]

we are on the RYZEN 3000 series and that i9 18 core cpu gets tossed by 16 core Ryzen

[@djjodav]

Came for the info, stayed and subscribed for that banging project you have going on as a real world performance test!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! Much appreciated :) Glad you liked it.

[@geluix69]

I had the exact same argument with a tech guy, he insisted it was all the same . Parallel or serial , nope big difference. Core speed is key to audio DAWs. My main DAW i7 core 4.2ghz murdered his 8 core 2.8ghz like it was nothing. Everyone who wants to build a music PC should watch this video, it’s excellent.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Indeed. Unlike video editing and such, which benefit massively from having many cores, audio in a daw has to be played back in real time. If there's too much lag it just won't work. If you look at the 9900k vs the 9900x for example, you should think that the far more expensive 9900x which is a workstation platform with 10 cores vastly outperforms the 8 core 9900k. However, the 9900x has about 12% slower single core speed, and it can't be clocked as high as the 9900k. More cores equals more heat, which means slower cores and less overclocking potential. Clock speed is also important, when you factor in operations per clock. Having a 8 core CPU with faster cores, running at 5,2 ghz will usually be far better than a 16 core CPU running at 4,4 ghz for example. I totally understand that this can be hard to believe for a lot of people. It's just not very intuitive. I'm not saying that a daw can't use multiple cores, because it surely can. I'm just saying that unlike video editors for example, it's just not very good at it. To quote the developers (this is from the manual): The logic of audio processing - There is a long list of tasks that must be processed in sequence, and this means logically can't be processed in parallel (multithreaded). For example: Plugins must wait for instructions from the Piano roll and Playlist before they make sound. Effects must wait for the audio from upstream instruments and FX before they can process it. Further, it's not possible to parallel-process (multithread) instruments and FX that are on the same Mixer channel (their audio is mixed together), or even in the same Mixer routing pipe-line (when one Mixer track is linked to another and another, even FX processing has an order from top to bottom in the FX stack). Then, the Master Mixer track must wait for every instrument > mixer track > effect to be processed before it can process the audio through the Master effects. So logically, there is a lot of waiting that is a natural and unavoidable fact of DAW music processing. Think of a production line. This means the CPU may not be particularly busy, using all its cores and processing slots, yet it runs out of time to fill that tiny 5 ms audio-buffer because there was a lot of waiting for things that needed to be processed in sequence. It should be clear that fast processing is very important and this is not the same thing as multi-core processing. The best CPU is one that has enough cores to spread the work around AND can do the most work on a single core during each buffer time-slice. Which leads to our TIP: When comparing CPUs, look for the fastest single-core performance scores in a package with at least 4 physical cores.

[@danielwaynejr.2317]

@@FireWalkMusic Hey, I'm looking to start a fresh music production computer build but on on a under $800 budget in full. I'd like to go desktop this time rather than laptop. Can you or anyone here guide me to either a build sheet or a already made computer with the specs I would need to make this all happen? I'm going to be running studio one 4.5 for a Daw. I have a 3rd gen scarlett 8i6 interface. Lots of plugins:) My main music choice is Rock music in the vein of Alice in chains, Soundgarden, Mad Season and Some pop and R&B. -wont use alot of tracks at once for that style of music..but will be using quite a few computer CPU hogs tho like nexus and kontakt and those kinds of stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any and all feedback. -ps- I'm not a pro by any means on the home recording depot..lol but its my sanity..lol I need to write and record:)

[@predater5017]

@@danielwaynejr.2317 get yourself something with AMD 3600x cpu and as much ram as you can afford running at 3600mhz. the rest is kind of up to you. i have a 2nd gen ryzen cpu running at 3.4ghz and nexus doesnt even touch it. any modern 6 core cpu running near 4ghz will generally be fine . kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIbGimiPm86daZI check that vid its 960$ gaming build but you can drop the gpu spec to suit and spend the money on hard drives and memory or keep it to have a nice gaming pc if youre into that as well. you could save some money on the case and spend that on the x version cpu and 3600mhz memory or use the money u save on the gpu as any cheap gpu will be fine if youre not gaming. you can probably save some more money on the motherboard as well if you wanted. just use pc part picker to check compatibility for anything you change if youre unsure.

[@ischiy2453]

Ryzen 5 1600 with 6/12 3.2-3.6 or r5 3400g with 4/8 3.7-4.2 and intgr. gpu?

[@trevorhust760]

I just built this computer, and it is absolutely amazing. Thanks for posting this video. You rock.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks :) Glad you're happy with the build. It should be able to take on almost anything you can throw at it :)

[@rohitkalsekar5033]

You cleared all my doubts about number of cores and powerful cores. Great information about choosing my first PC. Thanks a lot

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome. Glad you found it helpful :)

[@Texxavy]

After endless searching through KZbin videos to help me understand audio cpu processing I stumbled on your accidentally, and it's pure magic! Thank you for helping me with understanding this nuisance. Great video!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you found it helpful :)

[@CLICKMENAME]

When I was first making my EP, I had a laptop. One thing that I recommend all laptop users is a cooling fan and mount for the laptop. A simple USB powered one will work, and it can cool off your laptop decently enough to help it get through those rough patches.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Good tip! :)

[@kostischaveles]

Very informative nice!!! I have an i7 9700KF, Msi Meg Z390 Ace, Noctua nh-d15, be quiet silent base 801, 16gb ram, M.2+ ssd+ 8 x140mm fans. Everything is working so smoothly, I get low temperatures, very low noise and I’m so happy with my build ;)

[@FireWalkMusic]

That's a great system for Audio production, and should also work well for most other applications as well :)

[@crazyd3uces]

I came for the knowledge, stayed for the relaxing dialogue.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Much appreciated :)

[@ThrillbertMusic]

the part about single core processing importance was very helpful :)

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you found it useful. :) You might also want to check out my video about how to get better CPU performance in FL Studio, as well as how to make CPU friendly projects: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYi8nqStl5yVas0

[@grasped2]

True

[@xoxo-pp7ru]

@Bonez lol ur dumb

[@ZenDao_85]

Except its not true. Most vst plugs utilize all your cores. The ones that dont are considered buggy and a result of bad programming.

[@mriely]

Yeah, but then he went for a 9900k when an I5 has about the same single core performance. Still a helpful video, though. If I were to build a computer today, thunderbolt 3 would be a big point. Near 0 latency monitoring even with effects.

