Laptop/Desktop recording set up on budget

BobTheSalmon

Hi all,
Not posted in this section before, so apologies if this has been covered at length before...
I am looking to buy a new set up for home recording - only demos really nothing fancy (guitar > effects > interface > DAW), and wondered what laptop or desktop people on a budget are running for this purpose.
I am completely illiterate with computer specs...is a certain amount of RAM and storage required...etc
Any help is gratefully received
Thanks

spark240

16G Ram is good,..SSD drive, i7 cpu, ..I using a 2012 Mac mini ....but PC / laptop will be fine.

Budget ?

Musicwolf

You can do this using a 'budget' system but clearly there will be compromises.

Until middle of last year I was using a desktop purchased off the shelf from Currys PC World.  I was running Cubase Pro, Superior Drummer 3 and a few other bits.  I would have started with Windows 7 but updated this to 10 and I also added additional RAM (taking it up to 16GB) when I upgraded Superior Drummer from 2 to 3.

Because my audio interface (Steinberg UR824) allows me to directly monitor with built in reverb I always ran with max buffer size which meant that dropouts were rarely an issue.  Where the system was temperamental was in the way that it was very particular about the order in which you booted things up and sometimes it would take several attempts to get Cubase to see the AI correctly.  As a consequence I would leave everything switch on 24 / 7.

When it finally died last year I bought another desktop, this time from SCAN.  The new machine, configured especially for music and costing over a grand, is a revelation - everything is so stable and it changes the way that I work as I can adopt a more creative mindset rather than playing the role of support technician.

I have run laptops as DAWs for field work.  These were again off the shelf budget machines with about 4GB RAM but I wasn't running any plug-ins.  I was just doing multitrack recordings then taking the stuff back to my other system for editing, overdubs and mixing.  For this kind of work I use Reaper.  Partly so I don't have to crawl around the back of my other machine to retrieve the dongle but also because it is more processor friendly.

Branshen

If you're planning on going direct (I.e. No miking of amplifier), I highly recommend an external amp emulator, which you may already have. Software solutions never satisfied me because of latency and tone.

I use an ampli firebox but anything similar, axe FX, helix etc. would do the same. 

Modellista

If you want to go the desktop route and on a proper budget I'd try and find a used iMac 21" from early-mid 2010s with an old/failing spinning HDD.

Then prise it open and install an SSD to make it fly. 

You need a kit of sticky pads to close if up, but iMacs are really cool and have great screens and can be easily hooked up to a second monitor so it's worth it.

Overall you might get the whole thing for around £200 which is amazing value for a competent, elegant machine.

If you want to spend a bit more you can do the same HDD-replacing trick with the 27", which are much easier to upgrade the RAM on.

Not necessarily ideal for someone totally computer-illiterate, but just bribe a local teenager with something appropriate and you'll have an awesome machine for not much money.

I don't like used laptops apart from Macbooks, they're horrible cheap plastic things in the main.  You get a lot more for your money going for an iMac, not least a very nice screen.

Creed_Clicks

Branshen said:

If you're planning on going direct (I.e. No miking of amplifier), I highly recommend an external amp emulator, which you may already have. Software solutions never satisfied me because of latency and tone.

I use an ampli firebox but anything similar, axe FX, helix etc. would do the same. 

What about something like the Mooer Audiofile? Could this do the same thing, on a budget? e.g. pedals > audiofile > interface > computer.