A tiny PC in a desktop synthesizer setup? - hardware VST host

I made this video because one of the most common questions on my Raspberry Pi videos is "can it run Windows VST plugins". Well, why not use a PC for that. You can find this one by searching for "mini pc with a touchscreen" on your favourite search engine. (Not sponsored)
Table of contents:

00:00 demo 1: 80s 8bit metal
00:30 introduction; ... why?! - ARM vs X64/X86
01:32 hardware specs
02:30 demo 2: Roland J-6 USB audio into Air Delay Pro with a side of Hyperion
03:13 WHAT ABOUT LATENCY?
05:20 using the PC as a power bank for music gear
05:43 isn't that touch screen kind of fiddly (hint: it is)
06:34 other things to consider
06:53 how many plugins can the CPU take before collapsing?
07:36 demo 4: a lot of plugins!
09:31 conclusion

In this video:

HÄLP ZIS CHANNEL

Here's what I have in my setup at the moment. Want to have that, too? Please use the followings links and support me:

MPC One, Novation PEAK, Reface DX, Source Audio Collider, Strymon Iridium, Zoom MS 70 CDR, Donner N-25, Akai EWI USB, Zoom R20, Zoom H5, Yamaha MT7, Roland Aira:

Some bands / artists I've been following for a long time are (among others) Massive Attack, Pink Floyd, Pet Shop Boys, Archive, A-Ha, Yes, Porcupine Tree, John Mellencamp, Jean-Michel Jarre, Metallica, Peter Gabriel and Perturbator. So my music will kind of sound like those (without ever reaching the greatness of those artists, of course). :-)

[mr_floydst]

Hi, lovely synthesizer people! By your comments, I'm noticing I should have made it clearer that I'm NOT recommending this for professional music production. Some viewers kept asking for a Raspberry PI sized box that can run their favourite plugins while also being small as a RasPI and featuring a touch screen. That''s what this is! Thanks for stopping by. :-)

[RobertFisher]

Very happy to see this video. I’ve been looking a lot lately at options for essentially turning VST synths into hardware synths for use away from a computer.

[distantcomets]

Fascinating - I didn't know these things existed. My brain immediately went in another direction - a bunch of my plugins (Arturia and NI's stuff to name two) can run outside of the DAW as standalone apps. I'm thinking this device plus a midi controller and I can bring any of their emulations to a live set.

[ClemensWennersMusic]

Great video mate! And what a surprisingly powerful little machine!

[JulianToler]

As always a great run down of hardware synth systems - and I really feel you have addressed the important questions - how practical is it to use! You have shown not just what is possible but really shown the practicalities involved. Thank you!

[adamjuresko]

Thank you thank you thank you!!! I looked into this little pc for exactly this set up but wasn't sure it could do it. So stoked to see it works

[RetroPlus]

The form factor makes this very desirable for small setups, i can see this being perfect for outdoor jams with mini equipment (like pocket operators or volcas). You could create an extremely powerful portable rig with this.

[sodiumlights]

I had zero idea this kinda device exists until watching your cool video. Thank you!

[GertBoers]

I suggest using a pen with a soft rubbery tip when trying to select such small areas.
Cool device! Neat that it contains a display out of the box. There are more x86 SBC's (most without display); I might giving them a second glance, after seeing this video. :)
BTW: not only Intel makes x86 cpu's. There's also AMD. ;)

[Mr.Facebox]

This is Perfect for Bringing Serato or Traktor DJ software. Both companies have flagship DJ decks that will only run on Desktops (and not mobile)

[paoloramacciotti]

Hi Floyd! That is absolutely interesting and very promising, as a super-portable music workstation to carry around, while on trip or going to/back from work. There also seem to be a newer PC version available, with a slightly faster CPU, more RAM and increased eMMC (but no passive cooling).

[rexcellencemagee]

Floyd, you blew me away again!!! I was going to write you anyway because I just got one of those android tablets on Amazon that will hold a TB.250 go, Wow! And 16 gb of ram, and can be used as a touch monitor for Windows or I could actually just load Windows onto it with an app! Sounds expensive? Under $200 called Blackview. It’s amazing! I ordered two more for my desktop rig! The gentleman that mentioned can be used in 3rd party is absolutely correct! It has to be coming from the main computer which is an i9 64 gb but I’m mirroring Komplete on it and running it thru my mult. It works but I need to fix a few bugs before I do a video on it.😀

[baltimega]

I do this with my steamdeck. I also DJ with the steamdeck as well

[sleepi]

thanks - really helpful! i am pondering to make a elektron overbridge fx box running a 16 track elektron device into ableton live and then using the live native fx and grouping to process it all.

[LanthanOIde]

That looks like a neat little thing! And beautiful song snippets to demo it, Floyd! :)

[JAYgtr]

Hello Mr. Steinberg. I wanted to bring to your attention a VST created by a reaper user called "Rolling Sampler" by Bird. There is also a MidiCap plugin for capturing midi. The functionality of these running on this mini PC would enable ghost recording while using plugins. It only uses RAM to store audio data until you drag it out of the UI!

My dream box runs plugins and has switchable ghost tracking depending what im doing. Either master bus or instrument depending on an ABY box setup into the interface :) ❤ i love your videos.

[SpikeBlighty]

Impressively powerful for such a small form factor. I wonder if Windows Magnifier would aid with the small screen GUI issues. Great video.

[Psychlist]

Great video, Floyd.

With a screen that small, you'll definitely be better off using a capacitive stylus instead of a finger.

That Celeron is a pretty low power processor (we also see it a lot in astrophotography mini PCs to control telescopes), but Reaper is a super efficient DAW. I'm actually really impressed that device could do 3.3ms RTL with ASIO4All.

FWIW, Windows does run quite well on Arm64 (we've had mainstream Arm support since 2012, and even a cut-down IoT version for Raspberry Pi), but the Intel-arch DAWs and plugins would be running under emulation today, so it's almost certainly a performance wash in cases like this.

[johnharding]

I think as an external convolution reverb this would be great (as the latency would be acceptable) also as a matering chain with a vst host plus good eq, compression and or limiting a very affordable option for live tour modular/synth setup.

[emiliendauzou]

Hi. This little pc seems to be cool for running vsthost, and make a powerfull multi synth setup (with multitimbral)😁 nice video Floyd 👍