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 Help! - What Gear Do I Need, new laptop setup for music |
 Sat 8 Dec 2007, 18:13
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#1
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: 08-Dec 07 Member No.: 97,095  |
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 |
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 Sun 9 Dec 2007, 08:53
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#2
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 Newbie Group: Members Posts: 6 Joined: 16-Jun 05 From: Baldwin Park - US Member No.: 66,858 |
QUOTE (mhb @ Sat 8 Dec 2007, 17:13)  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 no I do not think so on the audio card http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html says it has "Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack)" and "Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack)" I would go with 160 on the HD and and 4 gig on the ram Working with loops and software instruments takes up space on the Mac HD I have a mac mini with 80g HD and 1g ram I have no room for my itunes Library and Garage band cry out for more memory,,, I would get a 200 GB external HD for back up purpose only. any other music you record you can xfer to CD or DVD |
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Sun 9 Dec 2007, 23:40
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#3
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 Advanced Member  Group: Members Posts: 479 Joined: 08-May 05 From: Portland - US Member No.: 65,373 |
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 |
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Mon 10 Dec 2007, 10:08
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#4
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 Moderator  Group: Team Posts: 370 Joined: 19-Mar 03 From: Umeå - SE Member No.: 14,645 |
You should also try to have your harddrives both internal & external spinning at 7200 rpm:s for best results.
Cheers: Dixiechicken! -------------------- ==================
Oh my god it's full of stars… --------------------------------------------------- Mac-G5-2x.2.0, OS-X 10.5.1, 250/200Gb HD - 7.0Gb ram DP-5.13, Motu 828 MK-II, MTP AV Usb, ltst drvs, Kurzweil-2000, EPS-16, Proteus-2000, Yamaha 01V Emes Kobalt monitors ================================ |
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Tue 11 Dec 2007, 03:22
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#5
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: 08-Dec 07 Member No.: 97,095 |
QUOTE (mortalengines @ Sun 9 Dec 2007, 23:40) 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 |
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Wed 12 Dec 2007, 04:25
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#6
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Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 479 Joined: 08-May 05 From: Portland - US Member No.: 65,373 |
Yeah what you have in mind sounds fine.....I currently run Ableton Live 6 on a G4 Powerbook that is getting a little long in the tooth but, hey....it works great and I am just not ready to throw down 18 to 2500 bucks on a new mac if the old one is still meeting my needs. The loops would run off of the external hard drive (I have a few loops on my laptop's system drive that I haven't got around to moving and they don't really interfere but I save "self contained" to my external HD as soon as I start building a piece). The idea is that your Mac's HD is an OS and applications drive and your external is your "read/write" drive.
I am really glad you like the tunes....I am heading over to your space next. I have some other tunes that are done but won't be up on myspace until I get some artwork together for the CD release. Check em out: http://www.earritation.net/index.php?optio...&Itemid=186 if that doesn't work just go to earritation.net and search under "members" for Mortal Engines. Good luck! |
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Wed 12 Dec 2007, 04:44
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#7
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Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 479 Joined: 08-May 05 From: Portland - US Member No.: 65,373 |
Oh, and I just tried to add you as a friend at myspace but I keep getting "unable to display page" messages....hmmmm....feel free to invite me to be a friend, and keep up the good work!
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