Everything but the gear...

[soundmime]

I'm a keyboardist/singer/songwriter. I have a great Kurzweil 2000XS, power mixer, mics, and speakers. I am finally ready to purchase the computer/sound cards/cd burner/and whatever else I need to start creating audio and audiovisual art. The problem is this... I don't have a clue what I need! I went to a recording school in 1995, but things have changed so much in digital music recording since then.

I want to be as compact and portable as possible. I really want to have a laptop, but don't even know if it's possible when you need soundcards. I'm looking for a system that can be upgraded to professional status, or even start out that way. Does anyone have any suggestions?

PS: this site rocks!

 

[gidman]

Everything but the gear

Soundmime,
I went through the same thing when I went digital.
There is so much good stuff out there it can be very confusing on what to buy.I shopped around for about two months before I made my decsion !
A laptop is ok... but...your right, no room for a good soundcard.A good sound card will be almost as big as a laptop.
Mac or PC ? Doesn't matter, make sure of a few things,
Plenty of hard drive...audio,and midi files eat up alot of hard drive space. I have 30 gig on mine and I have yet to
worry about the space. People get by with less.
Get the highest Mhz processor you can afford. I have 750Mhz
and its a gracious plenty. All software available will tell you what Mhz you should have to be able to run the software.
Memory...get the highest ram you can afford. 128mb would probably be the least you can get by with.
You can expect to spend about $1500-$2000 on the puter alone. Maybe less if you know someone who could build one for you. I would suggest buying from a company that warranties their product.
As far as the powered mixer is concerned...eh mm uh...
You probably will have to use the monitor send or a non powered aux buss. Use your midi out on the kurzweil.
Now for the meat and potatoes...I looked at everything out there...I finally decided on the gadgetlabs wave 824 here is their link... http://www.gadgetlabs.com
They have several different models to choose from, also bundle deals with good prices. I puchased the wave824/cakewalk proaudio 9.0 from them. I am very pleased with the end results. I am currently working on my first album.I have not copyrighted anything yet, so here is a cover tune that my beautiful wife and I did. Let me know what you think... http://www.bmgsound.com/mp3
Good luck on whatever you choose to buy !
Make sure that you have fun doing it !

gidman

 

[Spider]

about the potability thing.. i just found out about a company , i think its in the uk , called digigram..apparently they make a soundcard for laptops. Has anyone seen these ??