netbooks or old ibook for recording

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Fri May 27, 2011 8:22 pm

I'm looking at getting a new recording set up and wondered about whether using a netbook would be practicle. If it is practicle, what type of interface would work with it? I was looking at the Roland V-Studio 20 earlier which is supposed to be made for a netbook but are there any others I should consider?

What type of system requirements would I be looking at if I was to use a netbook?

I would also like to use VST plugins as well for drums/effects/synths as well so would this be possible?

thanks for the help

aen · Post by **aen** » Fri May 27, 2011 9:09 pm

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I would avoid a netbook for recording. Multi track recording and effects processing is really demanding on your system. Sure, a netbook may be more powerfull today than the mac that tracked a full hollywood studio album ten years ago, but software and hardware evolve together, and the software has a tendancy to take full advantage of the current hardware.

I think it would be smarter to get a used computer, even a desktop, with nice big specs to record on.
Another important thing to keep in mind is hard-drive speed. Many laptops use really slow hard drives, which usually isnt a problem, but in recording it REALLY is. I had a laptop that was "top of the line" for the day, except for the hard drive, and anything more than like 4 tracks with effects, and it was too much for the HD. Sucked.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Fri May 27, 2011 11:04 pm

thats my worry Aen. I'm on a budget though and a net book might be the answer. I do have an old G4 macbook but as far as I'm concerned and macs its just a pile of shit only good for browsing the web. the keyboard only works when it wants to and the battery and power supply are as twitchy as Harry Rednapp.

Fuck, it used to be easy with a tascam 4 track.

aen · Post by **aen** » Sat May 28, 2011 12:05 am

whats your situation? Is this for solo projects, or a band?

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Sat May 28, 2011 6:01 am

aen wrote:whats your situation? Is this for solo projects, or a band?

primarily solo demo stuff and ideas but I would also get the other people in the band involved. We have no drummer at the moment though so these are electronic. I'm forced to use my iphone at the moment which isn't ideal.

George · Post by **George** » Sat May 28, 2011 10:59 am

I've not read into it but I wouldn't personally go for the Roland V-Studio 20 as it's USB powered meaning there will be some latency if you want to hear effects generated on the PC whilst recording live tracks. My Lexicon Lambda is USB so I have to record completely dry first then hear what the effects sound like afterwards. Not terrible but I would still go for Firewire tbh; in fact I've had my eye on upgrading to a used Alesis iO|14 for some time.

Also, for what it's worth I don't think the cooling tends to be great on netbooks. If you're ragging the cpu (which midi vst's rely on for the most part) and the fans go into overtime it could bleed into the recording - could be annoying on bedroom stuff though it might be negligible on bigger scale recording.

If you decide you want to build a desktop I have a psu, decent cpu cooler, good ram and a decent quiet gfx card you can have for next to nothing to get you on your way. You could build something decent for cheapz these days, and with an okay dual core and a couple of 120mm fans you'll have a really solid and quiet PC.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Sat May 28, 2011 4:23 pm

thanks George, I will take a look. I'm not sure about building a computer again. I have an aversion to them after working in the business for so f'ing long

It is an option though.

I do have access to an old mac g4 laptop thing. I think its the old chipset though and it is not running an upto date version of the OS. I think it might be 10.4 or 10.5. Would this be usable? it has firewire I know that.

EDIT: its 10.4.11 and 1.33Ghz PowerPc ibook with 1.25GB ram. would this work with anything?

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Sat May 28, 2011 7:45 pm

lorez wrote:thanks George, I will take a look. I'm not sure about building a computer again. I have an aversion to them after working in the business for so f'ing long It is an option though.

I do have access to an old mac g4 laptop thing. I think its the old chipset though and it is not running an upto date version of the OS. I think it might be 10.4 or 10.5. Would this be usable? it has firewire I know that.

EDIT: its 10.4.11 and 1.33Ghz PowerPc ibook with 1.25GB ram. would this work with anything?

I used a 867 MHZ PPC Powerbook for years.

It depends what you want to do, but PPC macs are really pretty slow (typing from a 1.8 imac PPC right now).

4 tracks in garageband will probably be fine for you, slows down with more. etc

izodiak · Post by **izodiak** » Sat May 28, 2011 11:36 pm

Well I have an Macbook, its 2007.. white.. the screen dosnt work etc.. but it has Core Duo 2.0ghz, 2gb of ram..
Quite speedy, I recorded with firewire interface up to 6 tracks with no lag.. ableton+logic pro.. ( in the time it had the screen/keyboard issue)
If You get a new hdd it would be snap snappy.

its in a bit shit condition.. it needs external screen (i have those converters for dvi and vga) and it needs external keyboard and mouse.
So its pretty much stationary.

I could give it to for some pedal or I dont know.. few pounds/dollars..

recorded all of this on that computer. (my mixing skills are shit, and had just one mic)
/ all of the guitar was recorded with logic built in guitar racks.. /

Just got meself an macbook pro...that I am very happy with.. can play halflife.

