Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

RE: OT Laptop recommendation needed



Just a quick word about laptops and firewire - the range of laptops (or 
desktops for that matter) that have integrated firewire, out of the box, 
was small and getting smaller, as of my research about 6 mos. ago.

I am a little leery of firewire by card but maybe that isn't merited by 
the facts.

Hal Dean

-----Original Message-----
From: Per Boysen [mailto:perboysen@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 2:11 PM
To: Loopers-Delight
Subject: Re: OT Laptop recommendation needed

I assume he wants to record at least eight inputs simultaneously?
That's something any modern computer would manage, given the audio 
interface offers so many inputs. I never need to record that many 
simultaneous inputs but I spend some time around in studios and a lot of 
them use the RME Fireface 800 and tell me they love it.

Regarding operative system it seems Windows 7 may bring back Microsoft 
into the game again. Windows XP was good for audio but with Vista many 
users complain with less stable audio functionality.

Myself I use only Apple pc's these days. Back when I used to run Windows 
on my live concert laptops - because Mobius wasn't available on Mac OS - I 
still kept an Apple box for studio recordings. I have two reasons for that 
choice. One is that it that it is such a standardized platform, with the 
same company developing the OS and manufacturing the hardware, so you can 
always find an Apple certified repair service that can fix issues right 
away. I mean, the inside of a Mac always corresponds to the specifications 
regarding the model. My other reason is that I produce a lot of recordings 
where I kind of compose as part of the production process and for this I 
haven't found a better software than Logic, and Logic does only run under 
Apple's OS. But if your friend is thinking about using Cubase I guess my 
advice isn't totally relevant.

Regarding the question about USB and Firewire we have talked about this a 
lot on this list in the past. Firewire is better in the way that it is 
reliable all the way up to the very last bit of capacity.
USB may get flickery with increasing traffic. But with a moderate data 
traffic USB does just fine. I use both here and have not yet run into the 
dangerous zone of USB. For recording of eight and more simultaneous inputs 
Firewire is recommendable. It's also good to record to an external drive.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.perboysen.com
http://www.youtube.com/perboysen



On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 6:25 PM, Stephen Goodman <spgoodman@earthlight.net> 
wrote:
> I’m following this one as well, since I’ll be shopping up a laptop to 
> combine with The Rack Unit when I get back to the US.
>
> From: Michael Peters
> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 5:06 PM
> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
> Subject: OT Laptop recommendation needed
>
>
> I need a recommendation (for a friend) for a laptop/soundcard 
> combination that can run Cubase and easily record 8 concurrent tracks. 
> That friend of mine (livelooping guitarist Michael Frank, some of you 
> might know him) needs to buy a laptop for music lessons and recording 
> at school (he is a music
> teacher) and wonders what he should get. He has a budget of 2500 Euros 
> which is plenty I think, but what should he buy (laptop hardware, 
> sound card, software)?
>
> He is familiar with Windows and because Windows is generally cheaper 
> than Macs, we thought a Windows laptop (Windows7 64bit) is the way to 
> go, but if there is good reason to buy a Mac, maybe he would consider 
> that too.
>
> The laptop/soundcard should be able to easily record at least 8 tracks 
> concurrently. Which soundcard is best suited (somebody suggested a 
> Focusrite
> 8 channel card)? Is that something all current laptops can do, 
> speed-wise, or does it already require a very fast harddisk? USB or 
> Firewire?
>
> The package would also include a version of Cubase (which one?), a DVD 
> burner, and a beamer.
>
> thanks bunches -Michael