which computer/software

vitthal · Joined: Nov 10, 2005 Posts: 4 Location: belgium

hI- I'm going to buy a new laptop but can anyone advice me something also for software and soundcard/interface?
I make electronic music but use and want to record some live instruments
aswell. Ediroll has the FA101, does anyone has experience with this?
Any info is welcome

thanks

elektro80

jksuperstar · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 8:59 am Post subject:

PC, MAC, or Linux? (or other?)

vitthal · Joined: Nov 10, 2005 Posts: 4 Location: belgium

well, i actually am still doubting about mac or windows, but laptop any way.
.. and want to record some live instruments...
Piano?
Organs?
Singers?
Drumsets?
Acoustic guitar?

all occasionally, but im lucky to pursue a semi lofi sound.

the problem is that i know what i want but don't really understand the language that explains the features of products.
And which capacitys are sufficient to work without needing to limit your songs.
I could also use some info about programs as i always worked with the same rather simple programs and want to change.
I need to be able to make long structured songs with lots of sounds, samples, and also to improvise over this with keybords (synths' or computer's) and or live pieces of sound.

thanks.

[Note : I removed some duplicate messages here, Blue Hell]

v-un-v · Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 11:41 am Post subject:

Lo Fi eh? Personally I'd get an old Mac laptop running OS 8 or 9 and an old copy of Logic Audio, and blow what you save on a massive hard drive (7200 rpm) and as much RAM as you can put in it.

The old G3's and the previous 3400's are bargains Smile

renevanderwouden · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:07 am Post subject:

seraph · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:46 am Post subject:

ochi · Joined: Sep 01, 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Toronto

ABLETON LIVE 6

ANY MIDI CONTROLLER WITH AT LEAST 8 KNOBS/SLIDERS

Wild Zebra · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:12 am Post subject:

just set up an old comp its not a laptop, but don't be afraid to save money and go old. Mine is a PC maybe 733mhz or a little more doesn't even have much ram. I got it for free at the local University. I downloaded that Kristal freeware and recorded a tune last night first in a long time. I reckon I'll post it soon, more of a sampler of all my DIY gear. But to make a long story short it ran fine, no glitching, skipping, buffing, glumping, I was stoked. I'd like to get something alittle powerfull and load up on ram. At least a 1.something. Hell you can get em for under a bill. No sense in spending a ton of money, people have been making good music on computers for over a decade.

Oh and anyone have good resources for finding older programs? I still have an old version of ACID and soundforge, but thats about it.

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:31 am Post subject:

Kassen · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:03 am Post subject:

Kassen · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:05 am Post subject:

Kassen

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:17 am Post subject:

Yes. And then you would need preamps, mics, sorting out there monitoring for the talent as well as for the engineer, studio monitors, room treatment.. and the lot. The computer and DAW part of it is not too messy to sort out.

Kassen · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:55 am Post subject:

Sure, but let' s not go overboard there. Very nice recordings have been made in living rooms and the only realy way to learn recording is to do it a lot. It's a art and a sience for specialists; for sure but it's also a enjoyable hobby for enthoussiastic dabelers who may later become the experts (how else do experts get there?).

I'm a bit out of the loop with recording software but I'd recomend trying to get a soundcard with decent mike pre-amps and I myself am verry happy about my own EMU 1616m. Other cards are also very nice. Very cheap cards have very cheap construction which will break after a while.

I don't have any real recomendations on the Mac/Windows question because it seems very personal BothWindows and MacOS are terrible piles of bloat that cantheoretically behamered into shape. You'll probably have to pick one of them because Lnux on a laptop with a pro level soundcard will give loads of hard questions. G3 sounds very underpowered to me though and in general Mac's are comparatively expensive.

Pro level "daw's" are fortunately a easy question; they all pritty much do the same and if one will have a cool feature all the others will have copied it by next year. Ableton is still a bit different but it's basically joining that crew as well. So; I'd pick either the cheapest one or if money is no object the one that looks nicest. Alternatively you could pick the one your friends have for free tech support. Basically they are a lot like the soap you put in your laundry machine; they look impressive on TV but in the end you'll stick with the one that smells best or that's around because by now they all make your clothes very clean at low temperatures.