[@MarshalArnold]

Fantastic explanation and buyers guide! I went to Fractal Design cases a few years ago, similar to the one in this vid, but USB-C wasn't available then, but upgraded it a while back to an I9 as well to help with latency. Works like a dream! This is def the most comprehensive video I've seen on music station PCs. One thing I would add, if your a hardware nut like me. The motherboard may be something to add consideration to as well. PCIe slots are very important to my setup as I use a ton of external USB for synths and MIDI to USB dongles and interfaces. I would suggest if you have a ton of external gear, get a mobo with as many PCIe slots as possible so you are able to add additional USB ports. Even if you dont use all of them, later on when you need them they will be available for expansion and you won't have to daisy chain off a single bus with a multiport USB dongle which can cause huge a bottleneck and cause addition latency. But if your all VSTs then basically forget everything I said 😁

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, very good points here! :)

[@XRXONE]

Just wanted to come back and thank you for this video and all other videos you’ve been posting since the beginning. Been a supporter since day one and I have recently bought and built my first good PC. This video especially helped me in choosing the right and most suitable parts : )

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! Much appreciated! Glad to see there's people who has been sticking with the channel from the start 😃

[@josiael6637]

For me this is the best video that I watch for build a pc home studio out there, thanks man!!!

[@SherryMathews]

Your video was exactly what I needed! So nicely explained.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! Glad you liked it :)

[@dussie920]

I would like to add 3 points: Smart Disable (FL Studio), ASIO drivers and priority tracks (Atari Cubase). FL Studio users can use the Smart Disable setting to save CPU time. You set this up in the Audio settings first and then in the drop down menu of every plugin (synths, processors, ...) you enable Smart Disable for that instance. This saves a lot of CPU time on CPU heavy plugins when they are idle. Sometimes it doesn't work 100%, like with the Raum VST (reverb tails are cut to early), but you can turn the option off when you are going to render the project. :-) Good ASIO drivers for your dedicated external audio device are a must too. Wrong drivers and internal onboard units will use CPU time to compute, where good external devices with good drivers can make their hardware do the maths for your DAW. I know there are still quite a lot of Atari Cubase lovers around, so yeah, this still can be useful to someone... ;-) Atari Cubase users should not forget that the first two MIDI tracks are "priority" tracks. You should place time critical MIDI tracks like drum parts in here.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Good tips :)

[@KeithMarvK]

I went with the i9(8 core), aorus Xtreme motherboard, I have the same cpu cooler as you, and 64gb of RAM. 8TB of storage (2TB M.2, 2TB SSD, 4HDD). I have similar specs as you on the rest of my build. I did months of research. I use loads of composer sound libraries for big projects. I didn't want to sacrifice anything when it came to processing and rendering. I think I'm in good shape. Nice to see this video give me some confirmation on my build. I didn't want to 'settle' for buying a gaming computer, so i just built mine to suit. There aren't as many videos that cover cpu builds for music production as well as you have in this one. Great information.

[@hitzoneproductions7858]

Hi Keith, I compose film score. Im looking for help keeping up with demand. Would you be so kind as to shoot me your email address or contact me at [e-mail] please?

[@mchild1983]

How much u pay

[@HollywoodVirtualAudio]

@Keith Harris II How do you feel about it several months later? I have a 12 Core Mac Pro with 96 gigs of Ram and 16TB of storage. There are so many strong options available today. If you're an orchestral guy, you are probably are aware of VEP Pro (Vienna Ensemble Pro). Everyone uses it, Junkie XL, Hans Zimmer. I have a license but usually get by with the one Mac.

[@xoxo-pp7ru]

@@HollywoodVirtualAudio do orchestral guys even make money tho 😳🤔

[@HollywoodVirtualAudio]

​@@xoxo-pp7ru Oh so the average guy making beats is somehow paid?! For the most part, no one is making (MONEY). Actors, Dancers, Musicians all waiting tables in this town. Only a hand full get a break. But yes, just like the rest, some orchestral guys make money, most don't!

[@delbertbrown9307]

This video has help me to understand more about choosing the best for music production

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you found it useful. :)

[@jean-baptiste9230]

The best video I have seen, very clear! The total of everything is about $1700.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks :)

[@dillincasa6161]

Wow I just bought a gaming laptop with an intel i7 9k for $2,400 I should have just got a tower

[@januskhazar237]

that was simply amazing..the information, lesson, building every thing!!!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, glad you liked the video 😀

[@williammansfield5092]

Wow! As a newbie, this is the best NO BULL video on building a DAW computer. Even if you don't go with his recommendations on CPU and motherboard, you can't go wrong using this information and the provided links to gather the info needed to make an educated decision on what you equipment choose! Thank you so much for the explanations on why a DAW is different than a gaming PC. So many videos I have watched just say any gaming set up will handle the needs of a DAW. Now I know different.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks. When playing games, the GPU is often more important than the CPU. You then need a CPU with good single core performance to keep up with the GPU, but it doesn't actually have to do the same amount of work as with music production. When you buy a gaming computer you're paying a lot for the video card. It's better to spend those money on a better CPU and get a cheaper video card if you're just using the computer for music produciton. In music production you also want fast single core speed, but also a good amount of cores, so a gaming computer isn't always the best option. :)

[@drfleka]

@@FireWalkMusic Some games depends a lot from cpu. That mean you are wrong.

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@drfleka Yes, a few games do, but most rely quite heavily on the gpu. why is it that the i5 has been so popular among gamers for so long then? It's not nearly as capable as the i7 or i9.. it's for the same reason a 5820k workstation would be a bad choice for a gamer. It would hold back the gpu, but it would also be much better than the i5 when it comes to realtime audio production.

[@drfleka]

@@FireWalkMusic I agree, but still for good gaming you don't want to bottleneck your GPU. For music production, since DAWs support multi core I'm not so sure that Intel is better than AMD. And these year i am certain that AMD will be more powerful.

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@drfleka Yes, daws do support multiple cores, but the problem is that they are not very effective at spreading the work out over those available cores, which will inevitably cause issues when one core is overworked. Because the audio is processed in realtime, if only one core is overworked and starts lagging behind, then it doesn't matter if there's 10 other cores availale. You'll still have overruns and crackling sound. Here's what the developers say about this issue, and I'll quote from the manual: "The logic of audio processing - There is a long list of tasks that must be processed in sequence, and this means logically can't be processed in parallel (multithreaded). For example: Plugins must wait for instructions from the Piano roll and Playlist before they make sound. Effects must wait for the audio from upstream instruments and FX before they can process it. Further, it's not possible to parallel-process (multithread) instruments and FX that are on the same Mixer channel (their audio is mixed together), or even in the same Mixer routing pipe-line (when one Mixer track is linked to another and another, even FX processing has an order from top to bottom in the FX stack). Then, the Master Mixer track must wait for every instrument > mixer track > effect to be processed before it can process the audio through the Master effects. So logically, there is a lot of waiting that is a natural and unavoidable fact of DAW music processing. Think of a production line. This means the CPU may not be particularly busy, using all its cores and processing slots, yet it runs out of time to fill that tiny 5 ms audio-buffer because there was a lot of waiting for things that needed to be processed in sequence. It should be clear that fast processing is very important and this is not the same thing as multi-core processing. The best CPU is one that has enough cores to spread the work around AND can do the most work on a single core during each buffer time-slice. Which leads to our TIP: When comparing CPUs, look for the fastest single-core performance scores in a package with at least 4 physical cores. " This will be the case with every daw. The audio is traveling from A to B to C. That's why the order of your mixer inserts matter, because it always goes from the first to the last. It can't process the last effect before those befor it has been processed, because it can't process something that hasn't happened yet, which means it has to wait. In other words, serial processing, and there's a lot of that in a daw. This is why single core speed is more important than a large number of cores. The 9900k can run at 5 ghz on all cores, while the AMD flagship can only run at 4 ghz on all cores. AMD has more cores, but even so, keep in mind that this doesn't help if the daw can't effectively spread the work over those cores.

