Hi folks,

I'm pretty sure AS/AZ community is only place to understand and be able to help,
regarding the situation of various audio plugins, compatibility, coronavirus lockdowns, recent Apple M1 launch, lack of nVidia support on recent 3 MacOS versions etc...
I have multiple computers and I need to decide which one use for what, what OSes to install, and how to make them useful all together,
which ones to use with physical monitor, which one(s) to be potentially used as AudioGridder or Vienna Ensemble Pro server host etc..,
important to note my main/mixing room is in different building than recording studio, so it's practically impossible to connect those 2 locations via LAN,
also I definitely want to keep my "main" with clean Windows 10 OS for occassional gaming only (another question - could I use it for audio or better not),
I'm more happy using MacOS than Windows for audio tasks, but I don't explicitly require so (unfinished projects can be finished before making the transition steps),
my main DAW is Reaper (which I'm pretty much settled down with), no problems with using it on both Windows and MacOS, though multiplatform compatibility of plugins is somewhat limited, though I don't think I'm in situation I would need any platform-exclusive plugins I couldn't replace with alternatives,

"main" PC: 6-core/12-thread i7-5820K, 32GB DDR4, RME HDSPe AIO, GTX 1080 Ti, 1TB SSD, 500GB SSD,
RME ADI-2 DAC as independent monitor controller,
currently dualbooting Windows 10 and MacOS 10.13.6

"main" laptop: 2-core/4-thread i7-3520M, 16GB DDR3, 500GB SSD, 1TB HDD,
USB audio interface RME UFX, for reliable recording as of now,
it's MacBook Pro 13 2012, running MacOS 10.13.6

"portable" PC: 4-core/8-thread i7-4770, 32GB DDR3, GT 730, 1TB SSD
it's SFF, so full PCIe cards won't fit, and storage/sata ports are rather limited,
currently testing Linux Ubuntu Studio, ready to delete and replace with either Windows or MacOS (NOT both)

"encoder" PC: 4-core/4-thread i5-2500, 16GB DDR3, RME HDSPe AIO, GT 740, 1TB HDD x2,
tower PC, full PCIe cards support, nvidia card for realtime hardware video encoding in OBS for streaming,
currently stripped down Windows 10, MacOS hackintosh before (required dedicated gpu above),
might be eventually later replaced by tower PC with i7-4770..

another two 500GB SSDs currently not used,
all aforementioned SSDs mentioned are SATAIII, so can be mixed freely


what would be the ideal setup for audio recording/production/mixing etc.. given the machines above?
also I'm not against getting rid of any those and maybe getting something else eventually

thanks in advance for your time and any feedback you can provide, much appreciated!

 

First thing i notice is there seems to be no mention of any backup strategy.

Also do you have internet at both places?
If so, then maybe set up a backup server in one room and access it over the net from the other room.

Now, if you are serious about music and its your job, then you will also really need multiple backup servers with at least one that is off-site completely.
Can get expensive.
I lost a 4GB drive full of stuff going back about 20 years sometime ago and i went slight overboard after and spent nearly £2000 on 2 backup servers.
But i did get most of the stuff i had stored on my main machine onto the servers and was able to replace all the big spinning rust drives with much smaller ssd's and a couple of nvme's.

Speeded every thing up a lot, sadly my music still sounds shit, lol

 

Are your two locations on the SAME electrical section (electricity meter) ?
If yes, you can use homeplugs/power line adapters (with security code) between two separate locations.
Instant LAN

And i'm with Willum : BACKUP
A simple big USB hard drive, at least.
And a NAS, at best.


About the main question :
We are a LOT wondering HOW this "no more 32bits", ARM, Mojave / Big Sur ... will end.
Keep High Sierra : it will work for a LONG time.

"Encoder" PC may be upgraded on GPU, for this sole purpose.
A lot of ppl keep Win 10 JUST for NVidia encode. May be RTX Nvidia ?
CPU : 4790k if affordable or 4770k/4790 non K

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2020

i would use that SFF for Vienna Ensemble Pro server, but tower would be better for big size kontakt libraries

 

I do have two NASes (4x4 and 4x12 TB, SHR/RAID5) and handful of leftover HDDs, so backup strategy is not a problem I believe,
yea making music good is next step

I think not, it's different electricity grid I'm afraid,
so far I didn't really need to have the two locations connected, it would be more of a additional benefit eventually, say shared VEP server maybe,
I'm pretty much happy with High Sierra so far, since I don't use Logic there's no real push into newer MacOS yet,

about video encoding, I read somewhere differences are not so huge, and only between gpu generations, so it might make sense to upgrade from 700 series gpu to 1000 series, 2000 or 3000 rtx series, but I'd say it would be the last step, after having the audio/music workflow running well,

hmm that's exactly what I'm thinking, if VEP then Windows 10 I assume?

 

some different setup of things which make me a bit curious are:

variant #1
make main PC a Windows-only and use that for gaming + VEP actually,
use SFF PC as main DAW, plugged literally next to the main PC, not sure if hackintosh or W10 though,
use encoder PC as (secondary) recording rig, could be W10 just fine,
use MBP as general purpose rig I could carry around..

variant #2
leave main PC dualboot as it is, but run VEP via Windows 10 virtual machine under MacOS or run VEP in Windows with games,
use SFF as stationary recording DAW, either W10 or MacOS
get rid of encoder PC completely and forget about video,
use MBP as general purpose rig, potentially main DAW

it's funny how more choices make decisions more difficult

 

There might be a way to run WIndows VEP Server locally on macOS using Crossover, if you dont run big templates but just few synths this is better option, I tried before but same issue came up https://www.codeweavers.com/support/forums/general?t=27;msg=224008 maybe they fixed it in ver 20