Dual CPU system for music production, is it worth it?

T

The_iProducer

New member
Hi fellow producers! I'm working in FL Studio since 8th version and not so long ago I've finally decided to build a really powerful system for music production. I bought one of the latest SkyLake i7 6700k, added 16GB of RAM and the things are going pretty well now but when I'm mastering really huge projects I'm still facing crackles and lags and I became upset... So I read a couple articles about dual CPU systems based on Xeon processors that beating most powerful i7's. And now I'm thinking about building a 16 cores 32 threads system. So the question: "Is it worth it?" For example in Cinebench dual server Xeon's E5 2670 scores 2000 pts against 6700k that scores only 700-800pts. I've been told that 3rd party plugins and DAWs need a CPU with more single-core performance for stable work. If it's true there is no reason to make an upgrade... Maybe someone have such experience? The thing is that I don't want to pay a huge sum for just a slightly more performance. Can I reach more power in FL Studio using 2 cpu's with lower single core performance but more cores and threads?


Thank you in advance everyone! Hope that this topic will be interesting.
 
I think it might be better to step back and try to find out what exactly is causing the crackles & lagging before even considering this. Also consider switching to bigger buffers when mastering - you don't need extreme low latencies for that kind of work, so bumping up that pool o' samples is an easy way to a more stable performance without having to spend a dime.
 
um, i make everything on a MacBook air which has a dual core processor. it's fine. I do notice lag when the battery falls below 5%.

It's the reason I got the MacBook because my old laptop wouldn't charge. The battery was fried I guess. it wouldn't even reach 5%. it would stay at 1% even when it was plugged in. That causes the lag in FL studio, idk why, but FL starts running slower when the battery is low. That may be your problem, but probably not...

Ya, try cheaper alternatives before you do something wild... did you just say 16 core? Is your studio on Mars? I wanna make some music with you man!
 
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Generally music production and audio editing (alongside media editing overall, including photo and video editing) benefit from more cores compared to fewer but faster cores, for music especially if you're dealing with lots of MIDI info going on (= high polyphony sounds). The CPU tasks are not that heavy, but there are tons of them, so spreading them out with more cores is beneficial, even if that means slower cores.
I rock a hexacore 5820k overclocked to 4.4GHz and I haven't noticed any buffer underruns ever since I got this systems (except when stress testing the polyphony in the DAW to see the limits, which are insane btw).
Xeon processors are way too overkill for this unless you're rich and don't care a thing about spending money.

The weird part though is that you experience buffer underruns when mastering and not when producing, as production tends to be heavier than mastering overall (at least if you do high MIDI production). What are the plugins you use for mastering? Are they freeware? Are they pirated? What background programs are running?
Also as Krushing said, there's not that much snappy playback needed for mastering, so there's no harm increasing the buffer size when mastering.


Epsilon-144, the reason you notice lag by and below 5% (or similar) is because the computer cuts down performance to drastically save battery life, so you may have time to save things and turn it off properly before it loses power and shuts down, which isn't good at all (degrades the battery severely by losing power)... I wouldn't recommend running your computer below 15% (still below the 20-80 principle).
 
Each core can basically be classified as an entirely separate processing area.
A quad core cpu on balanced mode at max 25% power (1.5ghz) would be doing the same amount as overclocked celerons at [4ghz]
And...the kicker is...I'm talking about amd & intel both.
 
Well, recently upgraded my studio PC to 12 core Xeon and it's all good.))
Just make sure your DAW actually uses all the available threads (in most - there should be some settings),

But I think SkyLake i7 6700k can be optimized to work without clicks on almost anything, so first check your PC \ DAW advanced settings,

You may try setting the DAW application priority to realtime (there is a nice tool "Prio"),

Also check your audio interface latency and type of connection - if it is firewire or USB - question the controller etc.,

I prefer to use only those, that have a direct connection via PCI or PCI-E and doing 32\64 samples at ~1-1.5ms without dropouts
 
CPUs are not the bottleneck in most occasions. Unless your piece of software is poorly written. Still running an I7 3770 and it almost never hits it's ceiling.
Spend anywhere near 200 bucks (with right pricings) on an I5 or I7 and you most likely won't run into problems.
 
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