Brand new to the party: what laptop to get for Komplete?

ste20man
ste20man Member Posts: 34 Member
edited September 2022 in Tech Talks

Hi.

Need some advice and help if you can spare the time?

I recently upgraded my 8 track to FL Studio 20 Producer Edition as I used to use it in my teens recording music as and when I could. For me it's really logical and fluid, as a DAW I'm glad I'm using it as everything is second nature(it's even improved over the years!).

Now though I'm coming up to a point where I need to make some educated decisions regarding what I am going to invest in and buy in todays ultra improved market. TBH I am not educated at all although I am reading and watching vids as much as poss.

At the moment I am using a Surface Laptop 2 - Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 1800 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s) - 8GB RAM. I'm running out odf HD space. It's about 3 years old, got it for going to uni which it has served me well.

I'm at the point now where 6 VST's and a fair bit of audio (green) no additional effects at all used on anything is taking the processing power past 100%. Computer says no.

It's here (with a optimised set up as I can) that I feel I'm gonna have to put some money down. I didn't want to do it (cos who does?) but I have to I figure. So the questions are if you don't mind.

What kind of laptop do/should I buy now that I have the chance? I'm hoping there are a top 3 today that everyone would say "if you have £1200-1350(if that is enough) then I would defo buy 'this' one, it's a no brainer, future proofed for a good while" if you know what I mean?

Secondly I'm realising that not only does the song have to be "good" but it has to "sound" good as well. It's an indie guitar based track so I need certain things. I need good bass and guitar software, things that I can use going forward. I have tried only free guitar and bass plugins in FL so far and although they are good they ain't gonna cut it. I need a way to make a great drum track and I think for all of that including the new laptop I can spend MAX £2k, the lesser the better without affecting what I'm trying to do. I basically need to be the band without having my mates around as we find it hard to get together with different needs at the mo.

I'm aiming to record everything here at home, mastering at the end.

I know what a good song sounds like and it's there, I just have to pull it together.

Looking at different software packages I listened to session guitarist - electric mint in Komplete 14 standard and wow. Amazing stuff.

Can anyone advise me on what laptop I should be looking for(can't be a tower unfortunately) and what software I should get at the very least to deal with bass', electric guitars and drums. Would Komplete 13 do me justice, would 14 standard be the better bet???

I can get the former at £319.00 and the latter at £539.00.

I just feel that coming to people who have probably worked on similar things could give me real insight and cut through any advertising or stupidity on my behalf. I'm that new to the game as to say is NI the way to go? Are there any other software companies that might suit an indie / alternative / grunge / rock angle better than Komplete?

That might sound cheeky to say on this site but I don't mean it to be, just that I really have been away from the game and just need honest advice that will cut through the noise that's out there!

Thanks again if any of you can point me in the right direction I'd be really greatful, cheers, ste.

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