Mobile Laptop Setup

Giganova

Giganova

gimmi your mic!
Hi guys & girls --

I want to switch from desktop to a mobile laptop recording setup. I will only record one thing: me on my tenor saxophone. I already have a fast notebook (Alienware Sentia notebook, 2.4 MHz mobile Pentium processor 2GB Ram, external 400 GB firewire/USB drive). No need for a high-end setup because I only want to share my music with friends. Unfortunately my laptop doesn't have a 6-pin powered FireWire port but only a 4-pin unpowered FireFire port. Guess this means that I need to user either the USB2.0 ports or the PCMCIA sockets. As expected, I am on a very tight budget.

Any recommendations what I should get?? Please keep in mind that I want to be highly portable and only need a stereo input. I also want to get a SDC condensor mic since I had great experience with that on saxophone. I do not want to get a bulky mic pre, so the interface should have a decent pre built in.

Thanks for your help!
 
Don't quite understand - you have a firewire port but it's the wrong configuration for an interface? How about just getting an adapter cable like this? Would that solve the problem? (I'm not sure what kind of cable comes with the firewire mobile audio interfaces).
 
Hi --

my notebook has a 4-pin FireWire port which is unpowered. An adapter wouldn't help. Most FireWire interfaces are bus-powered.
 
OK, I don't know which firewire interfaces you've looked at, but as I was curious, I looked at the specs for the m-audio firewire audiophile unit. It says it can be powered either by the firewire bus or with the included dc power supply. Perhaps with your laptop it would work with a power supply?
 
Hmm, that might work.

However, I don't want a setup with adapters and external power supplies. Defies the purpose of a simple and mobile recording setup.
 
Yes, this one looks great! I also like the M-Audio FastTrack Pro. I wonder if they sound similar, or whether the "Pro" model has better pres/converters. But either one I guess would be fine for my purpose.
 
Well, I see the "pro" model can record 24 bit while the mobile pre only does 16 bit. It also gives you more i/o if you have any need for it. Both models list the same dynamic range in the specs so I'm guessing maybe they have basically the same preamps, but the "pro" is a little higher end on the converters.
 
Giganova said:
Hmm, that might work.

However, I don't want a setup with adapters and external power supplies. Defies the purpose of a simple and mobile recording setup.
Click to expand...

Ummm.... When you go record, aren't you going to have to plug your laptop in anyways? (Recording takes a lot of juice) Why then would it be so bad to plug one more thing in???
 
Hey man.

You can still go Firewire if you choose to with your 4pin plug. The M-audio units ship with 2 cords, a 6 pin and a 4 pin, you just can't bus power with a 4 pin. You also can't bus power from a PCMCIA 6 pin card. I have a Firewire 410 that I have to run with a PCMCIA card....and what I am waiting on right now is the M-Audio Fast Track Pro to be compatible with M-Powered Protools. As soon as its ready, I'm switching so I can have the bus powered USB option. Its specs seem pretty good to me.

Recording and bus powered inputs are pretty battery intense, so you will probably still have to keep the laptop plugged in...as said above....but, to me, not having that extra plug in is worth it.

6
 
Giganova said:
I think my search is over: Guitar Center has the M-Audio Mobilepre USB plus M-Audio Aries cendensor mic on sale for $149.-. Sounds like a good deal :D
Click to expand...
and MF has the mxl990 bundle. i have 2 so i'd rather get the Aries.

But what about the bundled software???? is it any good?

Ableton Live Lite 4

ok, i read on, it's 4 tracks limited
600 mhz required, i'm out....
 
Just to be clear...if you're stuck with using a 4-pin -> 6-pin firewire cable, all you need to do is use an AC power adapter. I had the same problem with my Dell 8400 laptop. I tried getting one of those PCMCIA firewire+usb cards that had a built-in power connection, but it doesn't work with my Firewire 410.

We have the original mobilpre as well - its "OK." Its very suceptable to noise interference when jacking up the volume and unlike other maudio products, its driver panel is extremely basic with almost no options at all but volume control and mute. Doesn't even have pan!
 
Giganova said:
However, I don't want a setup with adapters and external power supplies. Defies the purpose of a simple and mobile recording setup.
Click to expand...
Maybe so, but the fundamental design of USB and Firewire interfaces are low power, low current circuits. Neither interface is designed to be a big power provider.

The Intel Microscope was a huge failure because it draws so much power from USB that it crashed the machine. (I wonder how it ever got past the test phase).

I encourage you to use the external power supply for USB toys unless you feel like burning out the USB interface in your laptop. Then you won't have a mobile recording setup at all.
 
OK, all these discussion about FireWire/USB/buspower aside -- do you guys have any recommendations? I would like to know which units have the best sound quality. I like the M-Audio Fast Track Pro, but the Focusrite Saffire seems to have higher quality pres and converters.

sixways said:
...and what I am waiting on right now is the M-Audio Fast Track Pro to be compatible with M-Powered Protools.
Click to expand...
The Fast Track Pro is compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered 7 -- what are you waiting for? :D
 
According to M-Audio's tech support email and my Sweetwater rep, the Fast Track PRO is not currently compatible with M-Powered Protools.

Do you have documentation that it is now? If so, my order will place today.

Thanks,
6
 
the mobile pre is m-powered :| unless you need the 24/96 and midi support of the fast trackpro
 
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