[@JaggyP1109]

Pretty good video, but I have to make a correction to something the author said. DO NOT use the IGP(integrated graphics) on the processor. Especially if you are using a high resolution monitor or multiple monitors. Opt for a lower end graphics card. Two reasons, additional heat and eating into system ram. The additional heat can affect your boost clock on your cpu and using it, especially with 4k monitors, will use a significant amount of system ram........(found this out from experience)

[@FireWalkMusic]

Good point! I don't recommend using it either, which is why I listed a graphics card in the parts list. Having more than one monitor can be really helpful too. :)

[@robertkajtazi4732]

Best guide out here my man, thank you!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you found it useful.

[@Chaga1314]

Very useful man. U managed to make a tech video that is relevant regardless of time

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! That was exactly what I was trying to do 😀

[@jfh142857]

Ableton Live 10 by default can run 64 threads for audio calculation. Each thread is dedicated to a single chain of audio. Both core count and clock speed improve performance.

[@brandanleiter]

Are u saying Ableton Live 10 has the ability to process faster because it can make use of the extra cores?

[@tubhush6569]

@@brandanleiter If it can use extra cores, it would definitely be faster and more convenient than FL studio.

[@jakeg5315]

Thank you! Was looking for this information everywhere! This is so well explained.

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome :)

[@mikedevey2748]

Best video on building a PC for music production on KZbin! Also every time I hear you playing music on your channel I'm like "wait...what?!?!", very good trance music. Do you have anything on streaming services?

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, glad you liked the video. You can find the full track from the project used in this video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6nWh6GtqNBni5I

[@clintdowney7658]

Shot for a $1000 budget. Ended up buying a Ryzen 5 3600. It was $195 vs $470 spent here on the i9 9900k. You get 6 cores instead of 8 but an almost identical single core performance. I see a lot of people going this route as the intermediate music producer with a decent gaming pc as a side benefit. Just wanted to take what I learned apply it and share it. Thanks!

[@FireWalkMusic]

That will most likely work very well. The trick is to figure out how demanding your projects are and how much you really need, and then get something that's a little bit faster than that, so that you have a bit to go on. No need to buy a $2000 setup if you can make due with a $800 setup :)

[@nimakarami8367]

bruh thank u for blessing my soul. god bless yours.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! :)

[@JUdrums]

neat, i want to upgrade my PC for a few months now but didnt have the information what to look for in building the best build for production! Thank you :)

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome! :)

[@JasonH6978]

How It's Made vibes with Tom Bodette from Motel 6 commercials. Great info here

[@streifr]

Very detailed and well-done video with all the lists of parts. Excellent. Thanks!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks. You're welcome :)

[@RP123lolololol]

Finally someone that explain everyting in detail for music production and why to chose a powerful single core performance cpu

[@FireWalkMusic]

You probably meant single core performance, not single core cpu? Generally you want as many cores as possible, since every daw can spread work out over several cores. But you also want the fastest single core performance possible. As you keep adding more cores to a CPU, there's usually a point where there will be a trade off, so that you get reduced single core performance in favor of more cores. That's generally the sweet spot as I call it, and you'd want to get a CPU with the most cores, and the highest single core performance possible.

[@RP123lolololol]

@@FireWalkMusic yes lol

[@HyderyuszEnT]

@@FireWalkMusic wich means AMD cpu is garbage to do something in music processing

[@LucasLeCompteMusic]

I ended up going from an intel 6600k to a Ryzen 3700x and it is night and day. The 3700x is super fast and handles everything well. I also do a lot of video editing so the 3700x was better for me. Right now Intel is a tiny bit faster on single core speed, but Ryzen smashes in basically everything else. If anyone is building a new computer, I would def go with AMD.

[@FireWalkMusic]

For video editing and other multithreaded application AMD is king these days. No doubt about that, and unless someone really need the best of the best for music production purposes, AMD will generally provide a better all-round computer. In terms of raw performance, the 9900k will still outperform even the AMD flagship right now, especially when overclocked. The AMD chips are basically pushed to the very limit right out of the box, and a 3900x for example won't be able to run any higher than 4,2 - 4,3 GHZ Tops, on all cores at once. The 9900k on the other hand will be able to run at 5 GHZ on all cores with no problem, and in some cases even 5,2 - 5,3, which is 1 GHz faster than the AMD. Considering the fact that single core performance is more important than many cores when it comes to music production, I will tend to still recommend the 9900k for anyone who need the very best for music production purposes. That said, for anyone else who don't need to push their projects to the very limit, and who also do other tasks such as video editing, the AMD will be the best choice by far. I'm so glad they finally stepped up and gave Intel a run for their money. I used to be a real AMD fanboy back in the days. I remember when AMD beat Intel to the 1 GHZ barrier. Back then AMD was always one step ahead, but for a long time now they haven't been able to compete with AMD in the performance segment at all, until now! They have made some great CPU's this time, and combined with Intel's ongoing manufacturing problems they are rushing past Intel, and that's ultimately great for us, the consumers, as it will result in more competition and lower prices. :D Sorry for the long post.. I got a bit carried away :)

[@LucasLeCompteMusic]

@@FireWalkMusic don't apologise; nerding out about CPUs is fun! I

[@FireWalkMusic]

Here's the link to the full song from the project in this video, as requested by some viewers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6nWh6GtqNBni5I

[@mminoas9055]

the best review i have ever seen on youtube....thank you...you help me...

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, glad you liked it :)

[@rtroiani]

Good info. Personally I haven’t found anything easier, more useful and reliable for both live and recording than an i7 MacBook Pro, SSD, 16gb ram and a Behringer XR18 mixer. I use xAir on the Mac and iPads for live mixes and monitor tweaking for the band members, and Reaper for recording up to 18 tracks at once. The fan hardly turns on while doing all of that. Plus very mobile.

