Morgan Page<\/a> has made a career pushing the boundaries of new technologies both inside and outside of the studio where he creates chart-topping dance music. In this guest article, Page outlines the best options for music producers who are in need of more power for their studio rig.<\/i><\/p>\nFor 20 years I\u2019ve built music studios \u2013 integrating new advances in technology as things changed dramatically from software-based \u201ctrackers\u201d w\/ 8-bit samplers, to hardware samplers and synths in MIDI only setups, to hardware DSP, to native software setups, and now back to a mix of software and external hardware. It\u2019s challenging to keep up without wasting money and time, so I\u2019ve assembled some tips below to help when it\u2019s time to upgrade your studio setup. Do you buy a new machine or hot-rod the existing setup? Let’s explore.<\/p>\n
Modern Power<\/strong>
\nProcessing power is a huge part of any music studio\u2019s workflow. Plugins and soft-synths are more powerful than ever, but higher quality plugins are more DSP intensive – especially those that model high end analog signal processing, amps, and effects. Now that computers are smaller in size and denser in their configurations, they are much more difficult, if not impossible to upgrade due to components soldered and sandwiched together. This causes computers to run hotter, cost more to upgrade at the factory, and are limited in their customization because of fixed configurations. Since the majority of Apple\u2019s focus is on general consumers with a 2-year product cycle, there are much longer cyclesfor the pro products (the last Mac Pro was updated five years ago) so it\u2019s important to choose wisely.<\/p>\nUpgrade Options<\/strong>
\nLet\u2019s say you are running out of processing power in your digital audio workstation (DAW), and it\u2019s holding you back in your sessions. How do you navigate the process of upgrading your existing setup, versus buying an entirely new one? How do the costs stack up, and what smaller upgrades might make a bigger difference? In order to decide, it\u2019s important to figure out what is lacking. Is it mainly CPU power? Or do you need faster SSDs for running apps, a faster transfer system for doing long-term backup, or are you running out of memory with virtual instruments? The most important first step is identifying your needs and then choosing the right path.<\/p>\nBefore the Gear<\/strong>
\nBefore you pull out your wallet, there are a number of steps you can take to improve performance. Reduce voice counts on soft synths, delete redundant tracks that are sonically masking each other, remove processing that isn\u2019t contributing, revise your templates, clear out unused apps, plugins, and unused files on your hard drive. Opt for selective-synch cloud storage, where you can specify which files are stored locally or only in the cloud. Duplicate tracks, freeze both, then flatten one to consolidate. Always save your MIDI files. Bounce stems down for greater overall clarity and less CPU load, just be aware of sidechain processing and dependent racks that are triggering gates and compressors and can\u2019t be frozen. You can always move the sidechain processing to the busses for easier automation. Double check your limiters and see if you need to have oversampling enabled, since that increases the CPU use. After you\u2019ve done all that, it\u2019s time to improve your existing setup with upgrades.<\/p>\n
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