Music Computer

The dedicated GPU is nice but it might also be related to an ongoing problem I've been unable to solve, where maybe 1 in 4 times if I have a Youtube video open (in any browser, doesn't matter) and turn the display off (if I'm listening to something when I go to bed, for example) the computer will just freeze and require a hard reboot.  No crash or anything, only happens with the combination of a Youtube video open in a browser (whether it's playing or not) and the display off. I've tried every solution I've found to similar problems (like the HDMI thing a lot of people seem to have developed Youtube related crashes like this after a Windows 10 update a couple years back, but I've never seen reports if it being specifically tied to the display being off) but no luck.

This one was a "special edition gamer laptop" or something. It runs REALLY cool, which is nice, but also some of the screws on the bottom loosened up on their own and fell out the other day, and I was lucky to fin all of them - that's not so nice.

It’s not possible to make good music without a MacBook 64gb ddr7 i9 hexacore professor with quad Radeon 4gb graphics cards and a 12TB RAID

I'll probably go for the ASUS TUF since it has better specs than the Zenbook and is about $300 cheaper.

Sod it all, just subscribe to a beefy remote PC and ditch the attachment to in-the-room computer requirements 

(I'm 98% joking, but I know some people are actually using these to do game design work - do wonder if this is the future of computing. . . )

I ended up finding a Vivobook S14 for $500 (marked down from $800 because of a microscopic blemish on the corner of the casing).  So far it's doing much better than the old brick I was using.  Also has phenomenal specs for its price range.

I’ve had my MacBook in clamshell mode plugged in for the past 2 years. I used to regularly drain the battery so it would power cycle and not have problems, but I don’t think I’ve done it once since the pandemic. It’s a 2015 and still performs amazingly, but I happened to look at it today and it’s so swollen it won’t even close all the way.

i never noticed before so it must be recent. All that to say, I must upgrade, since a battery replacement is maybe not feasible. I’m wondering what y’all would recommend. I’m getting a desktop this time because the idea that a battery can tank a $2500 computer is honestly ridiculous

I can spend around $1k and might prefer a pc since it’s cheaper/upgradable.

honestly the dell optiplex server idea sounds but the fan noise is kind of a dealbreaker

  On 10/10/2020 at 9:40 PM, sheatheman said:

I’ve had my MacBook in clamshell mode plugged in for the past 2 years. I used to regularly drain the battery so it would power cycle and not have problems, but I don’t think I’ve done it once since the pandemic. It’s a 2015 and still performs amazingly, but I happened to look at it today and it’s so swollen it won’t even close all the way.

i never noticed before so it must be recent. All that to say, I must upgrade, since a battery replacement is maybe not feasible. I’m wondering what y’all would recommend. I’m getting a desktop this time because the idea that a battery can tank a $2500 computer is honestly ridiculous

I can spend around $1k and might prefer a pc since it’s cheaper/upgradable.

honestly the dell optiplex server idea sounds but the fan noise is kind of a dealbreaker

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My 2009 MacBook had the same problem and they replaced the battery free of charge. That was back in 2014, so it was long past the warranty period. They didn't want to do it but I kept insisting because y'know....it could leak or explode eventually.

tldr; just yell at them to fix it.

yeah i have an appointment now. they wont do it for free but $200 is cheaper than a new computer.

I've been looking into buying a prebuilt desktop system/paying a company to do a custom build. I'm also on the hunt for a new audio interface/monitor too so I'm looking at bundles. 

Any tip offs as best place to look/UK based companies?

Been looking at this as an ideal situation 

https://www.inta-audio.com/pc-builder/select_base#selected_unit_4

And the company seems decent. 

I'm currently running a laptop with an old i7 and 4gb ram and cpu gets maxed out by like 1 or 2 max devices/vsts. I've got an opportunity to finally buy a proper system but I suppose I don't know really what chip/ssd is actually ideal in 2020. All help appreciated 

Building a PC isn't that hard really, as long as you're not in a hurry when doing it. You might save some money and invest it in better monitors / soundcard. What's your overall budget ? CPU, SSD and monitors is what matters the most IMO. Depending on your needs, there are a few amazing budget soundcard (Motu M2/M4, that recent SSL one, Audient).

What's your budget ?

Currently I'm using three different laptops and it's getting to be a bit too much. So there's

1. Home laptop that I use f.e. to make music on, but it's too big to lug around
2. Mini-laptop that I use while traveling, but it's shit for anything except for email, messaging and casual browsing
3. Work laptop provided by my employer that I can't really use for personal things (which is sad because it's the best one..)

Because I can't really do much about number 3, I'm hoping to merge 1 and 2. So it has to be something small but relatively powerful. And hopefully not cost thousands of euros because then I will be paranoid about losing it while traveling.

After quite a long deliberation I'm thinking of going with the new model of Asus Zenbook 13 with 4 core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and 5GHz Wi-Fi that I can use at home. It's also 13" and only 1.1kg. The price is about 1.1ke over here. The worst thing seems to be that it lacks the 3.5mm audio port but it comes with a USB-C to audiojack converter that has a 24bit DAC, so I figure it'll be ok. At home I'll be anyway using the USB audio interface.

Yeah, I don't have the time to build my own system. 

I'm hoping for max around £1500 including basic monitor, keyboard/mouse, amazing cpu and large ssd basically. Monitors/gear I already have. 

Just want to get it asap really 

People also easily made intricate electronic music with software 20 years ago. How much could've honestly changed in the system requirements area? Especially in the last 10 years or so

It's not like videogames. But I'm probably missing something here

I'm on a i3 with 4gb ram btw lol

  On 11/25/2020 at 9:48 PM, Berk said:

People also easily made intricate electronic music with software 20 years ago. How much could've honestly changed in the system requirements area? Especially in the last 10 years or so

It's not like videogames. But I'm probably missing something here

I'm on a i3 with 4gb ram btw lol

They need more cores for the colundis and the Live vagina filter.

  On 11/25/2020 at 9:48 PM, Berk said:

People also easily made intricate electronic music with software 20 years ago. How much could've honestly changed in the system requirements area? Especially in the last 10 years or so

It's not like videogames. But I'm probably missing something here

I'm on a i3 with 4gb ram btw lol

When I make a dubstep track with 50 instances of Serum, my 2007 Lenovo laptop gets hot and slow and makes noises that I would sample if only the laptop would respond