[@FireWalkMusic]

The i7 is still a beast of a processor and should be more than enough for most people. :)

[@bpomeroy3]

Excellent. will re-view for reference. Ran into all the downfalls with gaming computer. And reverb or convolution really bogs down speed.(BTW also have a noisy annoying fan.)

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you found it useful :)

[@CStrachanCreative]

Great video! Best I have ever seen on building a PC for music.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks. Glad you found it useful :)

[@dezinerAhmad]

The best video till now on music pc

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, much appreciated! :)

[@neuronmind]

Before buying a new pc, consider this. My 12 year old q6600 o.c.'d to 3ghz with 8gb 1333 (cas ras rtas 7-7-7, suck thát ddr 3200..) and an antique EMU 1212m pcie (196 / 24 - 120 db Snr) Works as a charm as my DAW. It runs a typical setup of a flagship sequencer running 24 audio channels , 10 vst instruments ( with lot's of 'm multitimbral so between 2 and 10 stereo outputs per VST = about 40 channels stereo sound realtime processed in a regular project, 8 high quality send effects , about 10 insert effects, a mastering end stage, and about 30 midi channels including multiple automation on all midi , instrument and audio channels.All at 24/96. Latency during such a project 8 thousands of a second.(8ms). Now if your aim is huge movie scores , you probably want something more powerful . But for complicated dance, edm ,pop or house my system is more than powerful enough. It's not the pc ( well just a bit..)but the way you set it up that makes it capable of handling high speed , high quality, low latency audio. This is a track made with my PC. soundcloud.com/user-274767087/spirito-something-special

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hey, cool track, I just listened to it. It's true what you say here, what you need in terms of computing power will depend on a lot of factors. If you're making huge projects with a lot of VST's and effects then you'll typically need a lot of performance. If your'e making smaller projects then you can get by with less. Also, if you mostly use pre-recorded samples or external gear, then you don't need that much. I should point out though that if you're recording midi then you'll need a low latency while recording, and even a medium size project will consume a lot of CPU power when the buffer size is reduced for recording. Usually though, the i7 CPU's will still be more than enough for most people. The new AMD 3000 series will also provide a lot of performance for your money.

[@alexschallymusic]

The demonstration song is so good

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks 😀 you can listen to the full track here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6nWh6GtqNBni5I

[@alexschallymusic]

@@FireWalkMusic Thanks

[@luigidaniellmusic]

absolute Briliant VID from you . Thanks for your time .

[@kyfisher3662]

if your using Ableton multiple cores can benefit mattering how you use it, go for more cores if your using lots of chancels and lots of small vsts on each go for higher single core speed if you have only a few channels but lots of vsts on each

[@kyfisher3662]

and for people buying CPUs price the motherboard with it because some cpus need $120 motherboards where others need $450 motherboards

[@FireWalkMusic]

Every daw can use multiple cores, including FL Studio. I'm sorry if I was unclear about this. The reason why single core speed is generally more important than having a lot of cores is because there's a lot of waiting involved, due to dependencies created within the project, which can't be logically processed in parallel. This is the reason why windows task manager will usually report a very different result than the meter in your daw. Task manager will report on the overall CPU consumption, while the meter in your daw is measuring your CPU's ability to fill the audio buffer within the allowed time. In essense, it's ability to play back the audio in real time. VST's can usually be processed by different cores. Individual mixer tracks are also an opportunity for the CPU to use multithreading, so having many cores is definitely an advantage. The problem is that there's always a trade-off between number of cores and single core performance. As you keep adding more cores, single core performance will tend to go down. For example: The 9900k has about 12% faster single core speeds than it's more expensive workstation counterpart, the 9900x, which has more cores. The 9900k, as well as the earlier 9700k etc are all located in this sweet spot. The new 3000 series from AMD also have very good single-core performance. Here's what the developers say: "There is a long list of tasks that must be processed in sequence, and this means logically can't be processed in parallel (multithreaded). For example: Plugins must wait for instructions from the Piano roll and Playlist before they make sound. Effects must wait for the audio from upstream instruments and FX before they can process it. Further, it's not possible to parallel-process (multithread) instruments and FX that are on the same Mixer channel (their audio is mixed together), or even in the same Mixer routing pipe-line (when one Mixer track is linked to another and another, even FX processing has an order from top to bottom in the FX stack). Then, the Master Mixer track must wait for every instrument > mixer track > effect to be processed before it can process the audio through the Master effects. So logically, there is a lot of waiting that is a natural and unavoidable fact of DAW music processing. Think of a production line. This means the CPU may not be particularly busy, using all its cores and processing slots, yet it runs out of time to fill that tiny 5 ms audio-buffer because there was a lot of waiting for things that needed to be processed in sequence. It should be clear that fast processing is very important and this is not the same thing as multi-core processing. The best CPU is one that has enough cores to spread the work around AND can do the most work on a single core during each buffer time-slice. Which leads to our TIP: When comparing CPUs, look for the fastest single-core performance scores in a package with at least 4 physical cores."

[@kyfisher3662]

​@@FireWalkMusic different DAWs and different workflows apply to what choice people make with buy a CPU, rather than a blanket statement that one is better than another. both these factors should be considered when choosing a cpu, i use Ableton the most but receive a lot of my work from partners using Logic Pro and Studio One. i notice a great differences in how each persons workflow and DAW effects my computer that is using a cpu with a higher single core speed that theirs but less cores. i also find workflow to be the most depending factor in this. here's a quote from Ableton to show how a different workflow can benefit from a different cpu. "More cores, slower clock speed Pros Live supports multi-threading, therefore the more cores are available, the more efficient it will be when working with larger sets with higher track counts, or when working with large instrument or effect racks. You'll be able to run more apps in conjunction with Live without seeing performance drops. Cons Lower single-threaded performance than a higher clock speed processor. Fewer cores, higher clock speed Pros Better single threaded performance. Cons Fewer cores to split between applications. Not as strong multi-threading performance."

[@samlongman1831]

Thanks. I'm looking for information for a new build. I've seen a few videos that end with "not as much improvement as I expected". I think CPU speed is not as important as people think. I just watched a great video from Richard Ames Music from 5 years ago and finally got the answer. The key is real-time performance and that is effected by how much the CPU is locked up. Therefore I think a good motherboard, fast SSD, good drivers and good OS set up play an important role.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Look for a CPU with as fast single-core performance as possible. That's more important than the number of cores. Fast single core speeds and high clock speed is key. No need to invest in a 24 core monster if you can spend less money on a CPU with slightly fewer cores, but with higher single core performance. In this particular comparison, the old rig was a workstation with quad channel memory, and the new 9900k was only using dual channel memory. about 15% improvement at max muffer size. However, it should be said that the old rig was unable to run the project on anything less than 2048 samples, while the new one was able to run it at 512 samples, which is essential if you want to record live for example.

