Ekin's Setup (2013)

People often ask me what kind of computer I use for programming, music production and image/video editing. Here's my latest set-up.

For years I used a  Toshiba Portege R600 laptop with a port replicator and a dual screen ( Dell 2209 WA) setup.

This was great when I ran Windows XP on the laptop but it gradually got slower - as Windows does - to the point that it was no longer usable. Before Windows 8 came out I looked and looked (maybe for a year?) for a laptop that had docking station support and couldn't find anything I liked, so i n the end (just before Christmas 2012) I ended up building myself a desktop workstation.

The PC

Here is the configuration:

• Shuttle SZ68R5 barebone PC   (that little black box in the picture above)
• Intel i7 3770K Ivy Bridge CPU
• Samsung 500GB 840 Series  Solid State Drive
• Corsair 32GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM
• NVidia GeForce GT610 1GB Graphics Card
• Edimax EW-7612UAN 300Mbps Wireless NIC 

This gives me a Windows 7 Experience Index of  7.7 - 7.8 (out of 7.9) for the things I'm interested in, i.e. processor, memory and hard disk:

This setup cost less that £1000 at  Microdirect at the time (remember, I had the monitors, sound card, cables, etc.) which is about 60% cheaper than the latest Toshiba Portege (excluding the port replicator).

Software

This allows me to fire up multiple Virtual Machines at once  depending on the task  I'm carrying out, all with dedicated CPU cores and memory.  Except for Visual Studio and MS Office, everything I do are on VMs. I have a Windows Server 2012 VM with SQL Server 2012 for when I'm programming for example, a Windows 7 VM with Photoshop/Premiere and another Win7 VM with  FL Studio for music production, etc. (Being a Microsoft Partner and having an  MSDN subscription helps - dont use pirate software!)

I also use virtual instruments such as Steinberg The Grand and copyright-cleared samples.

Music Hardware

• Cakewalk UA-101 external sound card (10-In/10-Out, 24-bit/192 kHz)
• Roland GI-20 GK-MIDI Interface (to connect my MIDI Guitar - see below)
• Roland XV-2020  Expandable Synthesizer Module with  Symphonic Strings and  Concert Piano extensions
• Roland EV5 Expression pedal
• Boss FS-6 Dual Footswitch
• Behringer XENYX 1204 mixer with 12-Input 2/2-Bus (pictures at the top of the page)
• Yamaha MSP-5 Studio monitors

And to my left:-

 

• Roland E-86 Synthesizer and expression pedal
• BOSS GT-3 Guitar Effects Processor
• Microphones -  Behringer B1,  Shure 565SD
• Shure PS-6 Popper Stopper
• Sinn 7 Isolator vocal booth / reflection filter
• Various percussion instruments such as darbuka, bodhran, tambourine, nuggets, etc.
• Lindo 5-Watt Portable Guitar Amp (to entertain kids  )

Guitars

From left to right, top to bottom:

• Encore bass
• Washburn Classic C134SCE
• Godin Multiac Nylon SA (Watch  this video to see what you can do with this guitar and some of the kit above)
• Ovation Country 6773
• Fender Strat Squier
• Lauren classical

The Table

It's a standard IKEA Galant table with an extension (in total 2m wide) and most importantly the Galant Cable Management unit!

The little cable that hangs down is a USB extension with the RF dongle for the mouse.