Re: Mobius system requirements

[Per Boysen <per@boysen.se>]

On Feb 16, 2005, at 20:13, geoff smith wrote:

> thanks, for the detailed reply.
> I gonna c if I can get a cheaap pc from somewhere...
> If the echoplex runs using mostly ram then the hard disk speed of the 
> computer wouldn't be important would it?

No, hard disk speed is not crucial for this. A fast CPU and plenty of 
fast RAM would be the way to go. My old IBM thinkpad did perfectly well 
with Live when setting clips (loops) to RAM only (not saving them to 
disk). And this was a slow Pentium 3. The new Pentium M CPUs are 
awesome!

If your only audio computer experience is with Apple machines you may 
need to read up on how to optimize Windows XP for audio application. A 
good place is
http://www.musicxp.net/

To read up on the efficiency of different laptop brands there is this 
ongoing thread at the Ableton Live forum:
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12375&highlight=laptop


> I am thinking about pc laptops as they often have v.slow hard drives 
> so thought I'd check.
> so a pc with 1ghz processor, intel or amd does it make a difference...
> how much ram approx?

Just calculate how long loops you want to keep spinning in memory. Then 
get as much RAM as you need for that audio plus the OS.

> I am just trying to get an idea of the basic system I would need to 
> use this....
> and have no idea about PCs anymore as i use an ibook and G5 apple.
> Anything I should definetly avoid compatibility wise for the 
> software..?

You should avoid anything that is not recommended by someone that 
already successfully uses such a system. With Pentium and Windows there 
are so many combinations available. Change just one component and that 
system may not be as good with audio any longer.

Do not go for USB audio or FireWire audio with PC. Go for a PCMCIA 
card. One that is loved by many laptop PC musicians is the Indigo Echo 
i/o. It gives you stereo in and stereo out with superb  sound quality 
to a modest price.

USB midi interface is all cool, but do not buy a solution that combines 
audio and midi. The best laptop way is a PCMCIA audio card and some USB 
thingy for midi. there's the dirt cheap Midi XP Mate that is only a USB 
to Midi contact converter, needs no drivers at all with Windows XP or 
OS X. Then you may use any kind of USB midi mixer (like the UC-33) or 
combined with a keyboard like the Korg MicroKontrol, just to give one 
example.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
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