[@delphia.online5875]

Or get an old multi-CPU server for a tenth of the cost. I spent $450 in 2018 spec'ing an old Dell T5600 to 2x E5-2690 (16 core), 64 GB Ram, and a 1TB SSD (very important if you are reading many tracks from the hard drive, as in recorded instruments, not virtual.) The computer scores a 11,500 on Geekbench, and I rarely peak over 50% total CPU usage even with projects with 200+ tracks, multiple reverbs, and modeled instruments.

[@TheTattoedVRpilot]

What was total cost of entire build? You think you could help me out on a build?

[@delphia.online5875]

@@TheTattoedVRpilot eBay is your friend. So is PassMark test data. I spent $450 total.

[@TheTattoedVRpilot]

delphia.online so u got a dell t5600 and added ram, new cpu and hard drive?

[@delphia.online5875]

@@TheTattoedVRpilot Two years ago. If you want the best price to performance today, go to PassMark, compare CPUs, and then check on eBay. Your best best for price is probably going to be a deal CPU server motherboard with or without CPUs installed.

[@heythere6983]

I just looked into these parts but it still gonna be at least 2x what you spent, you got good deals. However I have no idea what kind of ram or ssd's to get from brands ETC, I know nothing of building computers

[@saricubra2867]

I'm using an old laptop with an i7 4700MQ (6 years old at this point for 2020), this CPU is still a beast from a value/perfomance perspective. I also have 16GB. I like synthesizers a lot, specially using Zebra 2, so that i7 is a quadcore but with very good single thread perfomance maybe superior to 3rd gen Ryzen from the U series on the mobile segment. Max temp is 85 °C when the CPU usage is 100% for all cores but basically no thermal throttling overall, always at 3.2-3.1 Ghz for all cores, without fan noise, amazing laptop and is very old at this point. I also use it for very light gaming and console emulation.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Even an older i7 will work well for music production. They have good single core performance and unless you make huge orchestral compositions for example, with tons of vst's and effects, then you really don't need anything more than that. :)

[@kurose5826]

This guy deserves more support!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! :)

[@Jalmaan]

I was thinking of getting the i9-9900K but i got the R7 3800X since has higher clockspeed and was the same price incl new motherboard. I used to have a i5-8400 and where it maxed out to 100% it's now on 30% usage

[@keyboyrecords]

Make sure your mother board has a thunderbolt port so that you can utilize Universal Audio.

[@thatchinaboi]

Except UA drivers for Windows 10 sucks from what I heard. Presonus Quantum series is the only way to go if you want that ridiculously low RTL on a Windows 10 PC.

[@keyboyrecords]

@@thatchinaboi no problem with UAD and Windows 10 64bit here.

[@thatchinaboi]

@@keyboyrecords What is the lowest RTL you can go without getting any crackles? Fine for you is not fine for me. 😂

[@worthingtonproductions2579]

You can get usb FireWire or usb 3 The latency is all fine

[@wavydre8547]

What exactly is universal audio and is it something I should consider getting?

[@saricubra2867]

I noticed something, when you put a lot of effects on one mixer track, you start to notice a single thread bottleneck in the computer and there is a bigger gap between the CPU meter in FL Studio compared to Windows 10. It seems that the best way to optimize the CPU usage is avoiding a lot of effects on a single channel. Sidechaining can reduce the singlethread bottleneck, i made a very synth heavy musical piece but i did sidechaining and reduced the gap between FL Studio's CPU meter and Windows 10.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, I actually have a video about this, you might find it interesting: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nomUYZ5ufcdqbck

[@saricubra2867]

@@FireWalkMusic In my i7-4700MQ the gap between FL Studio's CPU meter and Windows's task manager is more or less 10%. Like 80% in Windows's Task manager and 90 in FL Studio, running with a buffer of 256 and can also handle 128. I could go even further but i get thermal throttling at almost 85°C. Base clock is 2.4GHz but with an undervolt, it's like running overclocked to 3GHz or a 30% improvement in perfomance. I guess that the best CPUs are the ones that have a small gap here and specially desktop ones, they have better controlled thermals therefore more stable perfomance close to 100% use. Maybe a Ryzen 9 3900X (it has the best singlethread perfomance from AMD and 12 cores) will have better boost clock behavior or thermals than an i9-10900K? I saw in some benchmarks that the Ryzen 9 3900X can beat the i9-10900K in rendering but it seems that it happened due to the better boost behavior, i don't think that with an i9-10900K can handle an extremely synth heavy project and still clock at 5 GHz due to the heat.

[@SyncRoomTellsTales]

Hands raised! Bowed down! Thank you!

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome :)

[@joachimhavefaith6310]

I need more RAM since i'm making orchestral music. I have 8, need at the very least 32 gb. Love your videos btw, you explain things so well!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! Glad you found it helpful. 8 GB is not a whole lot for huge libraries and such.

[@chil310]

Thank You so much!!! Crystal clear guidance.

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome :)

[@BrandonBeanland]

I love the melody of the song

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you liked it. You can listen to the full track here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6nWh6GtqNBni5I

[@thomasfroland762]

I needed this! Thank you!!

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome :)

[@LMV2]

Me too! Thanks

[@dtonesmith766]

I'm back to using tascam 4 track cassette recorder. 40 years old. no problems.

[@MS-Patriot2]

D thomzom and you’ll spend more time on your music instead of all this BS !

[@ExsultoMusic]

Very good video! Much needed!🔥

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! Glad you liked it :)

[@oli._.var0]

wow I love how you explain all of this. I am very bad at PC technical stuff, but your explination made it very clear and understandable.

[@ghostgetsbusy]

no wonder my computer be glitching and fighting to play the beat smooth

[@squishyfishyempire9027]

Dude sounds like the narrator from how it's made. Quite relaxing

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks :)

[@mvoproject]

I thought about the 9900k, but it`s too expensive for me, so I chose the 9700k, 32G RAM, 512G SSD 970 Pro on M.2. I think its not bad for the music production at home =) Thanks for the video.

[@FireWalkMusic]

The 9700k will also work very well! :)

[@derekgodbout4919]

Thanks so much! I was ecstatic when I saw you make trance. Awesome!!

