Protools se on laptop- problems???

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tomerikac

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Well, newbie here. Forgive me my igorance. Will hopefully catch on to this stuff and share something learned. Purchased an m-audio audio interface, came with protools se. Tried downloading onto my old desktop. NOT!!! Purchased a nice laptop, Toshiba i5 processor 750gb (5400 rpm) processor, 6gb RAM. Downloaded the 2 discs that came with the interface, seemed to work okay. Quickly started having problems with recording, tracks wouldn't record (enabled the record on track, but no meter level), seemed to only work if I put factry drum track down first. Then the "DAE error" kept popping up. Some tracks turned into white noise. Some techs tell me that I need an i7 processor (which they happen to sell), others (Guitar Center which sold me the audio interface) claim that the Toshiba should have plenty drive for the program. I read on line of the importance of downloading the driver from the protools website (I had assumed that the 2 discs would contain this) but computer would not complete download. So I guess my questions are 1) is my i5 processor with 750 hard (5400rpm), 6 gb ram sufficient to run program? (Protools website only talks of at least 5400rpm and 2.0ghz.) 2) Before anything can work I need to download the driver off the protools website? 3) Is there an easier inexpensive recording software that might serve me better, assuming I can still use the m-audio interface with it? (I'm really just an amateur audio recordere, doing maybe 6-12 tracks, 3 or 4 songs a month. Hey, thanks for any feedback.
 
tomerikac said:
Well, newbie here. Forgive me my igorance. Will hopefully catch on to this stuff and share something learned. Purchased an m-audio audio interface, came with protools se. Tried downloading onto my old desktop. NOT!!! Purchased a nice laptop, Toshiba i5 processor 750gb (5400 rpm) processor, 6gb RAM. Downloaded the 2 discs that came with the interface, seemed to work okay. Quickly started having problems with recording, tracks wouldn't record (enabled the record on track, but no meter level), seemed to only work if I put factry drum track down first. Then the "DAE error" kept popping up. Some tracks turned into white noise. Some techs tell me that I need an i7 processor (which they happen to sell), others (Guitar Center which sold me the audio interface) claim that the Toshiba should have plenty drive for the program. I read on line of the importance of downloading the driver from the protools website (I had assumed that the 2 discs would contain this) but computer would not complete download. So I guess my questions are 1) is my i5 processor with 750 hard (5400rpm), 6 gb ram sufficient to run program? (Protools website only talks of at least 5400rpm and 2.0ghz.) 2) Before anything can work I need to download the driver off the protools website? 3) Is there an easier inexpensive recording software that might serve me better, assuming I can still use the m-audio interface with it? (I'm really just an amateur audio recordere, doing maybe 6-12 tracks, 3 or 4 songs a month. Hey, thanks for any feedback.
Click to expand...

I have a laptop with an i5, and 4 GB or RAM that runs fine with Cubase and plugins.
Generally people want a 7200RPM hard drive to record with instead of a 5400rpm one. Though I don't know that that would be causing your particular problem.
You do need to install the latest driver. There's a chance that the stuff on the discs is outdated.
 
Your laptop should have more than enough juice to run SE with no problems.
Check to ensure that you have disabled your on board sound card (the interface is now you soundard)
Whilst you are running a PT session disable your WIFI
Check that you have the latest drivers... the AVID site is very good.
 
pro tools se w/5400 rpm processor

Thanks for all the input. I've researched much lately and have concluded that yes, I needed to seek out and run any updates for pro tools se. The 5400 rpm i5 processor, 6gb ram should be sufficient to run the program. Before I came to this conclusion however, I took the laptop back to Staples for a refund and started shopping for an i5 processor with a 7200 rpm processor speed. The Toshiba, Dell, HP and Lenova laptops selling for around $600 ALL have 5400 rpm processors. I did find a nice Dell Inspiron on Dell's refurbished website with 7600 rpm speed, but I do not know how old it is. I'm thinking the logical course it to just buy one of the new laptops with i5 750gb hard 5400 rpm, 6 gb memory and just buy a 7200 rpm external drive. I see that many audio recording enthusiasts are using an external drive for the software recording program and for storage, separate from the functioning hard drive in the laptop. Anyway, that's my viewpoint for now and I'm sticking to it.....at least for now. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions. Thanks all and take care.
 
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tomerikac said:
I see that many audio recording enthusiasts are using an external drive for the software recording program and for storage, separate from the functioning hard drive in the laptop.
Click to expand...

Also, you might look at a book like Jeff Strong's ProTools All in One Desk Reference for Dummies. It has a lot of good advice, and covers in a very cursory way the hardware requirements for your computer. The second drive is advantageous insofar as you can have two r/w heads functioning simultaneously, so you run the program with one while you are laying down tracks with the other. I use my data cd to hold the many Gigs of samples, instrument sounds, etc. as well. Both of my drives are inside of my recording laptop.
 
Any advice on what brand or type of 7200 rpm external hard drive I might consider? I will be using it (via USB I'm supposing) on a Dell Inspiron laptop. Thanks again.
 
drive speed, USB, etc.

Here are some thoughts that might help you.

1. In my workstations, I have two drives; one for system and applications and a second one for audio and video files. I keep the project file and media files on the media drive.

2. I ran 5400 rpm drives for years with no problems; recording up to 24 track sessions with plugins.

3. USB may be a problem due to latency, but the program itself may be the culprit. I had a student bring in a laptop with Pro Tools SE recently. The 2 channel interface (don't remember which) was USB. There was annoying latency using Pro Tools SE, but running Audacity, NO LATENCY.

Audacity is a free program and very inelegant, but it didn't have latency issues.

Because of latency issues, I have always gone for firewire interfaces and haven't had any latency problems.

Reads,

Ty Ford
 
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