i dont know how to build pc. very minimal knowledge about quality parts. just know what you guys have said in recent posts which is different per user opinion. will i save on learning to and build my own vs going through one of the companies online like falcon or audiolabs. those are two ive found. even willing to have someone here help me. i dont run crazy programs. protools, acidpro, and jusrt started messing around wuth kontakt. no midi instruments but i plan to use in future. i want a pc i wont have to upgrade for awhile. i had a stonewave productions pc i bought in 2010-11 and its been a nightmare past year to where i dont even use it. im just a serious hobbyist. vocal recordings, minimal instruments, and digital audio minimal video
production.

 

Hey there friend,

I would definitely recommend building. All of the extra money you would have paid to a company to built it, you can put into buying a much more powerful computer. There is a website called PC Part Picker which basically does all of the hard work for you. You can create your build on that site and it will check cross compatibility of all of the components and tell you if they will work together. Putting the PC together when it arrives might take a few hours max, it truly isn't as difficult as it sounds. Anything you get stuck on you can instantly Google.

If money isn't really a problem for you then you can buy a pre build, and it will be a lot easier initially. It's really gonna come down to your financial situation. If you're not in a great spot with money I highly recommend building.

 

realistically how much will i save. and what should my budget be for a good setup? $1500?

 

I checked to see how much I could save f I bought all the parts and there wasn't all that much in it. The benefit of a prebuilt system from a top audio PC builder is they optimize the bios for you, and you get perfect cable management. I would suggest replicating the components that the best builders use, and see how much you can save if you buy the components yourself.

You can also checkout this series of videos to see if building an audio PC is for you.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzR35OQr-uwvt4L35vwK66grX5vyVsC7O

 

Last edited: May 11, 2023

Hi Eno.
I've build several computers. But the last one I wanted to build, I bought all the parts in the same little store.
I asked how much they charge to build it, they say 40 euros.
So I said OK, please build it.
40 euros is very cheap given the following advantages:

- Even when knowing how to do it, you will easily spend a whole afternoon to build a computer and install all it's drivers (not to speak about drivers problems etc ...)

- When you buy separated parts and build your computer yourself, if a component is not working as it should, the guaranty is hard to make effective, because you already used and mounted the part.
But If the computer is mounted and sold to you by a store, they have to assume a global guaranty for the whole computer as a unique product, so, if something does not work as it should, you are covered (At least in my country).
That's the most important point.

On the other hand, it's very satisfying to build your own computer and feel proud of it.

 

Last edited: May 11, 2023

what does optimize the bios mean? like remove things not dealing with audio, boosting audio based stuff?
if were talking like 200-300 dollar difference id just go with a company. which would be another post for referrals.
i thought of building my own for the sentiment, but if it isnt giving me best performance id rather humbly allow pros to do what they do.

i like the sound of optimize the bios.
with my old system i never connected it online so i literally dont need anything dealing with intenet etc.

 

Truly, from what you describe you'll be doing, you can get an off-the-shelf PC that's not even particularly designed for music, and you'll be fine. You could spend way less than $1,500. If you had a ton of tracks, or used a lot of MIDI instruments, or used big Kontakt libraries, etc., you'd need a fast processor, lots of memory, big SSDs, etc., but for your scenario, you don't. Spend under $1k on a PC, a couple hundred for an audio interface, tweak the OS as best you can (plenty of tutorials and tools available), and you'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with building your own PC (I do it), but it will take you many, many hours to learn how to do it, time which you then won't be spending making music.

 

This is what the cable management should look like. You can't control PWM fans properly with a fan controller, and the motherboard heatsink is sufficient to cool the NVMe drive, so he should have scored it 10/10

 

Last edited: May 11, 2023

Heres programs I use to use. Sony Vegas, (Sony acidpro-Kontakt as vst-basic eq,comp,reverb,etc plugins,isotope,wavs,fabfilter (just got Magix version) Akai mpd for triggering samples and basslines. Protools - digi002 black lion,Avalon 737, Neumann u87. thats about it
Outdated maybe, but it works for me. Do I have to upgrade interface? I like the digi002

Maybe up to 40-50 tracks on few projects. Usually 10-15 on instrumental, maybe 10-15 on vox so avg
30

 

You call programs like Kontakt and Protools 'noting crazy'? Anyway, I have a history of building my own pc's. I've done so for more than 2 decades. The thing is if you want to start to build your own pc you need to be into this 100% and really know what you're getting in to. You need to know the latest techniques and what parts work together and know exactly what you're doing.

When I see your questions like "what does optimize the bios mean?' I think you'd really be better off buying a stock pc or buying from a vendor that specializes in audio workstations?

It will cost you some more but you'll get a product that will fit the needs as you describe them to the builder.

 

Hmm, depends. Your track count is pretty low, and if you use plug-ins in moderation, you can get along with a decent modern, off-the-shelf PC. But if you use lots of plug-ins on many channels, you might run into trouble. And if you use big Kontakt libraries, you might run out of RAM. RAM though is the easiest thing to upgrade.

Re interface, I'm not too familiar with the digi002, but it's 24/96, right? This is fine for what it sounds like you're doing. If it sounds good to you, then keep using it.

 

If I had the money, I would go for pro built audio rig, from like of SCAN and etc, that's the price to pay for not having to spend days and hours investigating and tweaking, not having to rely on internet for troubleshooting any issues and so on. If you chose to build your own, you will than pretty much rely on test's that SCAN did anyways, you seen the threads here, it's just tons of info and opinions, there's big issue with QC of parts and drivers as we speak, even pro builders are frustrated.

 

I've done exactly this calculation in my country.
You have 2 problem,
1. pre-build computers always have a week point.
2. Compared to the cost if I build it myself. It's around 300 or 400 euros not expansive.
So, for me it's a no go.

 

I never buy "off the shelf"....that's just a sucker's game like buying a new car.
I've built several PC's from the ground up but, as has been mentioned, there
are lot of variables, it's very time consuming and there's no guarantee that
all the parts you've selected will play nice together. So, that being said, I
have gotten in the habit of buying used recently off lease corporate workstations.
They are often barebones but all you need do is add RAM, drives and an OS.
Corporate machines are buil like tanks and are, generally easy to work on and
upgrade. Consumer level machines like those you would buy at Staples, Best
Buy or some other big box store are usually of low build quality, an absolute
PITA to work on.....they are prime examples of planned obsolescence destined
fo the landfill so "THEY" can con you into buying a new machine every couple of
years. It's the upgrade hamster wheel....sure that shiny new iPhone 14 is sexy but
do you really need it?

 

Thank you everyone. I've decided to buy pro built. I don't mind supporting people/companies that specialize in something. Gonna make new post on recommendation for companies/persons. I've only seen falcon, audiolabs, and now SCAN.

 

Good call. Checked out Falcon and Audiolabs, seems like Falcon is into gaming and Audiolabs stuff seems outdated and pricey compared to SCAN. Pete Kaine from SCAN is really genuine soul that is one of the few sources about any of this online, he even helped people to build stuff free of charge, but I don't think he's on this board at all.

 

Yes building / buying your own parts are better. Pre builds are not about giving you quality parts.
I have always built my own PC's, Your cost 40 Euro was cheap to have them build it.

 

Where are you located US or Europe?

 

Always, build. You can get exactly what you need/want without having to fit your vision into some system integrator's cookie cutter mold. Integrator's ALWAYS mark up the part$ they put into their builds as well as what they feel a fair price is for their labor and system "design". You could take that extra wasted $$ and put it into better parts for your own build rather than give it to an integrator for something you can easily do yourself.

 

US