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Notebook for playing live?
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ThiagoNAKA
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
104
Posts :
1047
Posted : Apr 3, 2007 23:14
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Sorry for this long text... But I guess ppl are missing the point here...
I guess it depends on what u are going to do...
Let´s say u use Ableton Live with 2 outputs for tracks(with an eq on each) + 1 output for loops(with a filter) + 1 send for fx(with Filter and Delay). I think u can make it even with a very clean Pentium 4 HT, 1 Gb Ram and 5400 rpm HD(I made several lives like this with 738 MB ram).
But for sure it´s better at least a Dual Core(as it´s not so much more expensive)... 1 gb ram and a good HD(5400 is ok imo).
Here I input a thought: it´s always better having the best laptop. But never forget what u are looking for.
Pay attention for some features also:
-Firewire port(for some soundcards)
-USB 2 ports(how many do u need)
-OS included(maybe u will need to upgrade it)
About brands, I can tell u about Brazil "cenario"... Here Sony and Mac are the most expensive ones. HP and Dell looks the best "price vs features", and Acer and Toshiba are cheaper.
As I would like also a "live" laptop, I went for HP(my second one)... And I got an ok setup:
-Centrino Duo 1.66
-1 gb Ram
-100 Gb HD 5400 rpm
-Firewire
-many USB
-DVD-RW
-Slot for many card types
And guess what?? Now I make music with this laptop... 
Just for example: I´m making a track using a MACBOOK PRO(Core 2 Duo/2 gb Ram/blablabla), that looks the standard "live laptop" here.... With Logic Pro, the track has like 100 audio tracks, with heavy inserts(like Space Designer).... So for a live, this can be much more than what u might need...
My point: for not so heavy live act(as 100% of psytrance lives), u DO NOT NEED a super laptop. Buy a super laptop if u have money.
Last info: is pretty common having HD problems with these "live laptops".... A lot of vibration kills the hd and motherboard little by little. Again: super laptops for lives only if u have the money....
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Vibe Tribe
Vibe Tribe
Started Topics :
82
Posts :
713
Posted : Apr 4, 2007 06:37
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yea but dont forget if u travel you would like to work as well so the lap top is not only for play a live from abelton that dont "eat" to much cpu and all
it has to be strong enough to run normaly cubase or logic with full vst load so u can work on it also when u travling
www.myspace.com/vibetribestudio |
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serotonot
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
114
Posted : Apr 4, 2007 09:08
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If you are using firewire soundcard with your laptop make sure that the laptop has a correct type of firewire-control chip inside it.
Almost all soundcard manufacturers recommend certain chips. Motu for example only gurantees correct working with Texas Instruments chip and has had problems with VIA chips whereas Presonus recommends both of those 
Without correct chip you might run into some problems with stability and latencies
My last laptop was Asus and now I'm working with Zepto. Both have been really reliable, though I have got that Zepto only 1,5 months so I can't really say nothing about it's reliability yet.
My Zepto Znote W6214 has a Texas Instruments FW chip (which seems to be most recommended one for sound cards)but ask for the retailer before ordering anything because the chip manufacturer changes within different Zeptos also and might even change within the same model number (I guess) because those are tailored to fit your needs |
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EYB
Noized
Started Topics :
111
Posts :
2849
Posted : Apr 4, 2007 13:57
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Thanks a lot of ur tips - this really helps me!
I think ill buy dell notebook, they seem to be quite cheap for what they offer.
Ill post which one later - but i saw they all have VISTA installed, i hope i can call them and say that i wish a notebook without any OS, anyone got experience with this and dell?
As sounddevice i think about a novation x-station, so i got a sd, midi controller and a synth - seems to be a nice package for acting live.
Thanks again for ur thoughts
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serotonot
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
114
Posted : Apr 4, 2007 14:04
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Quote:
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On 2007-04-04 13:57, EYB wrote:
Thanks a lot of ur tips - this really helps me!
I think ill buy dell notebook, they seem to be quite cheap for what they offer.
Ill post which one later - but i saw they all have VISTA installed, i hope i can call them and say that i wish a notebook without any OS, anyone got experience with this and dell?
As sounddevice i think about a novation x-station, so i got a sd, midi controller and a synth - seems to be a nice package for acting live.
Thanks again for ur thoughts
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Yeah, don't take Vista. At least so far it doesn't seem to work well with audio software and drivers might be not available also for soundcards.
About the X-station...
I bought it couple of months ago and almost returned it because it just wouldn't work with my old lap top.
With my Zepto it works quite ok, but it needs much stuff to be disabled from the Device Manager and possibly from bios too as the usb hasn't got the best irq and you can't change it because laptop has to be on ACPI mode in order to have cooling, power management and other stuff to work properly.
With everything I don't need being disabled (sd card reader, irDa, W-Lan, LAN, Bluetooth etc.) I manage to get under 5ms latencies but it was quite amount of work to get work properly. Without those adjustments I couldn't get under 11ms without cracking and poping in the sound
So I advice you to test it on the retailer's shop with your laptop before buying the X-station, because though it's nice piece of gear it might be hard to get working with laptops.
I'm happy to answer any questions about the X-Station so please don't be afraid to ask in this topic or via PM |
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