Gear Recommendations - laptop, headphones/dac, audio interface

glober

New member
Finally taking the plunge into music production! :)
Would really appreciate some recommendations on some hardware!
DAW: most likely Ableton for now and Cubase down the road.

1. Laptop:
opened to both mac and pc. but more leaning towards pc as it's cheaper and allows for upgrades down the road + gaming. Does anyone have a particular laptop they would recommend? In addition, what cpu, size ram, hard drive should I aim for?. Start with 16gb of ram and upgrade to 32 when required, ssd hard drive, i7 ?

2. Headphones+-DAC:
I'm looking at the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO-80 and Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO-250 headphones at the moment, but opened to other suggestions as well (the beyerdynamic dt770 pro-250 requires a DAC i think) Does anyone know any good DAC as well? Does it even make much of a difference using a DAC vs not using one?

3. Audio Interface:
Is Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 the best in the market?
What about Steinberg UR22 mkII?
I will be plugging in a guitar, digital piano, speakers, headphones, and in the future possibly a microphone.

Question:
In regards to hard drives, vst/vsti, samples, software. What's the best way to set everything up? A small ssd for running the operating system + DAW, a large external SSD for storing vst/vsti/samples, and a large storage drive data storage?
 
1. Computer: Unless you absolutely have to be able to make beats on-the-go, I'd suggest going with a desktop PC or Mac. Your dollar will take you a lot further in terms of performance with a desktop over a laptop. Plus like you mentioned, upgrades. 16gb of RAM should be plenty. Luckily, RAM's one of those things that's easy to upgrade; just add another stick. You could probably forego the SSD for a SSHD, or even a regular hard drive. The most notable improvement will be opening stuff faster, your PC booting up faster, saving to and from the drive faster. I would prioritize space over speed. Take the CPU recommended for Ableton or Cubase (whichever one has the higher requirements), check the benchmarks (PassMark Software - CPU Benchmark Charts), and go as far above that one as your budget will allow, within reason. When it comes to PC parts, the law of diminishing returns is very much in effect. You could wind up paying 500% more for a CPU that's only ranked to have a 20% increase in performance over another one.

2. Headphones: I never tried that particular model from Beyerdynamic, but I am using their DT-880, and I'm happy with them, plus all of their parts are available for order, should you need to. I think a DAC is one of those items that audiophiles pick up so they can improve the sound quality from their computers or another digital source. You'll be using a audio interface, so that'll convert from digital to analog for you. You might need a preamp if your interface can't drive the headphones you settle on.

3. Audio Interface: You mentioned a guitar, so make sure your interface has a Hi-Z input. Besides that, get what you can afford from a reputable manufacturer with all the inputs and outputs you need.

I'd say get a larger SSD and go ahead and store the OS, the DAW, your VSTs, samples, etc, on that one. A large storage drive for saving projects, plus your non-music stuff. An external drive to back up the two drives on your PC. SSD, SSHD, whatever. Just back it up every now and again.
 
I should've been more clear in the original post, but going with the desktop PC route will allow for future upgrades. I'm not sure how easy it is to upgrade a Mac, or if its even possible to do. The form factor on laptops make it pretty difficult to upgrade them. Every laptop manufacturer is slapping in CPUs and GPUs and etc. in whatever fashion they choose. As such, you don't see much of a market for customizing laptops. Maybe you can swap out a hard drive, a couple extra sticks of RAM, but you couldn't completely gut it like you could a desktop.
 
i use the scarlett 2i2 2nd gen, its really flat. thats what you want. i used a different one before and i really hear the difference.
 
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