Help! - What Gear Do I Need, new laptop setup for music Options

[mhb]

Hello all,
I've been making music for many years, started with frootyloops.... then moved into real gear (mpc, digital multitracker, loop stations, synths etc.).
Getting to the point: I want to go back to computer based music - basically to minimize wires and connections, and the fact that my gear could use an upgrade - multitracker is giving poor results (digital noise) and my mpc1000 is a huge piece of junk (sound output quality, and of course the pad issues with this machine).
So i was thinking:
Macbook 2ghz core 2 duo
2 gig ram
80gig hd (5400rpm)
akai mpd24.
So to record into this, will it be necessary to have an external soundcard?
Will i require an external harddrive @ 7200rpm to record to?
Will the above hardware have to be firewire? can they be daisychained?
Is there a mac book (pro) that could handle my work load without all this extra gear?
I'm really trying to minimize the amount of gear i need to carry around with me.
Please help.
MHB

[mortalengines]

Yes you will need an interface if you plan on recording audio....you could use the built in mic but, you won't like the results....If you are just planning on using soft synths and loops for a while then, that is not absolutely necessary...you could just get away with the audio out jack into some desktop monitors (M-audio makes some good ones for cheap). Having an external "write" drive will to great things for your CPU when you get into higher track counts. Try to get one with the Oxford 911 Chipset they are optimized for streaming audio and they don't necessarily have to be that expensive....www.pacificproaudio.com has several that are quite inexpensive and will definitely do the trick. You can try to get away without an external HD for a little while but you will probably thank yourself for getting one after trying (I did). Also, make sure all the software and peripherals you get are going to be compatible with your Macbook Pro (and its OS version). It all probably will eventually, but not all of the manufacturers have caught up yet.


www.myspace.com/mortal_engines

This post has been edited by mortalengines: Sun 9 Dec 2007, 23:42

[mhb]

Yes you will need an interface if you plan on recording audio....you could use the built in mic but, you won't like the results....If you are just planning on using soft synths and loops for a while then, that is not absolutely necessary...you could just get away with the audio out jack into some desktop monitors (M-audio makes some good ones for cheap). Having an external "write" drive will to great things for your CPU when you get into higher track counts. Try to get one with the Oxford 911 Chipset they are optimized for streaming audio and they don't necessarily have to be that expensive....www.pacificproaudio.com has several that are quite inexpensive and will definitely do the trick. You can try to get away without an external HD for a little while but you will probably thank yourself for getting one after trying (I did). Also, make sure all the software and peripherals you get are going to be compatible with your Macbook Pro (and its OS version). It all probably will eventually, but not all of the manufacturers have caught up yet.


www.myspace.com/mortal_engines

ok, so in your opinion - would the macbook (not pro) 2ghz 2gig ram with an internal 5400rpm hd, with a decent ext snd crd and ext hd @ 7200rpm be able to act as an mpc type sampler and a multitracker for me? or do i need something more powerful? i'm really into triggering wavs. would i have to trigger wav files from the external hd? should the internal one only be used to run apps?
btw your track on myspace are pretty good man!
www.myspace.com/mdmatheart