Ideas for Laptop

[mrmulti]

I own a computer store and I am also a musician. I started doing home recording with Voyetra/Turtle Beach’s Project Studio in 1996. The sound card had 2 Kurzweil wave table synth chips built in, which made it easy to mix Midi and Digital audio. I still use that setup even though it runs on 98, and I can’t get XP drivers for it (it is ISA). This seemed to provide very low latency recording for Midi.

I have been asked to provide a quote for a good laptop that will run things like Band in a Box, and has Midi and Digtal Audio recording capabilities. I would like ideas on good brands so I can out a quote together. I can sell Acer, Fujitsu, Sharp, Sony, Panasonic, and Toshiba.

Would you suggest an external sound card or would th internals do? How about a Midi interface? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Michael Wells www.mrmulti.com/music.htm

[tech1]

Stick with non-stock (3rd party, not built-in, separate) audio interfaces, as they offer better recording quality. Also, for audio production PC's, stay away from Windows Media Center, as it is NOT compatible with any major audio software or hardware. See this for more info: http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ts/detail.php?Index=30163&keyword=media%20center

[bob anderson]

MrMulti: Seems we share a common bond. I, too, am an Intel Channel Partner etc... "Reformed Professional Musician".. I cut the hair and got a "real job".

I sell primarily video editing systems (I'm in Hollywood) and have been really impressed with the Toshibas. As the previous post mentioned.. don't try to do anything involving the onboard audio. Most good hardware actually excludes the ac97 drivers anyway. Here in LA everyone plays with pro-tools and i would reccomend the mbox2. It comes with a bunch of really usable plug ins, and most pro studios are going to be able to deal with pro tools projects just incase your client writes the next hit tune.

Other than that.. an external firewire 800 big @ss hard drive. I've found it best to not run os and record on the same drive.

Hope that helps

Bob Anderson
Olde time Amiga recording star!!!
(Bars and Pipes and the "One Stop Music Shop" (e-mu synth on a card) in an Amiga 2000 with an 040 and a whopping 16 MB ram and 2 ( count them...2) 52 MB hard drives!!!)