Acoustica User Forums

I am new here coming from Mac and Pro Tools. I've watched some of the videos and want to finally make the switch. Tired of Apple and Pro Tools and really like what I have seen on the videos. The question is I'm looking at laptops and want to keep the price down. IS an 8th Gen I5 enough to run Mixcraft 8 with 8 GB ram and 256 SSD. My recordings could be up to thirty tracks and probably not more than that using effects in reasonable numbers?
Or should I just spend the couple hundred more bucks and go for an i7 processor? Can you tell me what you guys on here are running? Thanks in advance.

I’m using an i5 with 8GB ram and haven’t had any problems yet (about 16 tracks and not a lot of effects), but I’m going to upgrade to 16GB ram... I’d think you should go with an i7 (64bit) and 32GB ram.

PS: Welcome to the Acoustica forums.

I'm no expert on chipsets but the i7 is known to be far better than the i5, and 8gb is minimum these days, if you're using a lot of vsti it'll eat up 8gb ram. My next PC will be the i7, 32gb ram (overkill but ram isn't too expensive) and ssd. I know the i7 are significantly more but most likely worth it.

M

As I understand it, a "low end" i7 could result in performance inferior to a "high end" i5. And it's certain that understanding the hieroglyphic model coding of the damned things is a mega geek art form into itself......

That said, I have a lappy with an i5, 8gigs and a 256g ssd. I have mixed projects well beyond 30 tracks in Mixcraft. Your experience may differ, but it works pretty well for most general needs. Granted, you start running some cpu intensive/demanding stuff like multiple verbs/delays, Melodyne processing......

Results vary. Needs vary. The o/p's description may push the envelope, especially with a laptop. Or it may work fine.
There are other variables.

As far as my laptop goes, a larger ssd would be convenient. I find myself having to move stuff to an external drive a little more frequently than I would like.
Lazy.

I think 16 gigs of ram would also be a nice choice. And not that steep$.

The high end i7 however......
Pretty pricey, and I am not convinced it's mandatory given the o/p's description.

On the other hand, it's not a bad idea to select something with "headroom" for potential future needs either.

I am waffling. Not much help here!

My own experience = "buy all you can budget for, and plan on finding its never quite enough"

Google about PC’s specially made for audio recording and you'll get a good idea of what the “industry” considers minimal setup!

What Mark said. A high-end i5 will out-perform a lower-end i7 easily; don't get wrapped up in that i5 vs i7 stuff. More important is the chipset (and there are about a billion now, what a fragmented cluster it all is) and of course how much RAM you have. Based on the OP, yes, I think an 8000-series chipset i5 with 8 GB RAM would be fine for most work, though I'd suggest 16GB RAM if you can afford it to be safe.

Hi,
I did like the post above. I looked up what music stores were selling for music daw computers. I had a local computer store build one from the spec's I thought were important for what I wanted in a music production computer. I kept it with in a budget. I did a desktop computer.
Along with a ssd, you should have a second drive, ssd or hdd. Your recorded sounds would go to the second drive. My signature shows more about my spec's. I have the ssd for os, second for sound library, and third for recorded sounds. I am using an i5 processor without any problems. Also follow the optimising your pc info. It helps it work better.
- Myran