new simple laptop (PC) based system

  • Thread starter Thread starter LI_Slim
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LI_Slim

LI_Slim

voice in the wilderness
It's been several years and I need to update what little I know. What is the state of the homerec art? I plan to purchase a new laptop for use in recording at home and portably. I'd like to be able to record up to four tracks at once (mostly using mics). Mostly acoustic but sometimes rock/blues. I want this to be as simple as possible. So what laptop should I get and what should I plug into it?

I do have an Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 (purchased about 8 years ago) with soundcard installed in my old desktop PC, which always worked great, but I don't think I can transfer that to a laptop (or am I wrong).
 
The aardvark will not work with the laptop. What you need is just a decent laptop with plenty of hard drive space and memory (about 2 gigs ram and 80-120 gig hard drive ought to work) and it should have a firewire port. Dual core processor makes things nice. Then look at some of the firewire based interfaces. Motu makes really great ones for pretty reasonably priced. It is really hard to beat them. The traveller and ultralite from motu both have 8 inputs, though they only have like 2 xlr (mic) inputs. The others are line level, which work for going direct or if you have outboard preamps. If you need something with 4 preamps, I am not too familiar with laptop conducive firewire interfaces (maybe rme, but those are pricey).
 
Ripthorn said:
The aardvark will not work with the laptop. What you need is just a decent laptop with plenty of hard drive space and memory (about 2 gigs ram and 80-120 gig hard drive ought to work) and it should have a firewire port. Dual core processor makes things nice. Then look at some of the firewire based interfaces. Motu makes really great ones for pretty reasonably priced. It is really hard to beat them. The traveller and ultralite from motu both have 8 inputs, though they only have like 2 xlr (mic) inputs. The others are line level, which work for going direct or if you have outboard preamps. If you need something with 4 preamps, I am not too familiar with laptop conducive firewire interfaces (maybe rme, but those are pricey).
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Thanks, very helpful.

What about my soundcard; should I get my laptop configured with any particular soundcard?
 
Onboard sound wont make any difference since you will be using an outboard inteface. Make sure you do your homework though, laptops and firewire interfaces are a dicey lot so make sure the model you will be using is compatible with whatever sound interface you go with. Generally the manufactures website and/or forums will have info on what works and what does not
 
Hey Larry - whats your budget for it? I can definately find the best one for you, or hook you up with one of ours if that fits. Whatever I can do for a fellow titanic 10'er.

H2H
 
Hard2Hear said:
Hey Larry - whats your budget for it? I can definately find the best one for you, or hook you up with one of ours if that fits. Whatever I can do for a fellow titanic 10'er.

H2H
Click to expand...


Thanks my man. I'm not sure I'm going to go ahead and do this yet, but I was looking at a Dell Vostro 1510 laptop; they have a great deal going that will give me, I think, everything I need (and without a bunch of software I don't need) for about $600 (it does have a firewire port). I checked out the motu ultralite (which also seems to have everything I need, and then some) as recommended by Ripthorn and it's going for about $550. That would be a reasonable budget...
 
You're more than likely looking at firewire compatability issues between the Dell and the MOTU. The MOTU is an excellent choice for an interface (they are on backorder with MOTU right now, we ran out of them weeks ago). But the computer HAS to have a Texas Instruments Firewire chip or it's going to give you trouble. You can add a TI based cardbus card (or expressport if thats what the notebook has) for the firewire connection and it will help.

The Firewire chipset also controls the card port, and many other things, on a notebook. So sometimes even cards do'nt help because the signal is ultimately going through the crummy controller chipset. These things are the things alot of people don't realize when they come on these forums AFTER they have bought the notebook and are then having all kinds of problems.

Check out some of the Toshiba notebooks in that price range. I have a 17" Satellite, and got my wife a 15" cheaper Satellite model and they both have onboard TI firewire. They Don't ALL have that, but they seem to be a more consistant brand than others I can find. Outside of the notebooks we build here at ADK, the Toshibas are my favorites.

Ours are tailored for Pro Audio and guaranteed to work, but theyre alot more $$ than a Dell (but consider we use all top notch components). The small model would be closer to$1100 plus $500 for the Ultralite, putting you well over the budget. But if you can find the TI based notebook models, and preferrably have a 7200RPM hard drive in there, you'll have a good running machine that shouldn't give you problems.

Oh, and wipe the thing clean and install a fresh copy of XP without all the extra programs and processes that will clog up the machine. That helps a bunch.
 
So this stuff (from the vostro 1510 specs) is the problem?


