Associate
- Joined
- 6 Jun 2011
- Posts
- 2,159
- Location
- EU...
Sup, been a long time since I logged onto these forums. Glad to see they're still active 
. Got distracted by reddit but tbh I've missed ocuk. Too much hive-mindage on reddit.
Anyway, to the point. I am looking to build a home recording setup in the near future to record and mix my own music. In the short term, it'll be just acoustic guitar (mic'ed) and vocals but later I'll also be recording electric guitar (either direct or mic'ed) and bass, and would like the ability to use a midi controller and electronic drumkit too. The software I'll be using is Cubase, and I'll be using an external audio interface. I'll also be doing some gaming.
For the PC itself, I am unsure whether my current setup is still good enough. I'm running an i7 860 mildly overclocked to 3GHz, 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz RAM, two Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB Hard Drives, Windows 7, AMD HD6870, 24inch 1080p monitor and some Logitech x530 speakers. Power supply is Corsair AX750. Can't remember the model of motherboard but it's a decent one, Asus.
I'm a student so not rich, but I'll be getting a loan instalment soon. Nevertheless if any of my current components are still good enough, then I'd like to keep them and save money where possible. My current thinking is this:
- CPU, RAM, motherboard, power supply, monitor are all still good enough. Keep them. Maybe overclock the CPU a bit further, up to 3.3GHz or so.
- Add two solid state drives - one for windows and key programs, the other dedicated to audio recording. Use the hard drives to store my media, music, TV etc.
- Dump the speakers and get a pair of proper stereo studio monitors.
- The graphics card is also obviously good enough for Cubase but I also want to do gaming and it's showing it's age. So I'll upgrade to a newer graphics card too. However, sound levels are important, since I'll be recording in the same room, so a quiet card is desired. Also, I mainly play starcraft 2 which isn't too demanding on graphics. I'll also be playing some AAA new releases from time to time so the new card has to be decently powerful, but I'm not fussed about running everything on max with anti-aliasing, neither will I be adding any larger/extra monitors.
So with that in mind, and if you guys agree with my reasoning, I'm looking for recommendations for the following:
- solid state drives. I'm thinking two 128GB drives.
- graphics card. somewhere between £100 and £200. Something with good performance for the money, as well as good power efficiency and an efficient and quiet cooler. Maybe Nvidia 960 windforce? A card which switches to a passive cooling mode when not under load would be ideal.
- pair of studio monitors. I've been looking at the Rokit 5 g3 as it seems to be the best value for those on a budget, but I'm interested in your opinions on this. I don't have a budget per se, I just want the cheapest ones that are actually worth investing in, and that I won't need to upgrade in the future.
- audio interface. Steinberg UR22 is what I'm currently thinking, but again, am open to suggestions. Budget around £100, maybe more if it would get me some really compelling features.
- microphone for vocals and acoustic guitar. Later I'll need another mic for micing an electric guitar amp. Unless I can just buy one mic that can do all these well? I'm looking for decent quality but I don't expect it to be totally professional level. My budget for a mic would be perhaps £100
- small guitar amp for recording. Would also be cool if it can run on battery as I might do some busking sometime, but that would just be a bonus feature.
Goes without saying that I greatly appreciate anyone who bothers to read this and help me out, but I'll say it anyway. Thanks.
EDIT: one final question, does Cubase benefit from hyperthreading?
. Got distracted by reddit but tbh I've missed ocuk. Too much hive-mindage on reddit.Anyway, to the point. I am looking to build a home recording setup in the near future to record and mix my own music. In the short term, it'll be just acoustic guitar (mic'ed) and vocals but later I'll also be recording electric guitar (either direct or mic'ed) and bass, and would like the ability to use a midi controller and electronic drumkit too. The software I'll be using is Cubase, and I'll be using an external audio interface. I'll also be doing some gaming.
For the PC itself, I am unsure whether my current setup is still good enough. I'm running an i7 860 mildly overclocked to 3GHz, 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz RAM, two Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB Hard Drives, Windows 7, AMD HD6870, 24inch 1080p monitor and some Logitech x530 speakers. Power supply is Corsair AX750. Can't remember the model of motherboard but it's a decent one, Asus.
I'm a student so not rich, but I'll be getting a loan instalment soon. Nevertheless if any of my current components are still good enough, then I'd like to keep them and save money where possible. My current thinking is this:
- CPU, RAM, motherboard, power supply, monitor are all still good enough. Keep them. Maybe overclock the CPU a bit further, up to 3.3GHz or so.
- Add two solid state drives - one for windows and key programs, the other dedicated to audio recording. Use the hard drives to store my media, music, TV etc.
- Dump the speakers and get a pair of proper stereo studio monitors.
- The graphics card is also obviously good enough for Cubase but I also want to do gaming and it's showing it's age. So I'll upgrade to a newer graphics card too. However, sound levels are important, since I'll be recording in the same room, so a quiet card is desired. Also, I mainly play starcraft 2 which isn't too demanding on graphics. I'll also be playing some AAA new releases from time to time so the new card has to be decently powerful, but I'm not fussed about running everything on max with anti-aliasing, neither will I be adding any larger/extra monitors.
So with that in mind, and if you guys agree with my reasoning, I'm looking for recommendations for the following:
- solid state drives. I'm thinking two 128GB drives.
- graphics card. somewhere between £100 and £200. Something with good performance for the money, as well as good power efficiency and an efficient and quiet cooler. Maybe Nvidia 960 windforce? A card which switches to a passive cooling mode when not under load would be ideal.
- pair of studio monitors. I've been looking at the Rokit 5 g3 as it seems to be the best value for those on a budget, but I'm interested in your opinions on this. I don't have a budget per se, I just want the cheapest ones that are actually worth investing in, and that I won't need to upgrade in the future.
- audio interface. Steinberg UR22 is what I'm currently thinking, but again, am open to suggestions. Budget around £100, maybe more if it would get me some really compelling features.
- microphone for vocals and acoustic guitar. Later I'll need another mic for micing an electric guitar amp. Unless I can just buy one mic that can do all these well? I'm looking for decent quality but I don't expect it to be totally professional level. My budget for a mic would be perhaps £100
- small guitar amp for recording. Would also be cool if it can run on battery as I might do some busking sometime, but that would just be a bonus feature.
Goes without saying that I greatly appreciate anyone who bothers to read this and help me out, but I'll say it anyway. Thanks.
EDIT: one final question, does Cubase benefit from hyperthreading?
Last edited:
