- OS: macOS 12+ or Windows 10+
- CPU: 4-core — Apple M1, Intel i5, or AMD Ryzen 5
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: SSD with space for your audio library
- OS: macOS 14+ or Windows 11
- CPU: 8+ core — Apple M1 Pro or better, Intel i7, or AMD Ryzen 7
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: NVMe SSD
- GPU: Any — Neural Engine on Apple Silicon and DirectML on Windows accelerate audio analysis
- CPU: Apple M2 Pro/Max/Ultra or 12+ core Intel/AMD
- RAM: 32 GB
- Storage: Fast NVMe SSD with ample capacity
Database Size
Approximate database size based on number of samples imported.
| Library Size | Database |
|---|---|
| 10,000 | ~41 MB |
| 50,000 | ~206 MB |
| 100,000 | ~411 MB |
| 500,000 | ~2 GB |
| 1,000,000 | ~4.1 GB |
| 5,000,000 | ~20.5 GB |
Estimated Import & Analysis Times
Time to import, analyze BPM/key, and fully process your samples.
| Library Size | M1 | M2 Pro | M3 Pro | M4 Max | i7-12700 | i5-10400 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10K | 15–25 min | 10–15 min | 8–14 min | 7–12 min | 12–20 min | 25–40 min |
| 50K | 1.5–2.5 hrs | 50–80 min | 40–70 min | 35–60 min | 1–1.5 hrs | 2–3.5 hrs |
| 100K | 3–5 hrs | 1.5–2.5 hrs | 1.5–2 hrs | 1–2 hrs | 2–3 hrs | 4–7 hrs |
| 500K | 15–25 hrs | 8–14 hrs | 7–12 hrs | 5–10 hrs | 10–16 hrs | 20–35 hrs |
| 1M | 30–50 hrs | 16–28 hrs | 14–24 hrs | 10–20 hrs | 20–32 hrs | 40–70 hrs |
| 5M | 6–10 days | 3–6 days | 3–5 days | 2–4 days | 4–7 days | 8–15 days |
Audio files are not duplicated — SonikSearch references your original files in place. The database size above is for metadata and analysis data.
GPU acceleration is used during import for advanced audio analysis. Apple Silicon uses the Neural Engine via CoreML; Windows uses DirectML with any compatible GPU. This is not required but significantly speeds up analysis.
SSD storage is strongly recommended for importing. SonikSearch has been optimized to reduce I/O where possible. Once the library is imported, performance is fast even on slower drives.
Import can be paused and resumed at any time. If you close SonikSearch during an import, it will pick up where it left off on the next launch.