Starting Over

[tthcore]

Here's my gear.

Magix Music Studio.

Maudio mobile pre usb

assorted mics: sm58, maudio NOVA cond, other cheaper mics

drum set
marshall stack
gibson j45
gibson sg
fender bass
cowbell, tamorine
incense,blacklights, and lava lamps for atmosphere ( a must )

emachine 700 meg desktop computer
came with 64 ram, upgraded to 256.
windows xp
the computer sucks
crashes, noisy, unreliable.

I think i have adequate gear except for my computer. I really want a laptop. I don't have alot of $$ to buy one, I will be using my dear ol credit card. heres what i'm looking at

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=4025846

seems pretty bare bones, but is upgradable to 1G ram, and has an AMD processor. What are most broke folks using for computers?

According to a few folks (mostly sales guys at GC) Magix is complete shit and i need a new DAW. I'm thinking Cubase, its compatable with my mobile pre. Any suggestions?

What else do you think i will need to make decent recordings?

thanx

 

[panoramical]

I'm going to get flamed for this...but have you considered getting a Mac Mini? It's really cheap, and there are some great Mac recording programs... http://www.apple.com/macmini

 

[tthcore]

No, my girl has a mac, its a mess to do anything not related to recording.

 

[tthcore]

Can somebody give me a heads up? How about Cubase? That laptop? i have the day off, and i'm getting ancy.

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Do you need the mobility of a laptop? A desktop will give you more power, memory etc for your money and you'll be able to use PCI interfaces in the future.

Cubase SE is a great programme.

 

[tthcore]

Its time for me to get a laptop. I'm at school/work 16+ hours a day.

 

[metalhead28]

Well, there are several things for you to consider. Is that M-Audio Mobile the only interface you're planning to use? 2 tracks at a time max? If you're hoping to expand that capability someday that machine you're thinking about is pretty underpowered for any serious audio tasks. I'm not saying that you'll have problems doing what you want to do with it, but you won't be able to go much further with it than that. A 40 gig HD will dissapear pretty fast too if you don't have any other storage alternatives. For what it's worth, a desktop in the same price range will shit all over it. You said you just wanted a laptop, so really it's a matter of how much you want to cater to your audio interests opposed to how much you want to cater to other interests like school, etc.