Whether you’ve built or bought your machine, there are a few things you will likely need to do in order to get up and running, and a few things that can optimize your workflow and save you time going forward. I will tackle the OS specific topics first, but afterwards we will cover general stuff that applies to both with a general checklist at the very end of this page. You can find more information on optimizing your system in that section of this book.

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Windows

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When powering on your windows machine, you can access the BIOS by pressing a key while it starts up, usually delete or one of the F keys. This key varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, so be sure to look it up in your motherboards manual if you need to access.

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The BIOS

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Once inside the bios, you will see there are a lot of “under the hood” type options that you can access here that can’t normally be accessed inside of Windows itself. This is where you can actually configure a lot of the way the hardware of your system operates from overclocking your CPU to setting your fan speed profiles. If you built the machine yourself, you will also set your boot drive, configure your storage (such as RAID) and more here. If you’ve purchased a computer, these settings are often optimized for you but can be good to know nonetheless.

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Confirm all hardware is recognized

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The first thing you should be sure to do is check all of your hardware settings and make sure all your drives and components are recognized. Inside of the BIOS you will be able to see wether or not all your ram is found at the correct speeds, all your storage drives are connected, and more. This is incredibly useful for troubleshooting - especially if you just installed a new drive or component and you aren’t sure if it is being recognized in Windows.

 

Enable XMP

 

The second thing I would consider is, ennabling XMP if your RAM supports it. For composers using sample libraries, this is highly beneficial as XMP is a setting that allows you to get the maximum amount of speed from your RAM. If you’ve purchased RAM that has a speed higher than the standard DDR speed for that generation, this is how you enable it. XRM is technically an overclock, but it is generally safe if all your parts are compatible. The main downsides are increased amount of system heat, an increased (generally very small) risk of instability that can be fixed by disabling XMP, and decresed lifespan of computer components.

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Storage Drive settings, Operating Systems, & Raid

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If you are using multiple drives, you can install the OS, set the preferred boot order, and/or enable RAID on them. I’ve written about RAID technology extensively in another section, but essentially this will come down to user preference/back up strategy/risk tolerance. Some composers will be happy to use RAID 0 and increase their bandwidth across multiple drives, others will never enable RAID once in their life. It purely comes down to your preferences so be sure to read up on RAID, the benefits, and the risk involved before committing to one or another.

 

Overclocking Your CPU

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Next, a composer may want to overclock their CPU. Not every CPU is capable of being overclocked, and unlike RAM there typically isn’t a hard limit on what your CPU will let you overclock it to if you attempt to. This means there are LESS safeguards, on overclocking your CPU than enabling XMP on your ram so be sure to know what you are doing before attempting otherwise you can risk damage to your machine.

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Tuning Fan Profiles

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As a composer, your system may need to balance between performance, sound, and heat. If your machine is inside the same room as your studio, great performance can come at the cost of increased heat as well as loud noise from the fans trying to keep the machine cool. This can be especially amplified if you cheaped out on fans in exchange for fancier hardware. So be aware.

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Anyway, inside of the BIOS you are able to adjust which temperature your fans will spin at what speed. This is also personal preference, but the general rule of thumb is you want the fans to spin at lower speeds at lower temperatures and higher speeds at higher temperatures. As long as your CPU doesn’t overheat, your curve will work. So figure out at what temperature you want your max RPM to kick in and go from there.

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MSI Forum: How to Set up a Fan Curve in BIOS

Noctua: How Do I Optimize my Fan Settings

 

Installing your OS

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Install OS

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💡Sometimes your BIOS may require a BIOS update, aka “Flashing your BIOS” if you’ve built a machine in order for it to be compatible with newer gen hardware…. EXPAND HERE

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Inside of Windows

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Once you’re in Windows, there are a bunch more steps we should take to set up and optimize your machine. Especially if you’ve purchased a machine pre-built, your machine will likely have a lot of Bloatware - this is software included by the manufacturer from a third party that is typically unwanted, excessive, and can even be a security risk. If this machiine is supposed to be strictly for composing, you can feel free to remove as much of this as possible and free up system resources for performance. The links below can help you.

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PDQ: How to Remove Bloatware

PCWorld: How to Clean Out Windows 11 Bloatware

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Additionally, there are some software options like Chris Titus' Tool or this github repository

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MAC

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Apple computers by design are intended to be “it just works”. For some people, this is great and helps prevent them from doing something that’d damage their PC. For others who like to tinker, this can be a headache and feel like you’re being patronized any time you are trying to do something that should be basic and easy to do. That said, even though Apple Computers tend to come pretty ready to go there are some things you can do at set up to modify the experience to your liking.

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Sign into iCloud

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If you don’t have an Apple account yet, you can make one fairly easily. But signing into iCloud will connect your Apple Device into your personal Apple ecosystem. This will unlock many of the benefits that make Apple computer’s stand out - the seamless connection between your various apple devices: computers, watches, phones, etc. This can also be a bit of a distraction when composing, so be sure to disable your messages and other app notifications that you may find to be distracting.

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Set up Time Machine

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Time Machine is an apple specific piece of software that creates back ups of your system at regular intervals. If you have no other back up option, this is incredibly useful. I recommend using this on a secondary hard drive in case of emergencies, but there definitely are better (paid) apps to use in conjunction with this.

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General

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Regardless of what OS you are running, there are a few good practices worth your time during the initial set up of your machine:

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Set Back Ups

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Backing up your data is one of the best insurance policies you have against all kinds of problems - natural disasters, theft, hackers, etc. You can find a more in-depth article about back ups - here - but in the meantime, please heavily consider backing your data up from the get go. It’s so much better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

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Run Benchmarks

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Before installing anything new on your computer, I would highly recommend running a few common benchmarks on your machine. These can be great ways to monitor the health of your computer, as well as diagnose if any of the components are malfunctioning now or in the future. Benchmarks serve as a reference point to know what your machine is like in optimal condition, and your bench marks can regularly be updated over time.

Some common benchmarks are:

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Installing Software & Drivers

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Next, we can install all of the software we need. I recommend keeping a list of any music software you download in case you need to do this again in the future. For non-music software, there is a great package installer called “Ninite” where you are able to download and install multiple apps at the same time including firefox, chrome, discord, Spotify, steam and more. This can greatly speed up your install time.I'

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Depending on what peripherals you are connecting, you may need to go to the manufacturer’s website and download drivers for them in order for them to be “seen” and work properly with your OS. I’ve encountered this more in the past with things like MIDI controllers and printers but less so more recently. Your mileage may vary.

 

Authorize any Software

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A lot of software has a digital protection on it that requires you to “prove” your purchase by authenticating. Some software, such as protools, use a hardware key (like iLok) to manage authorizations, while others need activation managers downloaded, cloud sign ins, signing into a website etc. Whatever software you use, make sure you take the time to authorize and make sure everything opens and works in your DAW before a project - nothing is worse than having to deal with authenticating plugins when on a tight deadline!

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Add shortcuts for any important apps or locations

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This will be further explained in the optimization section, but on both windows and Mac you are able to add applications to the start menu/dock bar for quick and easy access as well as folders in the file explorer for the same reason. I highly recommend doing this for software like your DAW, Notation software, or VEP as well as any important folders like a master “Scores” folder. This will save you 10 seconds here or there, but definitely adds up over time. On both platforms, adding app to the launch bar is a matter of right clicking while it’s open and selecting the pin option. Similarly, with folders all you need to do is drag and drop a folder on the left hand navigation window inside the file explorer/finder where the other folders (such as documents, pictures, etc) are located.