Laptop-interfaces?

Roel

Roel

That SMART guy.
I'm thinking about buying a laptop. But I have to decide before wednesday.

So what are the options? The laptop I'm considering has firewire and 3 USB 2.0 ports.

I need 2 channel digital audio in/out, preferably optical SPDIF (for transfering audio between my VS1880 and the laptop) and 2 channels of (quality) analog in and out would be very nice too.

A 8 or 16 track system might be an option too. In this case, I need a low latency system, since my VS1880 will have to go for it. (I'm not sure how interesting keeping it would be... I can sync em up easily probably.... once I get the idea, swapping audio will be easily done, and 2 systems have alot more calculating power right?)
 
If you prefer 8 in & out, take a look at the RME Multiface with PCMIA card. Rock solid system with 0 latency. sp/dif & midi connects as well.
 
A friend of mine has got that system... I could consider it, but first I gotta see his system working (he's got clicks), and I don't know what it costs over here... Gonna check it.

I also like the MOTU-systems alot...

But for the moment, I'm checking out 2 channel systems. I like the price and possibilities of the USB audiophile. Anyone ever tried that?
 
That could be a good choice {and inexpensive} as I know from experience that the 2496 PCI card is very dependable.
 
My personal experience tell me to avoid MOTU on the PC. I had 2408mkII and an 828. These were no bad units by any stretch of the imagination but I have since sold them. I am using the RME digiface (my A/D is in my mic preamps and a Tango 24) on both my DAW and my mobile notebook based DAW.

If you visit the RME web site they have a review of different notebooks and how they perform with the RME cards. I think you will end up choosing a Dell Insperon 8200.

If you really really love MOTU, get a Mac notebook.
 
just curious, have you checked out the Digi 002? i haven't used it, but it looks cool. .. ...however, it is a bit pricey.
 
laptop stuff

if you're looking at a laptop with usb 2.0 and firewire, you're options are seemingly going to be good and only get better in the near future.

i just got a new laptop (gateway) to dedicate to audio, was tempted by the cheapness of the USB dealies (quattro, UA-5, etc) but ended up spending a bit more for a firewire interface (presonus firestation) since i knew eventually i'd get there anyway (the speed of firewire & the 8-ins & outs).

haven't recieved the presonus yet, so can't tell you how it's all worked out so far!...
 
I'd like to know how the Firestation works out. The Musician's Friend website lists the Delta 410 Firewire , which has analog and digital I/O. However, I didn't see it on the M-Audio site.

I get some noise with USB audio devices connected to monitors using my Desknote. A friend has a Saeger P3, which I believe has an Intel chipset, and he also gets a little noise with USB when the device is connected to a monitoring system (though the noise disappears when he runs the computer off battery power). I wonder if I would get better luck with firewire in this regard.

The Desknote doesn't have PCMCIA slots , so this route isn't an option for me.

Anyone else heard anything about the Delta Firewire interface?
 
delta 410

it is strange that it's on some "e-tailers" sites but not on the m-audio site.

i called one that had it listed (bayview i think it's called) and when i said "when do you expect to have it in" he said "a couple of weeks" and wouldn't get more specific than that.

this vagueness about when it would actually be out, combined with all the compatibility issues i've read about with other m-audio stuff led me to go with the presonus for an extra $150 and more features.
 
Roel...

As the resident queen of laptop interfaces (heh heh heh! :p ), I can pretty much tell you that, at least in my personal experience, USB audio is really touchy at best, unless your laptop has a REALLY fast resident harddrive (mine is 4200 RPM, which was good enough for my US-224 to record/play back two to three audio tracks using ASIO drivers before the audio dropouts started). I would consider either Firewire or PCMCIA cards.

Along with the notebook comparison over at RME, they also have a good FAQ on tweaking your laptop for audio. Try these guys as well:

http://www.24bitfaq.org/

FWIW, I have a Digigram VXPocket2, a PCMCIA card which has saved my life where my US-224 failed me time and time again. It doesn't have preamps, however (whereas the RME digifaces have one, I think), but using my USB3 as a front for it solved that problem real quick!
 
shaky tee, what operating system are you using?

i've got the US-428 and i can push 16 tracks (24/48) for sure (haven't tried to do more yet) using WinXP SP1 with no pops or clicks. I was having trouble with XP until i downloaded the service pack because there is a USB bug in WinXP.

i'm not necessarily recommending the US-428 but it works very well for me. i use the FMR Audio RNP as a preamp instead of pushing the gain on the US-428 itself.

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 8100 (1.2ghz, 512mb SDRAM, single hard drive).
 
I'm using a Dell Inspiron 8100 (1.2ghz, 512mb SDRAM, single hard drive.
Click to expand...

I have the exact same brand and model of laptop, but with 1ghz, 384mb SDRAM, and a single hard drive.

How fast is your resident hard drive? The one I got came with one that is 4200 rpm. Tascam tends to recommend ones starting at 5400 rpm, but well, with the ASIO drivers, I've been able to get away with recording on mine.

It came with XP installed, but I went back and installed W2K on it. It just seemed to work better for me.

I actually have a dual boot. W2k in Standard PC mode, heavily tweaked for audio, and W2k in ACPI mode.

It actually isn't all that bad, and the US-224, for what it is, is quite good, but again, once I get past 3 tracks on my US-224, I start experiencing audio dropouts on playback (recording seems to work fine, especially when I use the ASIO drivers.). But it's also not externally powered like the US-428 is. Anything that's both USB and externally via wall wart seems to have less of a problem, at least according to my experiences.
 
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