Mobile setup

[SuperJunior]

Hey folks,
I'm after a mobile setup for
a) recording quick ideas (for getting down while I'm out then properly recording at home) and
b) playing dance sets live using Reason + Live for looping and synths.
So basically I need a laptop, an audio interface, a sequencer, and a midi controller.

I need the midi controller to be easy to assign to different things if that makes sense? I need to be able to change what the buttons etc can do (i.e. triggering samples etc) and I already use Pro Tools so it would be good if the sequencer was similar to that (dont want an M-Box though).
Audio interface, number of I/O, around about the 4 mark? Anything between 2 + 4 is good.

Price wise, stick in the lower end of things if you can, I'm not made of money right now!

Cheers!

Joe

Edit: Ok did a ton of reasearch this evening, change that to 4 inputs for definite! Cheers!

 

[Echelon]

For a midi controller, you might want to check out the Evolution (m audio's 2nd company) MK461c ($250-260 new) . If you want pads, you can get the MPD16 (discontinued but about $200 on ebay) by akai or the korg MicroKontrol ($300). As far as sequencers go, people on the board talk quite a bit about powertracks. I've never used it, so maybe someone else can give you a better opinion. I use cubase sx 2.0 and love it, but its still kind of pricey (even after the release of 3). depending on how many tracks you need, you could use pro tools free. As far as an interface goes, there are a fair number of mobile solutions. Presonus firebox, m audio firewire 410, lexicon omega, and mackie spike just to name a few. They are all fairly well priced, but I haven't used any of them so I am in no position to give opinions. I believe that firewire gives a better sounding recording than usb because of the speed of the signal, but I could be wrong.

I hope this helps!