Newbie needs a computer

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letsrock0303

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Hello,

I'm a complete nub here but I have a question and I hope you guys can give me some advice. I am a songwriter that wants to be able to record with relatively high quality. I already have an mbox and protools (it's usb) and I have tried hooking it up to my laptop. My computer just causes too much latency. I have had my friend who attended a conservatory for audio engineering try to figure it out and after a couple hours said "sucks to be you, You need a better computer.".

So,

I don't have thousands of dollars (more like 8 or 9 hundred american max) And I was wondering on advice for getting a decent comp, whether I should build vs buy premaid, and if build some good suggestions on cpus, motherboards, and all that good stuff.

I would appreciate any help I can get.
 
well first off, what exactly are the specs on the laptop your currently using?
 
It is 1.86 Ghz Intel Core duo processor and 1 gig of ram
 
I don't know about PT, but Reaper runs fine on my 1Ghz with 384Mb of ram.
I tried a demo of Ableton Live - computer couldn't handle that...ran extremely slowly for even basic functions.
 
Depending on what and how your wanting to record, your laptop specs would be more then enough. You could spend all that budget possibly on a new PC to record to but I think it would be more wise to put it towards more important things. I'd look at getting a software that will be less demanding on your laptop. something like Reaper or audacity. Possibly a firewire interface to replace the Mbox as well. You mentioned nothing about recording amps but if you plan too then some of that money could go towards a few good mics.
 
Going the firewire route instead of USB would probably help.
 
I think I tried almost every soundcard on the market, none were up to what I wanted. Moved up to USB which was a vast improvement. Finally got firewire and was amazed at the improvement. From experience, much of it bad, I say go firewire.
 
Your computer is more than powerful enough. What are you trying to record that is creating so much latency?

You should be able to do at least 12 track of audio no problem.
 
Like others have said, it's not the computer that's likely to be your problem.

I wonder where you are doing your monitoring from? If you are getting a monitoring signal via your computer's sound card, this could be the problem.

If you are already monitoring via the MBox, then I have no answer.
 
You may also want to check your computer to see what is running in the background. There may be something there eating up memory that you are unaware of.
 
formant74 said:
You may also want to check your computer to see what is running in the background. There may be something there eating up memory that you are unaware of.
Click to expand...
+1 to this.

If you are able to reformat and start from scratch you might be amazed at how much better your computer performs. Hard drives are frequently responsible for sluggish performance.
Also if you can keep your box off the internet it may be beneficial. I have a friend who does photo editing and his computer is essential to his livelihood. It has NEVER been on the internet. He keeps a separate box for the internet and that PC he has had to reformat a half dozen times.
 
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