Which Audio Device for Laptop on the move?

G

gazukmale

New member
Hi
I am looking for a small dongle type sound card/audio device for my laptop when I am travelling ..I do not require any inputs or anything just an output for headphones so only want something small that I can plug in a usb slot (Not a full size audio device or anything)..
Its purely for mixing purposes,(no recording)...I do use lots of plugins and a couple of Virtual Instruments so it needs to be able to handle them

My current internal laptop soundcard seems to not work well with DAW , and my asio and performance indicators seem to be jumping around everywhere , im guessing because the its not designed for pro production. So im looking for something with good ASIO and 24bt

Ive seen cheap ones for £5- £10 but im worried these will not be able to handle Music production

If anyone knows of anything please could you recommend?

I7 - HP elite workbook
Win 7 pro

Thanks
Gareth
 
gazukmale said:
I do use lots of plugins and a couple of Virtual Instruments so it needs to be able to handle them
Click to expand...


If you're not recording, then you don't need an interface of any kind. The sound card in your computer is good enough. Any kind of audio interface won't "handle" the plugins or virtual instruments unless you have something like the UAD Apollo that specifically processes plugs. Plugs and VSTI's are processed by the cpu, not the audio card. Which means, if you're having problems during mixing, it's caused solely by the processing power of your computer or lack of.

You need to investigate why you're having problems mixing. Here are some suggestions:

CPU affects number of plugs used. Reverbs plugs use a lot of processing power.
RAM affects number of Virtual Instruments and plugs.
Hard Drive speed affects total number of tracks.

Non audio apps can demand a lot of resources, so go through and remove or disable anything you don't need.
 
WiFi is the biggest resource hog. If I am recording on my low end laptop, I turn it off.
 
are you sure?

Chili said:
If you're not recording, then you don't need an interface of any kind. The sound card in your computer is good enough. Any kind of audio interface won't "handle" the plugins or virtual instruments unless you have something like the UAD Apollo that specifically processes plugs. Plugs and VSTI's are processed by the cpu, not the audio card. Which means, if you're having problems during mixing, it's caused solely by the processing power of your computer or lack of.

You need to investigate why you're having problems mixing. Here are some suggestions:

CPU affects number of plugs used. Reverbs plugs use a lot of processing power.
RAM affects number of Virtual Instruments and plugs.
Hard Drive speed affects total number of tracks.

Non audio apps can demand a lot of resources, so go through and remove or disable anything you don't need.
Click to expand...


Hi thanks
But If this is true then why does my desktop act the same when i do not use and external audio device? When i plug in my emu 0404 it seems to handle things alot better
Maybe I should of said its the onboard audio of my laptop motherboard and not a separate sound card
I also read that the ASIO drivers have an effect on performance

Im aware of the effects of CPU RAM and harddrive and i have a decent laptop and have good tech knowledge
just not sure about ASIO drives etc and if they have an effect, and I know there is a noticeable difference when i plug my Emu 0404 into my laptop so there must be something going on.

Gareth
 
Well, I don't have a definitive answer for you. It's possible the soundcard has to convert from whatever sample rate you are using to 48khz, but in my experience, that has never caused problems.

The 0404 does have some onboard DSP processing, but you have to specifically use it and it's mainly for recording, not mixing.

How does the laptop soundcard not work well? You mentioned the ASIO indicator is jumping, what ASIO driver are you using? What DAW software are you using?
 
Chili said:
Well, I don't have a definitive answer for you. It's possible the soundcard has to convert from whatever sample rate you are using to 48khz, but in my experience, that has never caused problems.

The 0404 does have some onboard DSP processing, but you have to specifically use it and it's mainly for recording, not mixing.

How does the laptop soundcard not work well? You mentioned the ASIO indicator is jumping, what ASIO driver are you using? What DAW software are you using?
Click to expand...

Well Ive just downloaded "ASIO for all driver" and its had an impact on the laptop....
Im using Cubase 5 and was just using the fullduplex driver installed
The Sound was basically starting and then cutting etc And the ASIO light kept showing Red and jumping (which i couldn't understand why having a I7 work station with 8 cores )

Now however the ASIO indicator seems to be only half way and keeping stable and things seem to be running :-)
Still Its only 16bit and i wouldn't mind 24bit for mixing with the extra headroom :-(

Cheers
Gareth
 
Gareth, I think you are quite right to look for better than laptop soundcard.

I have just just run a "no signal" record test on this HP i3 and Samplitude returned an rms noise floor of -87dB. Had I done the same on the same laptop with my KA6 interface I know the noise floor would have been better than -100dB (24bits both times) .

Then, the headphone amplifiers in laptops are very crude so even if you HAVE to use OBS at least spend $100 or so on a cans amp.

A very worthy $1000 solution is the Benchmark DAC 1 (2 now?). Reviewed in Sound on Sound it is the very dogs of dacs. SoS also reviewed a wee USB device that was just what you need but I CAN'T FIND IT! It was bloody expensive for a one way widget mind.

And, sorry to drone on about it but! The KA6 is very compact! The Alesis i02 would beat OBS hands down for 70quid or so.

Dave.
 
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