In brief…
like most, I am a poor musician and am looking for laptop that can handle live performance
which personally would consist of Bidule, VST’s, and wav files.
ASIO4all has recently impressed me and i have been using that instead of my M-audio delta 24/96,
which i believe has reduced me to 16/48? either way, sounds great to me.
so…
I’ve been looking at Sony Vaio’s in the $1000-1200 range in hopes that ASIO4all will also work as well
as my recent experience, as to avoid purchasing another sound card.
and finally, i already own Windows XP pro and was wondering if companies such as Sony actually cater to
this so i can avoid being charged for that also.
Here in the Netherlands Sony Vaio’s are some of the most expensive laptops. Other manufacturers offer similar specced machines for less money. Anyway, there should be plenty of shops where windows is an optional extra.
Toshiba has always worked for me… I payed about ¤950,- and it
only let me down once, something to do with the bass… In short, I’d
suggest you also keep an eye out for actual laptop SIZE. Some friends
of mine have widescreen laptops… they simply don’t last as long…
I think any laptop can handle a live performance these days… but using
renoise on a laptop is a whole different story, from my experience…
I guess one needs a real tower for massive mashup bizzwizz, instead of
using an out-of-control gameboy.
i think it would be dope to have a flight box with a hinged lid. housing a nice big wide screen lcd in it. so when you open it like you got the flip up screen.
yo face light up. the keyboard right there with a mixer/controller sitting on top of any rackmount gear. with a water cooled enclosure at the bottom holding all your system gears together?
ok so i’m done with my research for now…it’s pretty damn confusing out there. I was planning on getting that echo indigo pcmcia card but apparently new laptops are coming with express cards or something.
anyways, i’m going to try to get a Macbook Pro and put my Windows XP pro on there with asio4all if needed. hopefully it will all work.
ya know it really makes me wonder why apple doesnt give an option to go through your book before hand to tell all cleanup/maintenance/utilities processes to stop, when certain processes are running an call it a musicians option.
i find osx doing things when i dont want or need them being done alot while i’m working on music!
i know thats what the scripting is for, tho for new users its quite a chore.
the usual stuff ya look at is dedicated memory for the gfx…
if it cuts into main memory too much can cause drop outs etc.
dont get a VIAO ive heard that too. they are hot and unreliable and hidduosly designed … dunno…
I have a Toshiba A100 I’d say a PRO model dual core would be fairly decent reliable…
Im taking my lappy on stage in about 3 weeks so i’ll let ya kno again LOL
Not to make your life more complicated, but I went to a show this weekend and one of the performers had a small tower with a handle and a small lcd monitor.
I thought it was Neat-O!
I just hate the thought of spending extra for less functionality and only getting transportability.
I’ve performed quiet a bit with the tower. I tell, if you’ve got a decent external soundcard breakout, it’s probably just as much work to set it all up as a laptop. What’s the extra cables? Monitor cable + power lead?
Something to consider too for the live computer thing: both tower or lappy are not invincible to dew or drunk retards.
That seems to be (I mean it is) exactly the same case as this one: Apevia X-QPack which also talks about the flimsy material as a problem.
Back to the initial question: Here’s my thoughts: If your budget is $1000-1200 then there is no way you will be able to afford a portable m-ATX pc AND a LCD monitor. A rack solution is even further out of the question as you would end up spending most of your money on the case. So, I would go for a laptop with a Core 2 Duo cpu and 1GB of memory. I wouldn’t go for a mac book as I think you will get much less performance per dollar. As for the sound card issue and ASIO4All… I have no idea, sorry. If you’re going to play live I think you will probably wanna get an external firewire or USB2 sound card. The built in sound card in my HP laptop has way to much signal noise imho, but I cant speak for other manufacturers.
Some people liked that case, some people hated it. I’d have to see it before I’d buy it. But there other cases of the same genre that get good reviews. Also I think that case would be stronger than a laptop.
I disagree with the point that the laptop would be cheaper than a mini atx case and a LCD screen. I would recommend going to newegg.com and pricing a computer out for yourself. I’ve been creating different wishlists on newegg and I haven’t come close to breaking $1000 sans monitor. Every part for your laptop is going to cost more just because it is for your laptop.
For a monitor I’d just check your local craigslist. I just did a quick search on mine and found a really cheap 15" lcd monitor that would probably work well for shows, and you won’t cry if somebody spills their beer on it.
Also think about Total Cost of Ownership. From experience I know that laptops will have a problem sooner than a desktop, and they’ll be more expensive to repair. Plus you can continue to upgrade your desktop as you move into the future, while your laptop 5 years from now will be at the bottom of a landfill.
essentially all these are is modified ruggedized briefcases. with a desktop computer inside.
the whole thing behind this in my perspective is, laptops are flimsy. easily hurt an really sub par for music in 2007. you go to the airport an the drones treat them like paper notebooks. they never have the power you want for your buck.
in the long run it’s cheaper, upgradeable, and many more abilities. an if you had water cooling, much coooler!!! at the very top of it. Modular.
damn you guys and your thoughtful insight!
i haven’t bought anything yet but i caught that link to the X-QPack and just thought i would tell you that I put together a Shuttle Xpc (like $400) with an M-Audio 2496 card ($150 ?) about 5 years ago and it is a champion.
It’s definitely a pain in the ass to bring a keyboard, monitor, mouse, mixer, and midi devices to a gig but it can take a beating…in fact it’s still what i’m using today.
My friend has a toshiba laptop, less than 1 year old, got onstage and the screen stopped working. other than that it kicks ass haha.
This is getting off topic, but you know that stuff from Rave.com got me thinking…
When I was a DJ (a long time ago), we had our coffin, amp rack, and speaker boxes all custom made. They were quite great. So do you think people who building speaker boxes, could build a custom computer case at a reasonable price? Something like rave.com? Anybody know if this exists? I’d spend a good deal for a case that would last the next 10 years.
k1d_w01fman, if you’re just using this for live performances, then do you need all the power you’d need in the studio? Even with my crappy laptop I rarely push it, unless I use a lot of VSTs. If that is the case, get a cheap used laptop. I doubt I’d get $400 on eBay for mine.
i know people can get a little crazy when it comes to their studio setups, so to clarify on that…
i’m basically just realtime processing things, kind of like interactive machines i build usually in bidule…
this is one for a song i uploaded a while ago (kfnwbid214), which pretty much maxes out my dsp
and i agree, those rave.com computers look like a great idea