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome :)

[@mli3083]

A couple points: - You do not need a dedicated graphics card for music production unless you are running multiple displays on super fancy monitors. The graphics card he recommended isn't necessary for the vast majority of producers. - This guy's overall setup is a lot more than 99.9% of producers need. You can get a great build for under $800, even if you plan on using your computer for gaming too. Seeing the size of his FL projects though...it kinda makes sense why he built such a behemoth lol

[@FireWalkMusic]

Indeed. Good points! :) A DAW such as FL Studio can't utilize GPU acceleration, so you can indeed make due with the built in GPU in the CPU if you go for such a CPU. The only reason I would recommend a VGA card is to be able to use two or more monitors, and also if you're doing other tasks such as video editing, gaming etc. :) Regarding performance, this video is about the the best you can get at the moment, but if you want to get the best you can get within a budget, then I would recommend AMD instead since you typically get more performance for your money by going the AMD route. Even though their chips typically offer lower single core performance than Intel chips, you'll end up with a faster system overall. :)

[@AnymMusic]

yup. just be sure you have enough RAM and a decent CPU

[@squidz33]

@@AnymMusic would an i5 procceser and 8g of ram be good to start ?

[@twelvegs2104]

@@squidz33 8GB is plenty, but in 2019 at current pricing, it makes no sense to not go 16 GB.. I was using a 2012 i5 3570K in FL Studio and it was working perfectly. In upgraded to a MUCH faster i5 9600K, I don't notice any difference in capability besides rendering the project to audio files

[@ormixiao7990]

I use a lot of plugins, filters and midi tools at the same time and im generally lacking power to run them all so i disagree with this. The graphics card is a taste thing but personally i would like to have 2 monitors so i can run my daw fullscreen while managing my background processes like midi mappers etc without having to tab out. What you said is largely true for most bedroom producers but i think he was going for what you need to be able to use it without a lot of limitations so you can keep your flow going.

[@EpocaDura]

Enabling Quad Channel Memory Seems to make a substantial impact on performance as well. If you were to double your ram (mind you, your CPU and MOBO must support Quad/Six/Eight channel memory architecture) I suspect you would see a 20% cpu load drop. Its not about having more ram in this instance, its about opening up band with for faster communication. The Next step (witch I am currently undergoing myself) is to set up a server(s) in a machine room. For Performance, Storage, And Powering multiple Instances of FL and Cubase from 3 different studio rooms. GL and keep having fun!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Quad channel memory seems to make a big difference on large projects. I tried this on my old rig and going to 2 channel memory resulted in at least a 20% performance reduction on large projects.

[@rasputinbotswana3985]

9:50 that track sounds amazing! So much energy in that melody! Is it released yet? Can’t seem to find it anywhere

[@FireWalkMusic]

Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6nWh6GtqNBni5I

[@matslarsson5988]

Agreed, awesome track!

[@thehottestbeatz]

I9 9900k is probably the best but right under that is i7 9700k. Those are both top two processors for music production. Really depends on your budget but the i7 9700k at around $360-$375 is a great processor. Especially when overclocked. It’s a beast and can handle pretty much anything. I also have a rtx 2070 super and I know to studio doesn’t use gpu acceleration but trust me things do run smoother in the playlist and overall in general it’s an amazing combination 😁

[@FireWalkMusic]

Agreed! The new AMD CPU's are also good but I find that most people fail to take instructions per cycle (operations per clock) into consideration. The Intel chips have greater overclocking potential and will, therefore, provide better performance overall due to higher clock speeds even if single-core performance is fairly similar. :)

[@raevhenbeats]

Love your tutorials and videos! They are very proffesional! This video was very helpful! :)

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, much appreciated! :)

[@KB-kc7ou]

Hey - same case that I used! I don't do video editing on my studio PC, so I went a slightly different route. I used the 65W i7-6700. It has four cores and is plenty powerful enough, and as it is only 65W I don't have to go with extreme cooling solutions; there I chose a near silent CPU fan (can't remember exactly which one). Not needing intense video, I also use the CPU's on-board graphics for one monitor, and an external fanless USB interface for the second. The result is a near silent computer that I don't have to enclose or place in a closet.

[@FireWalkMusic]

I love that case. :) The 6700 will work fine. It all depends on how you work and how large your projects are and so on. Some people work mostly with samples, and in that case they don't really need much computing power. :)

[@KB-kc7ou]

@@FireWalkMusic Yup. My stuff is more traditional rock rather than EDM, so the processing is prolly less intensive. And freezing/rendering is a great ally!

[@pravo.]

Great brother i built my pc myself too so good Great video

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks :)

[@ezion67]

Good helpful video thanks! One thing though. The worst thing that can happen when a tread is waiting for another tread is both running on the same physical core. A a result turning hyperthreading OFF usually results in better DAW performance. Steinberg is working a a technology that can mediate the problem in some situations by working "ahead" intstead of waiting. For obvious reasons this doesn't work with live midi or audio input. At the moment however this is a Cubase only solution anyways. So unless your running the latest Cubase, no hyperthreading is the way to go. There is a paper on this on the Steinberg website.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks. Steinberg has always been ahead in many ways. Needless to say, they Invented VST. If I had to rank daws depending on their capability etc, then Cubase would be on top of the list for sure. :)

[@adriankalebra666]

My computer handles music production just fine. It's literally a i5 8gb computer. However I cant leave my DAW open or any virtual instruments running and use my video editing software at the same time. I have to close everything down and hold to the next thing entirely. Kind of irritating

[@FireWalkMusic]

This build is way over the top for most people. I just wanted to show the "best" and explain why that is etc. Most people will get by with much cheaper systems. It all depends on how you work, what kind of projects you make, what kind of plugins you use and so on. I'm kind of in the same boat as you with regard to video editing. I also do a lot of video editing, so I often find myself working in my video editor, photoshop, FL studio, various animation softwares, screen capturing etc all at the same time. The 9900k was the only solution for me. Add to that I also have a mixing and mastering service etc, so it's essential to be able to get stuff done as quickly as possible, since my time is limited. The i5 is still a good CPU. However, If you want to upgrade then the older I7 CPU's will offer a very good performance increase. With multithreading you should be able to get a huge increase in performance during video editing too.

[@christianwn]

What many people do not understand is that you need to mix your audio stream on the dsp of your sound interface. Because no cpu is powerfull enough to handel to much cross core mixing. The syncronisation will kill all your cpu power. You need to send all streams into the sound interface on separate lines, NEVER sum lines in the daw. Then let the dsp of the interface do the mixing and syncing for you. That is why it is there. Many people use just the daw for that and in most cases unless you have a monster cpu you get into a ton of pops and clicks. The more summing of lines (mixing) the worst off you get. What I suggest is a competly different setup, try it and see your available daw power increase by more than 100%, the more cores the more the dsp will save you. USB interfaces are horrible for this, get a pcie card. By doing this you can save a lot of money, by not needing to have such a highend cpu. Get an older XEON rig with tons of cores and fly. Never go below 3Ghz on the cpu.

