{"id":6211,"date":"2025-01-15T14:19:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T13:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/?p=6211"},"modified":"2026-01-06T17:09:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T16:09:37","slug":"best-cpu-processor-music-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/articles\/best-cpu-processor-music-production","title":{"rendered":"Best CPU for music production 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I&#8217;ve been a DJ for the biggest part of my life, and a music producer since 2016.<br>I have also a degree in software engineering and fill in sometimes in the local computer store to repair and sell computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think I&#8217;m the perfect person to tell you about processors for music production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tldr-my-recommendations\">TL;DR: My Recommendations<\/h2>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>AMD or Apple M-series processor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7 or 9-type processor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Latest generation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"simpletoc-title\">Table of Contents<\/h2>\n<style>html { scroll-behavior: smooth; }<\/style><ul class=\"simpletoc-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#tldr-my-recommendations\">TL;DR: My Recommendations<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#what-is-important-for-a-processor-for-music-production\">What is important for a processor for music production?<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#which-is-better-intel-amd-qualcomm-apple-mseries\">Which is better? Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Apple M-series?<\/a>\n\n\n<ul><li>\n<a href=\"#intel-vs-amd\">Intel vs AMD<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#qualcomm\">Qualcomm<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#apple-mseries\">Apple M-series<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#comparison-table-processors\">Comparison table processors<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"#is-i5-or-i7-better-for-music-production\">Is i5 or i7 better for music production?<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#do-i-need-more-ram-or-a-better-processor-for-music-production\">Do I need more RAM or a better processor for music production?<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#is-cpu-or-gpu-better-for-music-production\">Is CPU or GPU better for music production?<\/a>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-important-for-a-processor-for-music-production\">What is important for a processor for music production?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>A processor needs to be fast above everything else.<br>Especially plugins like reverb and synthesizers &#8220;eat&#8221; a lot of CPU power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Music production is a very time sensitive task.<br>If a processor can&#8217;t process all data within a set certain time-frame (i.e. 48 Khz), it will skip the time-frame which will result in a crackle (distortion) of the audio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some ways to mitigate the annoying crackles by rendering out (also called: bouncing) the calculated audio.<br>But rendering 1 minute to change 1 MIDI note is not very convenient way of working.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"which-is-better-intel-amd-qualcomm-apple-mseries\">Which is better? Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Apple M-series?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>I would say AMD for Windows or Apple M-series for Mac.<br>Here is my reasoning:<\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"intel-vs-amd\">Intel vs AMD<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>In the past I was a big Intel fan, but Intel dropped the ball over the last couple of years.<br>Especially the problems with the 13th and 14th generation of processors instilled a tremendous fear in me, but also the entire industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where in the past AMD processors were unstable, got too hot and drew too much power.<br>Is now Intel the one that is unstable (13th and 14th gen), gets too hot and draws too much power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, AMD fixed their issues, and thus, with AMD you simply get more bang for your buck.<br>Intel is more expensive and has more problems.<br>So, that is a no-brainer in my book.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"qualcomm\">Qualcomm<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>Qualcomm is mainly a manufacturer of ARM processors for mobile phones and tablets.<br>ARM processors are faster and more energy efficient than x86 processors, that&#8217;s why they are used in battery powered devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where Intel and AMD are in the camp of the x68 instruction set, Qualcomm is the ARM camp.<br>This means that you can&#8217;t just run a x68 program on a ARM processor.<br>Which in practice means: your DAW has to support ARM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, not many DAWs do support ARM.<br>So, I don&#8217;t think this is a good alternative for music producers at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"apple-mseries\">Apple M-series<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>After using ARM processors for years in their iPads and iPhones, Apple switched to ARM in 2020 for their desktop computers: the M-series processor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>M-series processors are fast, efficient, reliable and thus very good for music production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Apple optimized the M-series so incredibly hard in the M1, that newer generation processors are sometimes slower (!!!) than the older series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it depends heavily on the DAW if it is slower with a newer processor.<br>This YouTube creator did a very interesting performance test between different Apple processors and DAWs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Ultimate M1\/M2 Mac Buying Guide for Music Production: M2 vs M2 Pro vs M2 Max vs M2 Ultra\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VFpCbT3Rx4Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"comparison-table-processors\">Comparison table processors<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>Here is a quick comparison table for processors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Brand<\/th><th>Instruction set<\/th><th>Operating System<\/th><th>Recommend<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Intel<\/td><td>x68<\/td><td>Windows only<\/td><td>No<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AMD<\/td><td>x68<\/td><td>Windows only<\/td><td>Yes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Qualcomm<\/td><td>ARM<\/td><td>Windows only<\/td><td>No<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Apple (M-series)<\/td><td>ARM<\/td><td>Mac OS only<\/td><td>Yes<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"is-i5-or-i7-better-for-music-production\">Is i5 or i7 better for music production?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Processor types within a generation are: 3,5,7,9 (formerly known as i3, i5, i7, i9).<br>Both AMD and Intel make this distinction.<br>3 being the slowest, 9 being the fastest.<br>The 7 is supposed to be top of the line, but the 9 is meant for professional and power use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I would recommend at least a type 7 or 9 processor.<\/strong><br><strong>Don&#8217;t even consider a type 5 processor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be aware that, especially in notebooks, 3,5,7 processors (9 isn&#8217;t even available for notebooks) are a bit slower than their desktop counterpart to save battery-life.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do-i-need-more-ram-or-a-better-processor-for-music-production\">Do I need more RAM or a better processor for music production?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>100% a Processor!<br>If it was only for the simple reason that you could expand RAM later, and generally processors not as easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you have an Apple you are &#8220;doomed&#8221; anyway, because you can&#8217;t expand anything at all.<br>When you want an Apple pick the &#8220;maximumust&#8221; processor and the most RAM you can afford.<br>You have to pay the infamous Apple Tax on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is more important depends heavily on the type of producer you are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>When you use a lot of synthesizers: CPU!<\/strong><br>Synthesizers like Serum and effects like reverb take a heavy toll on the CPU, because sound has to be calculated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>When you use a lot of sample based instruments: RAM!<\/strong><br>Sampled instruments like Kontakt and Alicia\u2019s Keys are recorded pieces of sound (1 sample for each note in different circumstances).<br>All those samples have to be loaded into memory to be available on-the-fly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"is-cpu-or-gpu-better-for-music-production\">Is CPU or GPU better for music production?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>GPUs aren&#8217;t used much in music production.<br>There are some technical challenges to keep all components in the computer sync, which is less of an issue with gaming or video editing for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Therefore, an onboard GPU generally enough for music production.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it is a shame to see all that raw computing power of graphics cards nowadays go to waste,<br>especially when CPU cycles are so valuable to music producers.<br>So there are some software manufacturers of DAWs and plugins that sometimes take advantage of GPUs.<br>It is talked about, but that is far from industry standard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been a DJ for the biggest part of my life, and a music producer since 2016.I have also a degree in software engineering and fill in sometimes in the local computer store to repair and sell computers. I think I&#8217;m the perfect person to tell you about processors for music production. TL;DR: My Recommendations &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[35,49,100,95,99,97,96],"class_list":["post-6211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-production","tag-computer","tag-computer-for-djing","tag-computer-for-music-production","tag-cpu","tag-laptop","tag-music-production","tag-processor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thumbnail-v1-best-cpu-music-production.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6211"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6363,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6211\/revisions\/6363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}