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Laptop as primary studio?

is it a good idea to produce music primarily on a laptop? and how much power does a laptop need to to run Reason, Reaktor, Logic Audio, Giga Studio and a dozen of softsynths? here's what i have in mind, tell me if that's ridiculous or unrealistic.

laptop: presario w/ AMD Athlon 1.3GHz CPU, 384mb RAM, 20gb HDD, 14.1" screen
soundcard: WAMI box (PCMCIA) [i]or[/b] midiman audiosport quattro
controller: midiman oxygen8 keyboard

provided that i'm willing to practice religiously (no pun intended ), is that a good starting point, or should i just settle with a regular desktop?

Hi,

I personally think that you need a lot more ram. Because softsynths eat a lot of it. And maybe a faster CPU, but I am not sure...

But it's definitely a great idea!

-ReGrOoVeD

i actually wanted to get a laptop for my studio.. but when I looked at the prices, its not that great of an idea. For the same price as a laptop, you can get a whole lot more power in a PC. Plus, it makes it easy to upgrade sound cards and things.

So, if you think that you could deal with buying a stationary PC, go for it. But if you need the ability to move your computer around, then the laptop isnt a bad purchase either.

Ram is very important, I have 1024 and sometimes that isnt even enough

i use my laptop sometimes, it's fun to make some stuff in the bus/train when i go to college. however the speed isnt great and reason cracks when it has to play too many channels. i wouldnt go out and buy a laptop for producing, i only do it cause i allready had it.


greets,

robert

robert, what are your laptop's hardware specifications?

PIII 600mhz, 192 mb ram, 20gb hd, soundcard.. dunno.. it works.

Well, The most important hardware is the soundcard....

sorry, you will not come far with reason, logic and softsynth in general with a standard laptop soundcard...

You will get sound as output, but I will not even imagine myself what the latency is gonna be like...' It is a reason why good latency cards for workstations costs from $100 - 1000 .

When you see artists performing with a laptop(like Rank1 etc.), they only use the laptop for sequencing external hardware.

I've never seen lap-top audio cards for music creation with ASIO drivers, low latency and acceptable output. Hopefully It is products available for this purpose, or midiboxes you can connect to your laptop handeling all the aspects above.

I've seen demonstrations from propellerheads, using macOS laptops and midi-controllers, So I suppose this is possible in some way... Keep looking mate

it's a standard laptop soundcard (nothing special). yes latency is awfull, but it doesnt really matter. it works.

Guys, rme makes incredible laptop audio cards.... and there are good external ones too

quote:

Originally posted by Robert PIII 600mhz, 192 mb ram, 20gb hd, soundcard.. dunno.. it works.

ahh, no wonder it's slow. my current laptop (gonna sell it) is similar too, AMD K6 550mhz, 256mb RAM, 20gb HDD... can't even run Traktor on it properly, let alone Reason or Logic Audio, LOL!

and yea sunjammer, external soundcard is a must. i'm still deciding between the WAMI box and midiman's audiosport quattro. Michael, what's rme?

http://www.rme-audio.com/english/index.htm

I gonna buy a laptop soon, altough I can't deny there are some disadvatages compared to a desktop pc.

1. Small screen
2. slow hardrives (fast speed is needed by harddisk recording)
3. nasty soundcards

eventual solutions:

1. A 15 inch instead of 14, it is still small but better.
2&3 External hardware - only prob: very expensive

and will you work with high end software you need of course a hell of a laptop to = very expensive

You can see that I am not a great fan of creating music with a laptop, but I have to because I need one for my study too.

It will be a special built laptop with the specifications:
P4 2 Ghz 512kb cache, 512mb DDR, 32mb DDR video, 40 gig harddisk, 15 inch screen, DVD/cd-rw combo, Firewire.

I will buy a external soundcard too, but I doesn't decide wich yet.

don't buy a laptop if you just want to make music on it. i mean it looks pretty cool and all, but it's so a load of hassle and so much more expensive. i only do it cause i needed a laptop for other purposes.

quote:

Originally posted by Origin X 2&3 External hardware - only prob: very expensive

true, true.

solution for #2 - normal IDE hard drive in external firewire enclosure

#3 - (apparently) external soundcard, either USB, firewire or cardbus.

quote:

It will be a special built laptop with the specifications: P4 2 Ghz 512kb cache, 512mb DDR, 32mb DDR video, 40 gig harddisk, 15 inch screen, DVD/cd-rw combo, Firewire.

damn, that's gonna be an insane laptop, LOL. i heard that BT's laptop has got 1 gig of RAM tho, now THAT'S insane.

quote:

I will buy a external soundcard too, but I doesn't decide wich yet.

get Emagic's emi 2|6 if you can, otherwise Midiman's Audiosport Quattro Pro is just as good. Michael Russo suggested RME soundcards (see above), so if you're wealthy, try RME's Hammerfall Multiface.

and would you consider a midi controller? i think it's far more natural and accurate to control softsynths and sequencers with knobs and sliders instead of keyboard and a touch pad. this looks pretty impressive to me.

I would say that an Athlon 1.3 is alright...but u need at least 512mb ram...

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