[@HSCHSC211]

For Windows 10 with multiple CPU cores, a CPU affinity of the audio application must be defined on a group of cores with higher process priority and only the physical core may be used. This core group must be freed from its processes. This achieves better cache utilization of the CPU and thus increases the "single" core performance of the audio application. The devices should all be set from Line Mode to MSI(-X) regarding interrupt in the driver. The two Windows audio services should run with priority "realtime" on the second physical core. I would only use the last physical 6 cores for the audio application in this scenario.

[@saricubra2867]

I improved singlethread perfomance with an undervolt in my 8 year old i7-4700MQ laptop. Like 300 Mhz more for the same voltage, I have a bottleneck with core count (4 cores are the absolute minimum and not ideal) but singlethread is ridiculously strong for the age that it has, 3.4GHz in Ableton Live all cores thanks to Throttlestop magic and sillicon lottery, equivalent to one core of the Ryzen 7 1700. Changing CPU affinity in windows makes no difference, the OS already is very well optimized. I basically get 1% or 0% CPU use with the computer at iddle.

[@saricubra2867]

Also depends on the DAW, Ableton Live is more efficient than FL Studio with clock cycles for sound processing (maybe because it's programmed in C which is very low level and C++). The difference can be kinda big.

[@HSCHSC211]

@@saricubra2867 My statement applies to modern multi-core CPUs from 6 cores upwards. Windows is not optimized for real-time DAW requirements. Windows does not optimize the cache usage of the cores for an application. For CPU utilization in real-time signal processing, the idle CPU time has no relevance.

[@saricubra2867]

@@HSCHSC211 Isn't about windows optimization, is about the CPUs themselves. By the way, it's impossible to fully use the cache for audio in a CPU due hyperthreading that can create a bottleneck.

[@HSCHSC211]

@@saricubra2867 ". it's impossible to fully use the cache for audio in a CPU due hyperthreading.." Does not make sense to my statement because I wrote "only the physical core may be used". For example, if you use Process Lasso to run the audio application only on the 6 cores without logical CPU and the rest of your applications including OS services (with xml affinity template) on 2 cores with logical CPU, then the audio application can use the CPU cache of the physical 6 cores at maximum. The logical CPUs of the 6 cores remain unused, so the 6 cores effectively work without HT/SMT. Only the remaining kernel and its interrupt routines "disturb" the cache of the 6 cores. These can also be moved to CPU 0 or 1 (by interrupt policy).

[@monolithworldline]

I use a 2014 Thinkpad T440... It has an i5 4300U processor that is kinda low to mid-end. I'm working on a heavy ass death metal project and everything seems more than fine.

[@FireWalkMusic]

It all depends on what you're working on and what kind of plugins and vst's you're using. For example, if you're mostly into recording, and you are let's say recording a band. You'll end up with a lot of recorded samples, which isn't very CPU intensive. For that kind of use, you don't really need that much performance. However, if you're mostly into electronic music and all your sounds are being generated by virtual synthesizers then that will quickly start to add up. Some VST's such as omnisphere, Serum etc can consume a huge amount of processing power, and I know that some Cubase guys like to have a secondary computer just to run those plugins because they are so demanding. In this particular case shown in the video, most of the main sounds are generated by VST's, and there's also a lot of processing on every mixer track, which consumes a lot of performance. This should probably have been mentioned in the video though. :)

[@monolithworldline]

@@FireWalkMusic Well, that's where it gets weird. I record very little of my guitar parts, as I'm not that great at it (yet). I generate everything from plugins. Kontakt 5 (shreddage 2), Superior Drummer 2, Ample Bass and ReFX Nexus are my go-tos at the moment. Guitar Rig 5 is also a heavy one for the effects. Kontakt guitars are the heaviest on the CPU, my previous i3 could not handle it. All in all, I say that a producer will always find his way out of technical limitations in some way.

[@monolithworldline]

@@FireWalkMusic At the moment I'm stuck on this nasty problem. My mix is always "too loud" for KZbin and my tracks always get trashed by their compression. I figured that I had to set my limiter on -1db peak control, but I've yet to test this out. Your channel is a great hand of help, man. Thank you so much.

[@pauck6056]

cable management dude.... besides - cool build

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! :)

[@emiel333]

I’ve replaced my old MacBook Pro with a new one. Really happy with the purchase. I must install all my DAW and plug-ins, though.

[@FireWalkMusic]

It's a pain having to install everything from scratch. :)

[@nathanbell6962]

5-7% increase seems a bit low. I've got a 8700k and max it out in current projects but I think I'll hold off upgrading for now

[@FireWalkMusic]

The rather low increase was quite surprising, as the CPU is supposed to have a substantially improved single core performance, and even more cores. I suspect this is is because of the quad channel memory support of the 5820K vs the dual channel on both the 8700k and the 9900k. I talked to Image-Line about this and they was as surprised as I was. In theory, you should not be able to max out the bandwidth even with a dual channel system. However, in a real life scenario it seems to be a different matter. In order to test this I downgraded my quad channel 5820k to dual channel DDR4 memory instead, and the result was quite shocking. A project that was using about 70% of the buffer in FL Studio ended up reaching 100%, and became unplayable. Once I set it to quad channel again it was fine again. Surely the dual vs quad channel memory has some huge impact here, even though technically it shouldn't. More tests would need to be done to verify this hypothesis though, but it's the only thing I can really think of that separate the 5820k from the 9900k that could account for such a tiny difference. The thing is, if I had tested the 5820k vs the 9900k and they were both running in dual channel mode then the difference would probably be around 30-40%, like the charts seems to indicate, relating to single core performance increase in the 9900k vs the 5820k. I'm quite sure that the memory bandwidth is what's holding the 9000 back here, because thy should not be that close! But I can't say for sure.. If I had tested a dual channel 8700k vs a dual channel 9900k then the results would likely have been very different. If I had unlimited amounts of money I would go ahead and buy another dual channel system and test just to be sure, and also a Ryzen 3900x based system so that I could really see how they measure up. :)

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

@@FireWalkMusic Have you tried another DAW (like Studio One) that might be able use utilise more threads?

[@dotMPEGmusic]

@@FireWalkMusic Sorry man, you just need to RECORD the synths and all that and split up your creation, arrangement, mixing, and mastering phases of production in order to avoid that high CPU utilization. It could also be as simple as switching your buffer size as well. you don't need a low buffer if your mixing/arranging the track. You really dont need a low buffer unless you're recording guitars w/ realtime effects etc.... The i9 can flex more CPU power if you increase the buffer size.

