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Re: MacBook

On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 12:59 AM, Mark Smart <marksmartus@gmail.com> wrote:

> I recently got a MacBook (of the non-Pro variety) that I am running
> Windows XP on via Boot Camp. I am currently using the built-in sound
> card and am not able to get the latency down as low as I wanted. I
> would like to be able to run Reaktor and B4 inside Ableton with an
> undetectable amount of latency. Is anyone doing this? Can you
> recommend a very fast (Firewire?) sound card for a setup like this? I
> was thinking about an Echo Audiofire; anyone using this with a
> MacBook?
>
> I hope to be able to add Hammond organ sounds to my jazz looping act,
> as well as the big band synthesizer with Reaktor:
>
> 
>http://www.marksmart.net/sounddesign/windsounds/reaktorbigband/reaktorbigband.html
>
> Let me know what you think, thanks.

 Hi Mark,

My back-up interface is an Echo Audiofire2. I'm not sure that's the
one you're asking about, since thee is also a bigger model, but it
works fine for me here on my MacBook. I can't us the Echo for mic
input without adding a mic amp, but for guitar and line level analog
input it is great. I have used it a lot too for digital input/output,
by coaxial SPDIF, and that is also working well with no latency. Its
built-in MIDI port does not in any way disturb the audio processing. I
hold it for one of most-bang-for-the-buck devises available. I have
not run it in Windows though, so just take my world for the OS X
drivers to be ok. I know other musicians that run this device under
windows though, so I guess it works fine.

No matter if the referred latency problems is input latency or plug-in
latency, as long as you feed the system real-time streaming audio (as
in not already recorded to the drive) you have to live with it. One
can minimize latency by setting smaller buffers.

The only thing I can say about using computer's built-in audio cards
for live music is that I have tried a few times but gotten scared off
pretty quickly ;-)

-- 
Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
www.myspace.com/perboysen
www.stockholm-athens.com