Does the girl need a preamp?

[fritsthegirl]

Like Steen said - run the guitar direct to the interface and use amplitube while monitoring through headphones or monitors, or mic the amp. Any other way is unnecessary headache.

I'm not entirely sure why I didn't try this, it's so obvious, I'm such an idiot, trying to be all clever plugging stuff all over the place. Only problem is I only got a lite version of Amplitube. Still it'll do for now. I rocked that little amp out over the weekend. So nice hearing my guitar fill the room. Wonder if the neighbours enjoyed it too?

 

[jonny deep]

You can try out a free version of Guitar Rig, too. I found GR to be less heavy on the CPU than Amplitube when I first started out on my crappy laptop.

 

[fritsthegirl]

if it still hums, you can open up the hub and lift the computer's ground since it and the computer's 5V is not used. (usb is a twisted balanced pair )

on firewire is interface-6wire to 4 wire cord then 4 wire to 6 wire adaptor (two pairs)

but usually power usb hubs are power and ground lifted on the computer side (unless its a really cheapone)

I'm just telling what has worked in the past (for me) take it or leave it if you wish...

but I forgot to mention: you could also get a usb isolator which is a data transformer and a isolated dc-dc converter.

those are common industrial enviroments but I see people making them cheaper now (used to be $200).

you can not shock yourself by lifting a usb ground. and it is not needed since the data transmission is balanced line.

Yeh I'm no Dr Techno when it comes to this stuff, I wasn't kidding when I said I was scared of electricity.

 

[fritsthegirl]

Time to purchase a new laptop battery, me thinks.

Yip.

I don't suppose you're in Santa's good books, frits? Being naughty 'n' all...

I thought Santa likes that.

^^^this

if your local battery store is anything like mine, you should be able to get a pretty sweet battery. When mine went bad on my HP laptop a few years back, I was able to get a battery that lasted twice as long as my old one did in its prime.

It's been so long since I've needed to sort out my computer. I'm scared one day this old thing will just crap out on me. I've got everything backed up, but it's teetering on the verge, I got the blue screen of death the other day. I just can't decide to go for a run of the mill desktop from Dell, or something a bit more upmarket, like HP.

 

[fritsthegirl]

You can try out a free version of Guitar Rig, too. I found GR to be less heavy on the CPU than Amplitube when I first started out on my crappy laptop.

Ah thanks, I'll definitely check that out then. Amplitube is cool, but a bit flashy and probably busy sucking up that tiny bit of RAM & CPU that I do have left.

 

[ecc83]

Frits,
If your laptop is running stuff "sort of" ok at the moment it probably just needs a bloody good cleanout...And I mean both literally inside it and the software.

Take it to a tech who can lift a few panels and suck out the dust and fluff. He might also be able to do a Recovery but if not you can do it your self.

You should have a Recovery partition on the C drive. Go >Start> rt clk Computer .Manage and find the hard drives (there will be at least two even tho' there is only one, physical drive) One part of the drive should be the Recovery Partition and running this (look up the handbook) will put the computer back to the day you brought it home (assuming it was brand spanking). You will need to re install all your software such as the Daw and Ampltube plus silly things we forget we need like a.pdf reader! This can take 1/2 a day and then you will have a lot of updates to get through but at the end you will have a squeaky clean PC, with a pristine Registry. The only anti-virus software I use is Msofts SE.

You should also have made a set of 3 Recovery discs on day one of getting the laptop. If you didn't you can do so now. N.B. the discs can only be (afaik) DVD-R or DVD+R.
More ram never hurts but no point in more than ~3.5G unless it is a 64bit OS.

The ground loop problem with laptop PSUs is legendary and there several fixes.
1) Buy another power unit that DOESN't carry mains earth through to the DC side. (best solution)
2) Cut the earth/screen at ONE end of the signal feed from the AI.
3) Buy a 1:1 transformer isolator box to insert in the audio feed such as the Art Cleanbox 2.

Dave.

 

[rayc]

Technology is such fun.
I agree with almost everybody!
I'd say new battery 1st & foremost as that'll stand you in good stead for as long as the lappy lasts.
Run all the clean & rinse cycles you can on the thing so it'll be happier.
GR is quite good and not too hungry so get your hands on that.
I'd like to have the USB thing sorted just so I have it & can use it if I wanted to.
A powered USB hub can be handy with older laptops as the lappy doesn't really supply enough grunt particularly on battery.
Be careful with Dell - they can be good but they can also be horrid.
I've bought 4 Dells and the last one had the motherboard die 3 weeks out of warranty - THEN I discovered it was an extremely common problem they kept quiet about.
I also had hell with their call centre.
The computers, generally speaking, were fine but the company has gone into overdrive and doesn;t seem to be abel to keep up with itself. They've just moved into school supply down this way.
Old laptop -My wife bought me an ACER Travelmate 530 (made in 2003) bought ex lease to some big company and refurbished in 2008.
It's getting a little tired now & the battery is out in 30mins max.

 

[ecc83]

I have had an HP i3, W7/64 4G laptop now for just over a year and have been very pleased with it.
It seems to run just about anything I throw at it. Max usage was about 20 tracks of Cubase LE6 mostly audio but some MIDI. With my NI KA6 it works superbly and give 64 samples latency with nary a glitch.

Never had a problem that needed HP support on that but did on my HP tower and they sent me a new hard drive on specc' and a set of Recovery discs!

Re lappybatts? I was told that people bugger them because they use the laptop on mains all the time and never let the battery fully discharge. I have no idea if this is true. I do know the early NiCads* in video cams and tools suffered in this way...Still, can't hurt to let the lappy drain the battery to nanties once a month or so?

*used to fix them by breaking the individual cells out and "flashing" them across a car battery. Mucho spark and smoke. DON'T try this at home kids!

Dave.