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE I contacted various daw developers and they have confirmed that all daws work basically the same way when it comes to the way it processes. Serial processing is heavily utilized in all daws. They all also utilize multiple cores of course, but they all work basically the same way. So if you replicate a project perfectly in two different daws you wouldn't see a huge difference. Perhaps +-10% tops, and much of that will be due to the buffer handling and such.

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@dotMPEGmusic Hey, I'm aware of the freezing option, but I really don't like doing that due to my workflow. In my opinion freezing Is still a bit tedious in fl studio, particularly the unfreezing.. The way I work means going back and changing things quite a lot, and with most of the tracks rendered to audio it would just be too messy and time consuming, so I opted to go for more performance instead. The buffer size is already maxed out usually. I always record during the start of a project, with a low buffer size, and then I increase it as the project grows. 😊 This works well for me. I also do video editing and it's a pain to wait while video is rendering while editing, so having a fast CPU saves me quite some time in the long run. 😊

[@Miggbeats001]

Wish you had shown how to build the PC and tools needed for the job. The video and comments are great learning tools. Thanks

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, I considered it but the video would have been much longer, and this channel is all about short and straight to the point videos. I might make a separate video about this at some time though. :)

[@andyallen6888]

@@FireWalkMusic Please do for us non-computer music lovers!

[@davidjenkins8449]

Its called Linus tech tips Jayz Two Cents etc there a ton of videos on how to build a pc

[@bruellbart2380]

I'd looove to have a short tutorial about how to sample a DnB beat and make it fit properly into electronic music. My own samples sound like shit in the mix.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks for the suggestion :) Sampling tutorial is already on my list! :)

[@bruellbart2380]

@@FireWalkMusic Great :D Thank you.

[@TheOverseer303]

Great video which backed up what I had assumed but more importantly, great track!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, much appreciated :)

[@XRXONE]

If I’m not gaming do I need a graphics card still?

[@FireWalkMusic]

No, there is no GPU acceleration support in FL or any other daw (due to latency issues). If you go for a CPU like the i9, then you can use the built in graphics with no problem.

[@slicktar]

I’d love to see a video on which hard drives (not sad) are best for audio production. I’m in the market right now. Actually a video that you give advice for hard drives, hybrid and Sid’s would be even better, along with NAS and Enterprise explanations.

[@FireWalkMusic]

I will probably make some more hardware specific videos.

[@ccuny1]

At last, someone explains to me what seems to be obvious to others but not to me. Thanks a lot. I finally understand why mu super multicore works so well with video and graphics editing but seems inadequate for Audio. Not sure if I am up to building my own or if I can get the same parts in Europe, but at least I know what I need now. Brilliant.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you found it helpful :)

[@agamaz5650]

OH MY THIS VIDEO IS SO HELPFUL

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you liked it 🙂

[@agamaz5650]

@@FireWalkMusic when I will go to the pc store, I will tell them that fast single core performance is important to me, since I make music hopefully they will understand. Bro I graduated as a PC network mechanic and I had no idea it is that important. I have FX 8320 which is 8 cores and 3.5 GHz but my CPU is freaking out when I play more complex stuff in Phaseplant

[@shamanicvisions7724]

This video is a life saver

[@FireWalkMusic]

Glad you found it useful :)

[@silkee]

FL Studio will utilise multi-threading within FX channels (assuming its turned on) although not across them.

[@JanAidGuitars]

So ussseeeeffffuuullll. Thank you so much sir¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

[@FireWalkMusic]

You're welcome :)

[@VIDSInsight]

You forgot to add details about the most important part of such a PC - the SOUNDCARD!!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, actually I decided not to include this in the build, because I usually recommend going for an external audio interface over internal sound cards, and since this is not part of the computer itself (just like monitors, headphones etc) I decided to focus on just the computer itself. If you check out the components list in the video description then you can see that I've included some recommendations for audio interfaces there. I have separate videos with recommendations for audio interfaces, monitors etc. Here's my top 5 budget audio interfaces: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWHbZqeei5pjn8k

[@michaelbusuttil363]

Great video. Out of curiosity, would you consider a AMD Ryzen 3900X or 3700X music production build now they are released?

[@FireWalkMusic]

From the tests I've seen the 3000 series performs really well. All though technically the i9 seems to still have an advantage in terms of raw single core performance, it's a very tiny lead, and considering the fact that the 3000 series also provide more cores, and at a much lower price, I would definitely consider going the AMD route. I haven't had the chance to test the platform myself, so I can't say for sure but I suspect it will perform really well.

[@dotMPEGmusic]

I actually just got the 3700x; upgraded from 2700x. Its a noticeable jump actually. Id definitely recommend the 3700x. Definitely the best bang for buck CPU for virtually every task ATM. Now if you're on a tighter budget just get a used i7 as intel chips are typically more optimized for DAWs due to the developers using intel to dev the software.

[@FireWalkMusic]

@@dotMPEGmusic The new amd 3000 series is performing surprisingly well. I'm considering buying the hardware in order to test the performance vs the i9. I just need to save up some money before I can make a video about it.😁👍

[@jamman6]

I'm sure you're aware but you installed an I9 CPU but listed I7 in your build list. Great video and very helpful, thanks!

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks for the info. I just replaced all the links with genious links to properly redirect to the correct amazon store. I'll have it corrected right away. :)

[@FireWalkMusic]

fixed. :)

[@h.hristov]

Just a heads up, your RAM link is actually a SATA drive.

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks for pointing it out, I'll have it corrected! :)

[@charlieaydin1377]

The fractal case is great. So quite. Looks nice and good to build in. I'm about to grab the ryzen 3900x to go with 32gb of ram. Thanks for a great vud

[@Juanele23bcn]

es mejor que 9900k? i9 hasta 5ghz but 3900x 4.3 ghz, no 4.6

[@FireWalkMusic]

Indeed, you can't go wrong with that case! :)

[@dinosaurmonkey666]

Great video, thank you 👍

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, you're welcome :)

[@courtneyjeffery8262]

Thanks for taking the time , I greatly appreciate it

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks, you're welcome :)

[@Jalmaan]

So what was that trance track you were showcasing? I'd love to add it to my playlist on Spotify

[@FireWalkMusic]

Hi, yes it was. It's a bootleg remix of Ørjan Nilsen & virtual vault - Too late, so since it's unofficial it's not on Spottily, unfortunately, but you can listen to the full track here on KZbin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6nWh6GtqNBni5I It's also available on my soundcloud: soundcloud.com/djfirewalk

[@Jalmaan]

@@FireWalkMusic ah too bad but glad to listen to it in KZbin!

[@selami92]

wow this video is great! an also the description is complete! :)

[@FireWalkMusic]

Thanks! Glad you liked it :)