Choosing the right composer PC - How to pick the ideal setup for sound library composition

Whilst sharing many of the same requirements as a more traditional “in the box” recording setup, building a system for composition work often takes the same concepts and then expands upon them in order to handle the demands of working with large audio libraries, often across hundreds of channels.

A powerful CPU is important for processing the workload, with less of an emphasis on the speed of the cores, rather we see more of a focus on larger core counts to allow the handling of a plenitude of channels. Alongside the processor we also find the need to give careful consider the storage and amount of system memory to get the best results. We find that these large libraries will often pre-load into memory entirely or spread the load by pre-loading a certain amount of the audio and streaming the rest. Therefore, having fast storage and enough RAM to handle your project in full, is the key to ensuring everything continues to run smoothly when working on large projects

When it comes to working with large sound libraries, having enough RAM to hold your projects is key, as this will ensure we are not waiting on information being cached to the disk.

If you are coming from an existing setup, we recommend opening up one of your biggest existing projects and seeing how much RAM is being used and let this guide you to your choice with any new system. If you do not have a current baseline, we would advise a minimum of 32GB for lighter workloads although machines for composition work involving larger projects may benefit from far higher quantities of RAM.

With both AMD and Intel having now migrated to DDR5 options, the current generation of hardware is well positioned to make use of the extra memory bandwidth available with the standard. For composer PC's where large sound libraries are often the focus of the setup, additional memory performance helps to increase the overall polyphony available to your projects.

Our systems feature a small M.2. drive for the Windows OS and your applications. These super-fast drives allow for a snappy and responsive system with quick load-times. Our systems will also often offer a second M.2. option by default, which we tend to recommend for handling large sound libraries or doing video editing in multi-media projects. For general sound recording and editing, you may favour having more space overall for capturing your projects. In this instance a large SSD can often prove more cost effective when compared to a large M.2. drive, whilst still offering enough performance to capture or stream hundreds of audio tracks.

We also offer a larger mechanical drives in most of our systems as a backup and archival solutions, although this is optional, as we understand that many users will choose to migrate older drives over to any new machine. To allow for this we always aim to ensure plenty of expansion capabilities where possible, although do contact us with details should you have any specific requirements for your build.

Our systems focus heavily around the low noise Fractal and be quiet! case models, with the respective Fractal Define 7 and be quiet! 500 being ever popular choices. Both ranges have great acoustic design and their own strengths, where the Fractal cases often feature heavier, denser panels with thick sound treatment to minimise any background noise, with quiet although average in performance stock fans. The be quiet! cases tend to have less physical treatment, instead trading off to include the more efficient and near silent be quiet! fan range as default. Our recommendation to anyone looking for the very best low-noise, high-performance combination is to match the Fractal case with the be quiet! fan upgrade in order to attain the very best of both worlds.

Many of our specs also feature be quiet! coolers and PSU’s as well, where they use the same great low noise fans across the range of supporting products, helping us to ensure the minimum of interruptions in your studio.

Both Intel’s Z790 platform as well as AMD's Ryzen chips feature-built graphics that perform superbly for audio applications. With many boards offering two display outputs natively, many users will find that this is perfectly adequate for running their studio screen arrangement. Upgrade options are available and we aim to include "Hybrid" cooling options which can run passively under lighter workloads. This helps to ensure your DAW sessions remain uninterrupted, whilst offering you performance when it's needed.

All of our systems feature wired Ethernet connections as standard, with many boards offering either pre-tested Wi-Fi included on-board or as an optional add on. Wi-Fi has a history of being disruptive in audio systems and as such is included in our testing when validating machines. Whilst there are a number of add-on options, each price point offers newer and faster supported Wi-Fi standards. If you are unsure of the best card to pick, we advise checking to see the maximum speed your router supports and aiming to match or exceed it with your choice of Wi-Fi adaptor.

The audio interface and it’s ASIO drivers set out the parameters that the system has to work within. Without the need for a high IO count, we see that for composition even smaller interfaces may prove suitable. Thunderbolt whilst having superb performance, coming a close second only to using an internal sound card this lack of requirement of high I/O counts tends to rule a large number of large Thunderbolt interfaces. With that in mind UAD’s smaller models with their additional processing features, alongside Antelopes Zen series with their well-regarded converters and sound quality certainly stand out as high performance and well featured solutions.

For most users in home or small studios, USB audio interfaces are the go to solution and again where we can relax the latency a touch, they tend to be at their best when dealing with this type of workload.

USB’s most notable strength is the sheer variety of available interfaces and features found at across the prices points. From high-end models like the Babyface Pro by RME which offers stand out USB performance, often measuring up to the best Thunderbolt interfaces, all the way down to models designed for those first starting out. Firms such as Focusrite, Audient and Steinberg offer various low cost interfaces which aim to strike a balance of performance along with features and value, always aiming to ensuring a solid all-round final package. This can make good sense as many users find that even a fairly basic two channel model will often handle most of their studio requirements when working in the box. We’re of course always happy to talk through any requirements you have and help you find you the ideal audio interface if you’re looking to upgrade.