beating the dead laptop horse

[Caveat Auditor]

I know this question was just asked recently but I would like to delve a little deeper.

Background: I have been using an old AMD k-6 500 based workstation with a M Audio Dman 2044 card for recording live audio. I use a six channel mixing board to handle the pre-amp needs and mix using originally n-track and now cakewalk 9.0 and clean it up with Cool Edit.

Question: The system is old and and I am now unable to use the Dman card due to (I think) IRQ conflicts having "upgraded" via Microsoft's continous stream of patches. It is not a dedicated DAW so to enjoy the high speed internet and other goodies, it was inevitable. But this time around, I am tempted to discard my computer surgery way and go mobile. The laptops out there now are powerful and reletively cheap. Plus, being able to record in our practice space or at a gig instead of my brick walled porch room is mighty appealing. And the fiance will love the lack of "clutter". But reading the reviews of the USB audio interfaces, there doesn't seem to be a ready solution for under $400. The problem seems to be mainly with XP OS campatibility, especially the USB Qattro with M Audio (which I had my eye on). M Audio seems to have gained a particularly ugly rep with tech support but they are not the only ones complained about. And none of these cards seem to take advantage of USB 2 or Firewire. Any thoughts/experiences to share out there?

 

[Roel]

I have just ordered the audiophile USB. Should be in today or soon... I'll let you know how it works out for me...

 

[jazzrich9]

If you don't need to go mobile don't. I have both, (motu 2408 on studio machine) m-audio duo on laptop...

I'll say this - the duo has been reliable, but I can live with it because I can still go down to my studio and work with a real system. If all I had was a usb interface, I'd probably go do something else for a living. Tascam just dropped a firewire interface... looks just like the digi001 in theory... but if you want reliability and tracking on a laptop, 400.00 will not fit the bill... they also have anther 828 (mkII) at motu... so... you could probably start seeing the original getting cheaper at banjo mart etc... It was only about 700 if you bargained with them.

You could also look at the mobile cards put our by event and studio hammerfall... just get a laptop with a pc card slot.


Just my thoughts... Good luck

 

[Caveat Auditor]

thanks

Thanks for your input. I'll upgrade the box fro a 1/4 of the price of the laptop.

 

[adam]

There are viable options for laptops right now. I use and RME Multiface. 2x more than your 400 budget though. However, MOTUs 828 mkII or something, looks excellent and is a bit cheaper. M-Audio's 410 will be cheaper still.

I really love the laptop audio and have been using it for 2 years. I recently added a PCI card to an older p3 750 desktop and the PCI card issue has bit kinda a pain in the ass. I am sure on a clean install on a new computer it is fine, but it is what it is.

If you are investing in a laptop, you owe it to yourself to get a good card, of don't do it at all.

 

[Amateur Eric]

400 bucks?

if yer gonna only spend 400 bucks, spend some money on rogaine to replace the hair yer gonna pull out. i have a dell 8200 laptop with an rme hammerfall multiface. 8 balanced 1/4" ins and outs (no pre amps) midi in and out, various digital ins 'n outs all in a very small box. uses a pcmcia card slot.

one other option i'm not sure about. i have any ego-systems wamibox on an older win98 compaq laptop. it has limited ins 'n outs (one 1/4" balance in, 2 rca ins, 4 rca outs plus various digitals and midi in 'n out) but its small enough i can cover it with my hand "and" it has a built in 64 voice polyphony synth built in. the only down side is(though, i haven't checked lately) that when i bought my dell, ego-sys hadn't made drivers for winxp. maybe thats changed though. this box also uses pcmcia card and it may be in your budget range.

good luck
Eric