Hi, I'm Al Johnston, a network engineer who in retirement has turned to music to fill up my leisure time. I never cared much for computer gaming or for end-user applications while I was out there building and salvaging networks for corporations, but about 2001 I came across my "killer app," music notation software. I had always dreamed of writing symphonic music since I was a kid. The potential to write music as easily as one could write words on a computer intrigued me and I began to work with music software of all descriptions. Along the way I have had many discoveries and also many disappointments, but I never quit. I trusted that I was not alone in my dream to write music. Surely some day, popular demand to easily write music and hear it with listenable results would drive some company to market a product that would satisfy me.
The resulting experience I gained I will relate in four music networking tutorials which I post here on my LBRY channel: 1) "How I built my own server-class music workstation," 2) "How to network music workstations together," and 3) "Sibelius as scoring editor," and 4) "Sibelius as scoring editor - Part 2."
As always, choice of hardware will vary as time goes on but one must take into account that, unless using large monolithic sample library file architectures, electronic music creation uses samples that involve the continuous reading into memory of 1000s of tiny files. Faster buses, smaller disks (SSDs), and drive optimization are key to avoiding hiccups.
All that is meant by "backup" is "copy," but "copy" in the broadest sense of the term. The difference between a "copy" and a "backup" is that when a backup is restored, ideally that single act should make it possible to immediately continue on to write music. A backup can be as simple as making a copy of a collection of sound samples and storing it onto some DVDs, available to copy from in case you have to replace the hard drive where you keep the samples. But more importantly, a backup will be of an instance of Windows and it is meant to restore the full functionality of that particular installation of Windows when (not "if") Windows gets corrupt.
It is good practice never to expose mission critical computers like DAWs to the Internet, even to install Windows updates or Java upgrades. These can be downloaded to a laptop kept just for such a purpose, then transferred and installed later. Music networking involves a type of addressing that doesn't need an Internet router anyway, its communication cannot cross an Internet router but must use a junction box called a switch, and so why complicate network matters by attaching your music network to the Internet?
In these last few videos of "How I built my own server-class music workstation" I give instruction in two ways ... both visually and audially ... simultaneously. I show you what I configure in Windows so to optimize DAW (digital audio workstation) function, and over that I tell you how to prepare to install and also what to watch out for. If this is too confusing, then turn the sound down and watch or else just listen.
You should buy at least a dual-CPU server motherboard, one which has two CPU sockets. By doing so, one not only doubles the data stream into the motherboard, but the two data streams are entirely independent of one another and so improve efficiency and stability. Dual-CPU server motherboards have special CPU socket types. You need to be careful to get CPUs that match those CPU socket types. Therefore, it is a good idea to also buy the CPUs and the RAM at (or about) the same time as the motherboard and the case. Not a bad idea to send an email to the vendor to double-check on this. You want a motherboard that supports a 64-bit CPU and which supports the model CPU you have in mind (motherboard manufacturers are famous for releasing products early so that they don't support all CPUs that are currently available).
As always, choice of hardware will vary as time goes on but one must take into account that, unless using large monolithic sample library file architectures, electronic music creation uses samples that involve the continuous reading into memory of 1000s of tiny files. Faster buses, smaller disks (SSDs), and drive optimization are key to avoiding hiccups.
Establishing a DAW (digital audio workstation) network is time consuming and one must gain control of it so that one can get on with the main goal of creating music. The first step to do this is to attain a proper, solid install of Windows.
Companies which produce BIOS used in server-class motherboards are named Award, AMI, and Phoenix. While you can buy motherboards with BIOS that allow one to set CPU and/or RAM chip speeds beyond specification for normal use, such so-called "overclocking" increases the chance of instability, and a DAW (digital audio workstation) already has to contend with a steady source for instability ... Windows. The BIOS from the Award company is good for beginners because it has relatively obvious setting choices (compared to AMI and Phoenix), with a straightforward menu structure. It is famous for providing overclocking capabilities, but should you choose a motherboard with an Award BIOS take default settings rather than those that overclock.
At this time, drives can be introduced into the case. You will want to use hard drives that spin at minimum 7200 RPM in a DAW (digital audio workstation). At the time this video was made it was 2014, and hard drives are cheaper now. [Note that SSD (solid state drives) are standard now, but one will have to test to see whether or not they are in fact too fast for one's set up because this tutorial assumes the use of older versions of software.] While four+ terabyte drives are available, server-workstations are built a little more stodgy than consumer PCs and at this point you will want to limit your choice to drives less than 2 terabytes large, unless you know your choice of hardware can handle them out of the box. Smaller drives take less time to search and so serve up the numerous small files that make up music samples much more readily. This fact also helps while starting up the computer, which is called "booting" it. The ideal is to begin by using the smallest drive possible so that Windows doesn't spend lots of time just to check that its boot drive's numerous tiny files have integrity.
As always, choice of hardware will vary as time goes on but one must take into account that, unless using large monolithic sample library file architectures, electronic music creation uses samples that involve the continuous reading into memory of 1000s of tiny files. Faster buses, smaller disks (SSDs), and drive optimization are key to avoiding hiccups.
Computer components that are server-class are not only more durable and reliable than consumer-grade, the computer built from them is much more stable, far less likely to crash Windows, and will not get bogged down under heavy processing tasks. That's why we are interested to do our music on server-workstations, not just PCs. Of course, they are also more expensive. You will want to shop around; the good news is that because they are business-class machines they tend to be better made, and so used or refurbished equipment can work and last just fine. A server-workstation may look the same as a PC, but unlike a PC it has the ability to move data in and out more efficiently for hours on end, dividing that river of data as it does so into multiple streams each processed independently of one another, then re-join them at the end to produce rock-solid audio and video.