George · Post by **George** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:12 am

lorez wrote:thanks George, I will take a look. I'm not sure about building a computer again. I have an aversion to them after working in the business for so f'ing long It is an option though.

I do have access to an old mac g4 laptop thing. I think its the old chipset though and it is not running an upto date version of the OS. I think it might be 10.4 or 10.5. Would this be usable? it has firewire I know that.

EDIT: its 10.4.11 and 1.33Ghz PowerPc ibook with 1.25GB ram. would this work with anything?

Haha fair enough.

Depends what you want to do but if you're going to get into multiple vsts that processor will definitely struggle, and that much ram might make for sluggish performance. I don't think the OS really matters in the grand scheme of things though.

My advice would be to "acquire" an older recording software package like Cubase SX3 to keep it light on it's feet - I've used it for years and love it. I'd put the moolah into a decent but compact external soundcard (Edirol FA66 or FA101, Presonus Firebox are great in my experience).

If you're after a new laptop I think anything with a dual core and 2GB+ of decent ram will be fine for good performance and lots of vsts. I would say ditch the netbook idea though and go for a larger screen (if you don't want to move it about all the time) as you'll be grateful for the extra screeen space with multiple tracks and windows going on, and it will be better cooled.

izodiak · Post by **izodiak** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:32 am

You can snatch of ebay something desktopish..

If this is in Your budget

In recording I support apple totally because of the Pro apps it has.
They are easy to understand and if You dig deeper, they are suprr pro.
And if You can affrod I would totally suggest an firewire audio interface.

I have an netbook, its an HP mini with Atom processor, and its not sluggish, but
watching HD videos and opening lotsa tabs on chrome.. not speaking about photoshop it gets slow.
So dont know about recording, never tried it on it.
( I could sell You this one too if Youre interested, but yea. )

sorry for my buying proposals,but I just have them lying around,so..

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Sun May 29, 2011 8:49 pm

some interesting points re. the mac. I might do a bit of research then and see what I could get working for it. I know its got garageband 2 on it so I might need to upgrade that or get something different.

Izzy mate, let me think about it

izodiak · Post by **izodiak** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:01 pm

Firewire is so beautiful because of the no latency..
I sometimes play with the effects that are in Garageband and Logic.. guitar-computer(effects etc)-audiointerface-amp/headphones. no latency.
really enjoy that.

And You can get just a usual PC and get an PCI card with firewire.. use Reason.. Ableton is on PC too.

But if Youre demoing or doing 'I want to remember how to playthis', then garageband is excellent.

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Mon May 30, 2011 7:48 am

netbooks fucking suck.

At least go for a laptop mang.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Tue May 31, 2011 2:52 pm

so does anyone know if there are any devices out there (either usb or firewire) that can work with 10.4.11?

George · Post by **George** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:05 pm

I think most will to be honest.

However, I've just come up trumps on an Alesis IO14 off ebay. I therefore have a USB Lexicon Lambda (unboxed) which google says works with 10.4.11

When the Alesis arrives you can have the Lambda for cheaps if you like.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:17 pm

George wrote:I think most will to be honest.

However, I've just come up trumps on an Alesis IO14 off ebay. I therefore have a USB Lexicon Lambda (unboxed) which google says works with 10.4.11

When the Alesis arrives you can have the Lambda for cheaps if you like.

let me take a look at it george and i will let you know

izodiak · Post by **izodiak** » Tue May 31, 2011 4:28 pm

I think the iBook should do the job.
With not too hungry applications, but a friend of mine (recording artist) uses it, for little demos to send her bandmates.
(Garageband + an USB condenser)

So it should work just fine : )

edit : http://www.apple.com/lae/logicexpress/download/ - it looks like Youre able to use Logic Express .

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:21 pm

OK the interface is sorted thanks to George. I just need to sort out a DAW. I checked that my wife had garageband on their but its version 2! I will look in to the one George mentions but any other recommendations for 10.4.11?

Simon · Post by **Simon** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:21 pm

Not to throw a spanner in the works but Firewire is getting very old with regards to Macbooks. I bought a Mackie Satellite off Ebay and only half of the console will work on my Macbook. The newer software updates on Mac don't recognise the older Firewire drivers associated with my Interface. Neither Mackie or Apple are willing to fix the problem and both blame eachother for the problem. There's a load of people on various Apple/Mackie forums who are complaining about this.

It's worth considering if you're going to buy a Mac. I'd be tempted to go for something that uses USB. From what I've read, USB 2.0 is just as fast as Firewire when it comes to recording. At least on your own, just recording 1-2 tracks simultaneously.

I hope that's not too much babble to read through. I just thought I'd give my opinion on Firewire.

I'll probably never be able to sell on my Firewire interface because only half of it works.

It's one of these coincidentally - http://www.mackie.com/products/satellite/index.html

Just read back and seen that you've sorted an interface!