[Help Me] Hardware for Mobile Recording Studio With Macbook Pro

[wiguan88]

Hi.

First of all I want to apologize if this is the wrong section.

I need help about what gear/hardware that I need to turn my Macbook into a recording studio. I can't say it's a "home recording studio" because I might bring these on the go.

I am still a student hence I can't afford expensive hardware.

During the time when I use Cubase on Windows, I just plug everything in into the 3.5mm mic input jack (using the most simple adaptor) and monitor everything using the audio output jack.

Sometimes I'll use these setup to perform live using my guitar and it works very well.

But in this new Macbook Pro 13", there's only 1 audio output and input jack.

I can't find any adaptor to work with this. I either need to sacrifice the input for an output or vice versa.

I went to local Apple Store and ask the staff there and they told me to use USB connection but asking further it seems that they also lack of knowledge about this matter.

What I need are just these simple.

Guitar in.
Mic in.
Monitor audio out.

and perhaps in the future.
Keyboard connection.
Midi controller.

Look forward for some suggestion.

Thank you very much for even looking.

 

[5xfaster]

Hey man, I think I might be able to help you out. I had the same problem (broke college student, wanting to get into home recording to do some simple things for the time being), and I'm also using a 13" Macbook Pro. You didn't mention any price range or anything, but this is about as cheap as I can go for you.

As far as an audio interface goes, check out the PreSonus FireStudio Mobile. I actually started out with this and was really happy. It's mobile, gives you 8 inputs (2 mic/instrument and 6 line) and 2 line outputs (for monitoring), uses your firewire port on your Macbook (which is much faster than USB, if you're not aware), and at $300, the price tag isn't too bad. I went on to get the PreSonus FireStudio, which I could daisy chain to my FireStudio Mobile to give me more inputs. It also comes with PreSonus' DAW, Studio One Artist, which isn't a bad DAW to work with if you don't want to spend more money.

My choice, however, in DAW's is Reaper, which a ton of people around here use. First off, the trial is free for 30 days, and if you decide you like it, the license is only $40, which gives you free upgrades through version 4.99 (version 3.76 is currently the newest version out). Version 4.0 is supposed to launch sometime this year, and when it does, the license will go up to $60, but you'll get coverage through version 5.99. It's a really great DAW, so it might be something worth looking into.

One other thing I'd advise you to go out and grab would be an external hard drive to store all of your music on. You'd be surprised how quickly you can fill up a 250GB drive just with music files. Go out and buy yourself a good firewire external drive, which you can run to your computer and to the FireStudio Mobile.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'm still a bit of a newbie myself, but this is a great hobby to get into. You'll find yourself eventually losing hours and hours just playing with your new gear! It's an obsession...enjoy it!

Edit: Only thing the Firestudio Mobile doesn't have is a MIDI input...but you said for right now you won't need it. Don't know if that's a deal-breaker for you or not...sorry!

 

[wiguan88]

Hey man, I think I might be able to help you out. I had the same problem (broke college student, wanting to get into home recording to do some simple things for the time being), and I'm also using a 13" Macbook Pro. You didn't mention any price range or anything, but this is about as cheap as I can go for you.

Price, perhaps less than $500. Really broke now...

As far as an audio interface goes, check out the PreSonus FireStudio Mobile. I actually started out with this and was really happy. It's mobile, gives you 8 inputs (2 mic/instrument and 6 line) and 2 line outputs (for monitoring), uses your firewire port on your Macbook (which is much faster than USB, if you're not aware), and at $300, the price tag isn't too bad. I went on to get the PreSonus FireStudio, which I could daisy chain to my FireStudio Mobile to give me more inputs. It also comes with PreSonus' DAW, Studio One Artist, which isn't a bad DAW to work with if you don't want to spend more money.

Wow, I think that's the hardware I need for now.
Is there's any smaller and cheaper alternative.
Or perhaps what is the name of this thing so I can ask local shop or search online for cheaper and smaller...

My choice, however, in DAW's is Reaper, which a ton of people around here use. First off, the trial is free for 30 days, and if you decide you like it, the license is only $40, which gives you free upgrades through version 4.99 (version 3.76 is currently the newest version out). Version 4.0 is supposed to launch sometime this year, and when it does, the license will go up to $60, but you'll get coverage through version 5.99. It's a really great DAW, so it might be something worth looking into.

I have not decide what DAWs I'm going to switch too. Perhaps stay with Cubase but getting the MAC version. I do have 1 copy of Cubase on my old Windows machine.

One other thing I'd advise you to go out and grab would be an external hard drive to store all of your music on. You'd be surprised how quickly you can fill up a 250GB drive just with music files. Go out and buy yourself a good firewire external drive, which you can run to your computer and to the FireStudio Mobile.

Haha, yeah this is a must.
I alread have almost 2Tb capacity of HDD since the beginning of this "career".
I guess need to do some clean up with this new start up.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'm still a bit of a newbie myself, but this is a great hobby to get into. You'll find yourself eventually losing hours and hours just playing with your new gear! It's an obsession...enjoy it!

Edit: Only thing the Firestudio Mobile doesn't have is a MIDI input...but you said for right now you won't need it. Don't know if that's a deal-breaker for you or not...sorry!

Thanks man, I really appreciate this reply.

Yeah, for now I don't need MIDI input since I'm more to virtual instrument for drums and other parts except guitar.