Komplete specs

Hey guys,

I am about to get a new macbook but still looking at the specs. What is most valuable when it comes to loading Komplete instruments (mainly Kontakt) and music production in general?

• CPU/Ram?
• Is it recommended to use a external harddrive to install the libraries to? Yes it does save space, but does it have any affects performance wise? If so, what kind of harddrive is recommended?
• Does the formatting of the external harddrive affect the performance?
• Is installing the libraries on the internal harddrive better than an external when it comes to performance and loading time?

My current 2015 Macbook Pro with 16b of ram and a 2.5ghz i7-4870HQ CPU is struggling with just a few kontakt instances. Is this due to my specs or does my audio interface play a huge role in this as well?

Thank you.

 

It's due to your specs. That's a fairly low base clock speed on that CPU. A number of products in Komplete appreciate having as fast CPU as possible - Kontakt, Reaktor, Massive/Massive X, etc.

Yes. At least for Kontakt, do not ever use ExFAT. Use macOS Journaled.

Depends. Your internal SSD is plenty fast. External hard drives that are not SSD will be slower. And then there's a difference between regular SATA SSDs and NVMe SSDs (google about that, there are also youtube videos about the topic).

 

Thanks a lot EvilDragon. I swear I always thought my CPU was very good until your response...lol

Is macOS Journaled also recommended when switching to Windows? Or should I get a separate external harddrive for windows that is formatted to NTFS?
I currently have my harddrive to formatted HFS+ while using windows...I know that this is slowing my performance down A LOT as well.

On a personal note: do you personally use an external harddrive for your libraries and sounds?

 

No, on Windows you'd use NTFS.

I don't use external drives for my samples, I have 8 SSDs and 4 HDDs with all sorts of stuff on them. But I don't use a laptop for my work/music.

 

Roger that. Thank you!

 

Hey EvilDragon ,

I just got my external m2 ssd in the mail and came accross the following article https://www.howtogeek.com/331042/whats-the-difference-between-apfs-macos-extended-hfs-and-exfat/ stating that the APFS is the newest Apple format and designed for SSD drives.

Should I choose for APFS or still use macOS Journaled like you told earlier?

 

Either should be fine with Kontakt. Just don't use exFAT and that's it.

 

Roger that, thank you!