# Not upgrading anymore?



## A3D2 (Nov 21, 2017)

Hi guys,

I was wondering how many of you guys buy a sturdy well-functioning computer and at a certain point decide to stick to that system until it dies? And treat it/maintain it as a grand piano as a matter of speaking. 

It seems like there are a lot of new things being released all the time (software and hardware), systems that are a tiny bit faster etc etc... But I've come to point where I wonder: do I really need a new computer? more ram? 15 seconds faster rendering time... It seems like in essence I can compose anything I want with the computer I've had for years without getting into any trouble.

I've seen examples of other musicians also make that decision, like Chromeo for example (although they upgraded this year to a new system apparently, not having done so since 1997 though)



Let me know what you guys think about this 

Cheers


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## dathyr1 (Nov 21, 2017)

I will let other experts chime in here, but for me, I only do upgrades when my PC CPU loading gets to be way too much especially with large multitrack songs in my DAWs and when I also do not get clean sounds. Some of the music programs have become memory hungry also such as Omnisphere when running multitracks or adding allot of certain effects can really burden the computer. So it depends on what you are doing/using and how old your computer really is. I still have my older computers and can still can perform certain music.


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## synthpunk (Nov 21, 2017)

I stubbornly used a MPC-60II for midi programming into the early 2000's. But also needed to learn computer sequencers, early DAWs, Tape, ADAT's, etc for my work. I think it's about whatever works for you in the end and what is required to make a living.


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## Andrew Aversa (Nov 21, 2017)

It comes down to whether you want to upgrade your sounds or not. Inevitably, new plugins and samples will require better hardware. If you don't want to upgrade, you can certainly stick with one machine for a long time.


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## A3D2 (Nov 22, 2017)

Thanks for all the replies guys! It all makes sense . Indeed, as long as the computer functions well enough for what you're doing I guess I can make the decision to keep working on my current system for as long as I can. A long time ago I only had 4GB of ram, but I've been working for years now with 16GB ram and ever since I've never really had any cpu or rendering issues so haven't felt the need to upgrade further or buy additional plugins. I guess it's all up to one's preferences and composing styles . I hope to be able to use the computer for years to come. It also helps to use a lot of outboard gear of course, then the computer needs to do less work.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Nov 22, 2017)

A3D2 said:


> I've been working for years now with 16GB ram and ever since I've never really had any cpu or rendering issues so haven't felt the need to upgrade further or buy additional plugins.



You answered your own question 

Myself, I like to buy new VI's with every paid gig I get, so I inevitably end up adding new peripherals/upgrades over time....and about every 4-5 years a completely new computer. I'm happy to say though, that when I switched to Mac in 2013, the full computer upgrade might be longer down the road; this 2013 MacBook Pro is a beast. Even the i7 2700k PC slave is still no slouch after all this time. I thought about upgrading this slave recently, but its pointless as it is rock solid and has literally never crashed in over four years.


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