I think your son has a good idea to go with a micro desktop. You can search this forum for recent discussions about them. The interesting thing about this discussion is that specs aren’t the full story, there are “music PC” builders who have carefully chosen components that might not have the ultimate specs but work better for DAW, Cantabile etc. Have you replaced your Toshiba laptop’s hard drive with an SSD if it has a spinner? There’s a huge difference in overall performance. Which model is it?
Here’s some links:
Considering upgrading my current Cantabile laptop, which is a HP elitebook 8770w (2012) with 16gb RAM and 512gb SSD, 2.70 ghz Intel Core i7-3820QM, 17-in. screen, to something that is newer,faster and lighter weight (15" screen would be fine). This laptop has done pretty well, although I’m getting an increasing number of blue screens on startup (maybe 1x/wk) which I’ve been unable to trace. A backlit keyboard would be nice.
I don’t need anything monstrous. $800 is a ballpark figure. Thinking …
I use this with my NUC (Intel Skull Canyon NUC6I7KYK)
Just one cable (USB-C) for touch and power. It also has a usb through connection so I can use a mouse if I need finer control. I used to use my Surface Pro connected via ethernet to the NUC (which sits inside my organ setup) but I once had a startup problem and had no way to see what was going on as it couldn’t connect if the NUC wasn’t on! Mostly it worked fine but that one experience shortly before a gig was enough to tell me I needed a …
OK, I knocked together a quick one: simply download Tyrell from here , install it and download the following song file:
Perftest.zip (11.3 KB)
Before loading the song, set the audio engine in Cantabile to “Null Audio”, 256 samples @ 44.1 kHz , then load the song “Perftest”. Let it run for a while to settle performance and report back on time load. Also report your system spec (CPU etc.).
Let’s see the results come in!
Cheers,
Torsten
Just my 2 cents. 16 gigs ram is a minimum, separate graphic card, I7 CPU. I have always preferred business class laptops. They are usually more hardy, have more USB ports and better specs overall without the premium GAMER price tag. If you can find a laptop with 2 drives that will be a plus. There are models out there that allow for an M.2 and SSD. Put the OS/Software on the M.2 and everything else on the SSD. I have had good luck with Lenovo and HP. The audio interface is an important factor a…
In my search for a new laptop I posted this one just here…
I am checking all new features of new models.
New Intel processors seem promising (10th generation), but no solutions until now with H class processors (the fastest) outside gaming machines. Too big and expensive.
Keeping an eye open for new things coming out.
My experience is that good machines getting old (as my 4 years aged i7 Asus) would be perfectly right, but software drivers for cabled or aerial network, can be old and giv…
Hey Furio,
your basic specs (CPU, RAM) should be more than enough for most live VST requirements - not sure if you are using massive amounts of sample-based VSTi, which could result in some glitching.
What audio interface are you using (and what does your sample buffer look like)?
I’m definitely NOT doing any consultancy on audio PC configuration - there are people with a lot more knowledge around for that (plus my usual consultancy rates are far too high for that business
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