Anderton Posted September 19, 2000 Share Posted September 19, 2000 Any of you using your laptops for making or editing music? If so, what do you use, what programs, what problems have you run into, etc. I'm asking because I just got a shiny new G3 Powerbook and want to hear about the possibilities... Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderton Posted September 20, 2000 Author Share Posted September 20, 2000 Wow! This has sure elicited a big-time response. Guess you're not into portable music. I do have a suggestion. I loaded ReBirth into the Mac, it's soooo cool to come up with rhythm tracks while on a plane! But the default buffer size is way too small, I thought my system was blowing up until I read the manual (always a good idea, eh?) and bumped the buffer up a notch. Then all was well. Next stop: some kind of PC emulator so I can run Acid. Then my life will be complete. Or at least, a small portion of my life ... Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 20, 2000 Share Posted September 20, 2000 Heheh... I would LOVE to be able to do recording on a laptop, but 1) my laptop is a piece of crap totally incapable of handling such things, and 2) I think a lot of people haven't thought it was possible since really high end sound cards traditionally haven't existed for laptops... maybe that's all changing now and I expect we'll see more of it at some point, but right now it seems most laptops that are in use just don't have the firepower. --Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 20, 2000 Share Posted September 20, 2000 Originally posted by Anderton: Any of you using your laptops for making or editing music? If so, what do you use, what programs, what problems have you run into, etc. I'm asking because I just got a shiny new G3 Powerbook and want to hear about the possibilities... Hi Craig, I'm also thinking of getting into this. How are you getting MIDI and audio in and out of your PowerBook (I'm green with envy)? Have you experienced any timing problems? What software are you going to run on it? Do you find the smallish laptop display a problem compared to using a 17" or 19" "ordinary" monitor display? Best regards, Mats Nermark [This message has been edited by mats.nermark@swipnet.se (edited 09-20-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 20, 2000 Share Posted September 20, 2000 Hi list members, Not all of us can afford a "new shiny G3 PowerBook" but we may be able to afford a iBook :-) Does anyone know of a good way to get trouble free audio and MIDI in and out of an iBook? Thanks! Mats Nermark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 20, 2000 Share Posted September 20, 2000 Opcode was making a USB stereo 20 bit A/D box and I'm sure there are others doing also. The Opcode came in 3 types: 20 bit A/D, Coaxial SPDIF in , and Optical SPDIF in. I haven't heard of any multi input USB boxes yet, but with the USB 2.0 spec coming out soon I'm sure they won't be long coming. There are several USB MIDI boxes out there now. The new iBooks would be the one to go with (aside from the Powerbook of course) since it has DVD and FireWire. Craig, have you tried any FireWire drives for audio yet? How is the latency coming with them? I'v heard that they are still to slow to compete with SCSI. Have you looked into any of the PCI chassis like the Magma systems. They look really cool for ProTools. Thanks for making this such a kick ass place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 20, 2000 Share Posted September 20, 2000 There's a whole genre, quite popular here in the Bay Area, of people doing experimental electronic music using Max and MSP on Powerbooks. Check out http://www.cycling74.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 20, 2000 Share Posted September 20, 2000 Craig, You probably already know this, but for those who don't, if you use ReBirth and want to avoid having to put the CD in your drive every time you want to use it, you can make an image of the disc with DiskCopy and store it on your hard drive. Whe you want to launch ReBirth, just mount the image of the CD first (which only takes a few seconds), and then launch ReBirth. In fact, you could probably write a quick little applescript to do this in one step. The only downside is that you're using up about 200 megs (I think) on your hard drive. But these days, that's really not much, and I think the convenience of not having to put that CD in every time definitely outweighs that fact. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderton Posted September 21, 2000 Author Share Posted September 21, 2000 >>You probably already know this, but for those who don't, if you use ReBirth and want to avoid having to put the CD in your drive every time you want to use it, you can make an image of the disc with DiskCopy and store it on your hard drive. << No, I didn't know this, and what a great tip! I'll have to try it. As to the other questions, I've only had the laptop for 2 days, so I haven't checked out much of anything...hence this post. I hear that OS 9.0.4 does better with USB audio (I have 9.0 on the PowerBook) but I know there are issues with USB and audio on the Mac. As I am going to AES tomorrow (watch for our upcoming report, we now have 5 people covering the show for MusicPlayer.com!!), I plan to hit up TASCAM and Event for eval units of their USB interfaces to see what happens. I will keep you posted as to progress... BTW I'm not that concerned about recording into the Powerbook, more like doing mastering, editing, coming up with cool drum patterns, etc. Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Triny Posted September 21, 2000 Share Posted September 21, 2000 Originally posted by Anderton: Any of you using your laptops for making or editing music? If so, what do you use, what programs, what problems have you run into, etc. I'm asking because I just got a shiny new G3 Powerbook and want to hear about the possibilities... I'm hoping to use one of the Sony VAIO laptops for this. They come with integrated MIDI/Firewire. -david abraham WDM = Good! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uh Clem Posted September 22, 2000 Share Posted September 22, 2000 We're way into it! The group I currently play with, The Durians, has two members who use laptops - Dell / Compaq - during our performances. One guys uses ACID a fair bit and the other guy has some new "sound" generation thing everytime he shows up and seems to never use the same thing twice. He's used text to speach synthesizers, input trigger synths fed by the mic/line in, samplers, ACID, Sound Forge - all sorts of things from shareware sights. These guys are Windows users. We've been doing this for a couple of yrs. They play bass and guitar also sometimes together with the computer. I use radio shack mini-trs-to-1/4 Y cords to patch them into BOSS DIs, and then take them into a good mic pre for recording. The sound is great, which is really surprising for an onboard speaker jack and motherboard sound card. A good DI on a short cable really makes a difference. On our last gig, I experimented with using one of the new Compaq Pocket PCs with some samples I dumped to it. Again, great sound when sent into those DIs and a good Pre. I also use a K2600 (Kurzweil), so on our performances/recordings, you can never really distinguish who is playing what sound - even the bass and guitar are fairly effected http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif ------------------ Steve Powell Bull Moon Digital Atlanta GA music is a problem for everyone you could hear things differently www.bullmoondigital.com www.thedurians.com [This message has been edited by stevepow (edited 09-22-2000).] Steve Powell - Bull Moon Digital www.bullmoondigital.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 22, 2000 Share Posted September 22, 2000 I use a windows laptop with acid on it from time to time. It is a great way to sketch something when you are on the road. Then I bring it back home and finish it out with a daw on the desktop. The only thing missing is the ability to easily construct melodies and harmonies in acid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 22, 2000 Share Posted September 22, 2000 Originally posted by David Abraham Fenton: I'm hoping to use one of the Sony VAIO laptops for this. They come with integrated MIDI/Firewire. -david abraham Hi David, I got curious about the VAIO lap tops and went to Sony's web site. I found information that said it included iLink (Sony's name for Firewire) but I could not find any mention of MIDI at all. Can you please post a URL so I can get more info about that as I'm also getting into the lap top world. Thanks and regards, Mats Nermark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Triny Posted September 22, 2000 Share Posted September 22, 2000 Originally posted by mats.nermark@swipnet.se: Hi David, I got curious about the VAIO lap tops and went to Sony's web site. I found information that said it included iLink (Sony's name for Firewire) but I could not find any mention of MIDI at all. Thanks and regards, Mats Nermark Hi Mats, I'm heading out to Best Buy/Circuit City etc to have a look now. I'll report back what I find... -david abraham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Triny Posted September 23, 2000 Share Posted September 23, 2000 http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/products/pc/notebook/pcgsr5k.html#specs shows the following: Graphics NeoMagic MagicMedia 256AV+ with 3.0 MB SGRAM, 128-bit accelerator and MPEG playback acceleration Digital Audio Hardware MIDI Window sound system compatible 3D Surround MPEG MPEG1 digital video Supports full screen playback Standard RAM 64 MB SDRAM, expandable to 256 MB Hard Drive 9.0 GB² fixed -david abraham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pro Jules Posted September 29, 2000 Share Posted September 29, 2000 Pro Tools Laptop I had wanted to augment my 2 TDM rigs with a Laptop rig for "drum cutting" and vocal tuning.... Since the AES I have scratched this idea, have nixed the exp chassis nonsence and will settle with the 8 track Pro Tools "Free" for the odd editing chore, midi session startup and vocal comps and use TDM where all the cool new stuff for drum choping is... change of plan but at least it is a plan, er where is the nearest shop that sells those cute Imac's with firewire? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif Jules "I don't need no stinking chassis" Standen Jules Producer Julian Standen London, UK, Come hang here! http://www.gearslutz.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profesrgeo Posted September 29, 2000 Share Posted September 29, 2000 Hello Everyone! Though I've been monitoring this (and other MP forums) for months, this is my first post. Thanks to all (especially Craig) for the time, effort, knowledge and expertise that goes in. Craig, I found this at Maccentral the other day. Check it out, it may be of interest. EasiExpansion product offers PowerBook docking expansion by Dennis Sellers, dsellers@maccentral.com September 21, 2000, 10:10 am ET Mobility Electronics' new EasiExpansion T35 PowerBook provides what the company says is the first full docking solution for PowerBook users. Using it, the EasiExpansion T35 PowerBook lets PB users add five drive bays (three internal 3.5 inchers, two external accessible 5.25 inchers), three full-length PCI expansion slots and two USB ports