Dammit, I need a Laptop but there's this ONE LITTLE DETAIL...

Kelly Holdridge

Kelly Holdridge

New member
You know what it is. Anyone hear of a multi-input soundcard for a laptop? Anyone? I know we did this a while back, but things change, and I'd rather blow $4,000 on a laptop than one of these new 24 trackers...

So let's have 'em. I certainly don't have a clue (you'd think the VAIO would allow for this; maybe the new G4s (I wish they were PCs, damn))...
 
You have three options:

1. Get a docking station with a PCI slot
2. Get a soundcard with USB connection.
3. Blow 3G on the laptop and 1G on a dedicated DAW.

/O
 
I have an older Dell Latitude with a docking station that has a PCI slot. I've put an Event GINA in that slot and so far it's worked like a champ. I wanted to try the newer Roland/Edirol USB things but I actually had the GINA lying around from before I went to a laptop. Plugging a Midiman 4x4 USB MIDI box solved the MIDI issue, and I can eject the laptop and be on my way with it if I need to take it somewhere. It seems to work great--the laptop is quieter than my old box PC, and the LCD doesn't cause any audible interference where it seemed my old CRT monitor always did.

The GINA isn't really "multi-Input" (2-in, 8-out, S/PDIF), but I imagine any half-length PCI card-based interface would work well in that slot.

ola's 3rd option looks good from here, too.

-Luci
 
A few reasons for going for #3

1. That second, dedicated, 40GB disc you're eyeing isn't just going to cost an arm and a leg in laptop size. It wont fit in the case...

2. 256MB RAM is nice. More is better. Do you know the price on Laptop RAM?

3. Muliti tracking on a laptop screen looks like a poor idea. Where are you going to fit all the meters and shit on a 15" LCD monitor.

4. Laptops are gay

5. You'd need hook one of them expensive external burners to your laptop to get the result(?) on CD.


Other than that, laptop recording seems like a good idea. As proven by Luciferin, it works, but it seems to be even more hassle than the regular DAW and you, Kelly, could never handle it;)

/O
 
Well, that about puts the laptop out of the question. I didn't even think about the screen limitation, all I wanted was a PORTABLE DAW that I might be able to run off a car cigarette lighter and such... I mean, hey, it's all on our computer at home, why can't we just take it with us?

THAT would make a great DAW. A laptop with a... well, take that new monitor Apple just started making and slap a keyboard with hinges on it... the extra space (the difference between the width of small laptop keyboard and large screen) could be used for a little patchbay...

Ah, too many limitations. BTW, how much more (like, a multiplier) is laptop RAM? Is this because of power-management features?

It will be a fine day when itsy-bitsy preamps are made with internal A/D converters and mega-storage. A universal SYNC device would trigger the cues, and you just get the data off of each microphone after a given session/show. Yeah. Cool.

Thanks, guys. And welcome, Luciferin. "Don't Worry! Burn Happy Now!"

Doo do do doo doo do dah dum da dum de dum....
 
The Feb Sound on Sound has a review of a PCMCIA (ie, laptop) multi-io cards and an article on using a laptop for soundtracking - they're saying it is pretty feasible. <hunt, hunt, hunt, hunt>

Anyways, the laptop they are recommended is from Red Submarine ( www.sub.co.uk ) and the PCMCIA card they were looking at was the Ego Sys' WaMi Box (2 in, 4 out - 20 bit, plus optical and co-ax s/pdif plus midi in/out)

With that, you wouldn't need a docking port - everything could be right there for you. They were also commenting that the laptop also has acoustical advantages in that it is so much quieter then any pc...

It is possible to do.. but it will cost you about twice what an equivalent PC package will.
 
Check out the MOTU 828 - its a firewire recording device that can be connected to a laptop with firewire.
www.motu.com

You can then disconnect it from you laptop and use it on your home computer (if you have one).

I think they are available mid-march for around $750.
 
Don't laugh, guys, I was thinking of something in the 8 to 10 input range, I don't care about output, I can find a way to burn CDs if nothing else worked...

I just wanna run CEP without any real length limitations on a quiet, fast computer that can accept a reasonable amount of mics. We do alot of live multitracking, I don't wanna do the two-in thing (might as well buy a ART Dual MP and throw some Radio Shack adapters on the output cords...)

Thanks, Peter. I'm thinking about animating the smoke, but I didn't make the picture to begin with (i don't know WHERE i got this, something makes me think Camn stole it off Shaky's site...). Anyway, it fits me to a tee, the big ears (everybody here), the cat (gee, everybody here) and the CIGARETTE (*aha!* it's kelly).

I wish Roland Saul would use the GIF I spent all day editing for him... Didn't know a THING about GIFs and STILL found a way to erase the background... Now that I figured out ImageReady, I'd be glad to make GIFs for anyone who wants one, just email me...



Thank You trashcan-man and ola, cool beans and all that. I'll just wait, maybe wire my car for AC and plan ahead...
 
I can't speak of all laptops, but I can give you some features on mine. I have a gateway solo 9300. it has firewire so I can add plenty of fast external storage. Yes, it has a 15" LCD screen, but this is the visible screen size unlike most CRT screens. It really equivalent to a 17" monitor. Plus, It can run dual monitors with it's VGA output. It has a CD burner built in. I picked up 2 docking stations on ebay for 40 bucks. Each one has a pci slot. I'm running the delta 1010 and it works great. Also, laptops tend to be nearly silent, unlike most desktops.
 
Wesley:

That's IT! THAT's what I'm lookin' for... maybe make a 5-6 height rack and "custom" the top space for the laptop...

That's IT! THANK YOU!

(oh, hold on. can you please elaborate on how you use your card, and what latency you experience?)

MAYBE That's IT! MAYBE THANK YOU!

:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top