Chipset
With integrated graphics: Intel® 965GM Express chipset
With discrete graphics: Intel® 965PM Express chipset
Graphics
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X31006
256MB NVIDIA® GeForceTM 8400M GS (64 bit) Graphic Card


--these are the ports, etc.:

Externally Accessible
(4) USB 2.0 compliant 4-pin ports
15-pin VGA video connector
Network connector (RJ45)
Modem optional external via USB port
AC adapter connector
Microphone in & Headphone jack
4-pin IEEE 1394 port
8-in-1 media memory card reader
54 mm ExpressCard slot
 
I have a Vostro. With the RME FF800 it works fine with the dreaded onboard fw/usb combo port. This required hitting the wifi hardware switch on the left side of the vostro during recording


The Motu 8pre didnt fare so well on the combo card, but a SIIG in the express slot worked, even with wifi on for both rme and motu.
 
Its actually this stuff:
"4-pin IEEE 1394 port
8-in-1 media memory card reader
54 mm ExpressCard slot"

Which is all on a combined chipset. If Pipeline got an 8Pre working well with the Firewire Express card on the Vostro then the Ultralite should fare just as well. They are the same fw stuff. So an extra $60 or so and you're good to go.
 
um, could you explain this to me in language a 9-year-old can understand?


I thought pipe was saying two things, first, "With the RME FF800 it works fine with the dreaded onboard fw/usb combo port" (and i'd need to turn the wifi off when I use it). What is an RME FF800, how does it make the vostro work with the ultralite, and how do I attach it?

the second thing, pipe is saying to use "a SIIG in the express slot", and hard2 is apparently referring to this as a "firewire express card". again, what is a firewire express card -- or SIIG? -- and what do i do with it? :confused: :o

thanks..................
 
RME FF800 is a firewire soundcard. The firewire chip they make is so good it even handles a lot of crappy firewire ports ok. RME is a competitor to MOTU

Now, the onboard fw/usb combo card on the dell is scary stuff, normally people use a separate card for it. Most audio manufacturers reccomend a TI based firewire card. SIIG makes a very good one, but there are others.

The MOTU units don't seem to work so well with the crap onboard fw/usb combo on the dell.

That is nothing surprising and is nothing against motu, the surprise is that the RME does. I would still use an external card like the SIIG, regardless if you go RME or MOTU
 
So the SIIG (and others like it) is a firewire adapter card? So the ultralite would be plugged into such a device which is plugged into the express card slot in the notebook (instead of the shitty firewire port)?


Are we talking about this: http://www.superwarehouse.com/Siig_...Card_FireWire_Adapter/NN-EC2822-S1/pf/1492801 ??

I think the ultralite requires a 6-pin to 6-pin connection (is that right)? The siig products seem to have 9-pin connections; would I need an adapter cable also?
 
Last edited:
Okay, I figured it out; this will be the card I need, the "400" rather than the "800"

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FWCardCardbus/


h2h, is it worth it to you to sell me just the motu unit? you can pm me...


next question is what software to use. I used to use N-track; really don't need a lot of bells and whistles. What relatively simple program(s) do people like lately? Should I just stick with N-track?
 
Yes, thats the card.

Give Reaper a shot.

And I'm sending you a PM right now.
 
LI_Slim said:
Okay, I figured it out; this will be the card I need, the "400" rather than the "800"

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FWCardCardbus/


h2h, is it worth it to you to sell me just the motu unit? you can pm me...


next question is what software to use. I used to use N-track; really don't need a lot of bells and whistles. What relatively simple program(s) do people like lately? Should I just stick with N-track?
Click to expand...

I was about to order this from sweetwater and they called and pointed out that this has 4-pin receptacles and therefore does not transmit power (so i would have to plug in my ultralite to use it). Should I be getting a 6-pin instead?
 
never mind! motu says it doesn't matter; they both work and either way you have to plug it in.
 
4GB Ram

If you are not going to wipe the hard drive and install XP, then by all means, get 4GB Ram for Vista.

I would also spend the extra money for the fastest CPU you can afford.

The T9300 2.5 Ghtz is exceptional. Far more powerful, and far less energy required! But the price goes up a lot from where you are presently looking.
 
pipelineaudio said:
I have a Vostro. With the RME FF800 it works fine with the dreaded onboard fw/usb combo port. This required hitting the wifi hardware switch on the left side of the vostro during recording


The Motu 8pre didnt fare so well on the combo card, but a SIIG in the express slot worked, even with wifi on for both rme and motu.
Click to expand...

That sounds like Dell didn't set up the IRQ steering correctly to me.... :)
 
LI_Slim said:
never mind! motu says it doesn't matter; they both work and either way you have to plug it in.
Click to expand...

Right. Generally FireWire add-on cards for laptops don't provide bus power, or at least not enough. That might be different for ExpressCard devices, though. I think the EC standard may have a higher minimum amount of power availability for the cards than the old CardBus standard did. Dunno. This is all going from vague memory on the subject. You'd pretty much have to check with the manufacturer of the ExpressCard card to know for sure, and they might very well say "depends on how much power the laptop gives us".
 
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