to their portable (any PowerBook with FireWire, that is) by connecting the expansion unit to the PC Card slot through a thin, high-speed Split Bridge cable. Split Bridge is Mobility's patented technology that the company claims is more than 100 times faster than USB. Using the Split Bridge cable, the EasiExpansion T35 PowerBook unit is connected to the 32-bit PC card slot on a PowerBook to provide the expansion capabilities. For docking, the latest addition to Mobility's line of expansion products lets PowerBook users to connect a full-size monitor and keyboard to their laptop, and configure the system in other ways that morph the portable into a desktop computer. "This EasiExpansion product allows Apple users to equip their laptops with a product that has previously only been available to Wintel laptop computer users," says Don Johnson (no, not the "Nash Bridges" guy), executive vice president of worldwide sales, marketing and operations for Mobility Electronics, in a press announcement. "This means they will no longer have to sacrifice expansion and docking options when they select an Apple laptop." He adds that Mobility Electronics' EasiExpansion is the only product line that provides full expansion support for the Apple G3 and G4 desktop computers and expansion and docking support for the Apple PowerBook portable computers. The EasiExpansion T35 PowerBook comes with a 6.5-foot Split Bridge PC Card cable and PC Card holder. A 16.5-foot Split Bridge cable is optional. Retail pricing for the EasiExpansion T35 PowerBook products starts at US $599. Thanks again geo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderton Posted October 6, 2000 Author Share Posted October 6, 2000 Some great posts here, thanks for all the tips. So now it's time for a progress report... I did install ReBirth and Spark 1.5 on the G3 prior to leaving for AES. I was facing a deadline getting some "locked groove" (i.e., 133.33333 BPM) drum loops in to a German sample CD maker (not sure which one, the loops are going to a friend, who is collecting the samples and handling the business end of things). It was an incredible feeling to be sitting on the plane, staring out the window at the deserts of New Mexico, while coming up with cool drum parts! (What makes the story even better is they ran out of space in coach, so I got bumped up to business class.) Spark was more than up to the task, especially because of the plug-ins. The resonant filter, grainylizer, distortion, and maximizers were particularly helpful. I was monitoring the drum sounds on a $10 pair of Radio Shack headphones I picked up on sale in LA, so I was concerned upon arriving home that the sounds would need tweaking. I transferred them over to my Windows machine for editing and was pleasantly surprised I didn't have to do any changes at all. After AES, I was home for a few days then it was back to LA for the IMX conference. During the 10 days or so I was on the road, I was able to generate almost 50 loops. I would never have been able to get them off in time had I not had the portable music setup. Now, if I can get Cubase VST and some virtual instruments happening, I could get into some serious trouble.......... Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2000 Share Posted October 10, 2000 Craig, I saw in another thread that you were going to check out the Tascam 428 and the Event EZ-bus. I would imagine they would be nice to connect to your PowerBook. Do you have an opinion on those units yet? I'm particularly interested in: - MIDI timing - latency - audio quality - ease of use Best regards, Mats Nermark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 11, 2000 Share Posted October 11, 2000 Craig, What kind of interface cards (if you need any) do you use to connect your G3 to your studio equipment? Do you use the audio ins and outs on the mac or do you have a card? I need to get a laptop and I am trying to compare the Macs to PC's. Switching to mac is not too much of a problem, I have some familiarity with the Macs and I am really good with computers in general. The only reason my desktop is a pc is for compatibility issues. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienudityaol.com Posted October 16, 2000 Share Posted October 16, 2000 There is an article in the latest issue of "on Stage" magazine that interviews four pro artists that are using G3 laptops onstage in place of racks and running sequences. -Sleven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderton Posted October 16, 2000 Author Share Posted October 16, 2000 >>What kind of interface cards (if you need any) do you use to connect your G3 to your studio equipment? Do you use the audio ins and outs on the mac or do you have a card?<< I have a ZIP drive bay installed, and just transfer the files via disk. It's a lot easier than fooling around with interfaces and such! As for getting sound it, so far I've only been using software synths, so it hasn't been an issue. Mats, I still haven't checked out the USB interfaces yet, I don't believe they're shipping yet. Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profesrgeo Posted October 16, 2000 Share Posted October 16, 2000 Hi everyone, I ran across an ad for a new Metric Halo product called the Mobile I/O. 8 tracks analog I/O, 2 tracks digital I/O, Firewire interface (NO PCI). I don't know anything about the quality of converters or other specs yet. Check it out on their web site: www.mhlabs.com. It sounds interesting. geo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 16, 2000 Share Posted October 16, 2000 That Metric Halo I/O box looks pretty amazing. One of the things I'm wondering about is that it says 4 analog ins are 23/96 capable and the other 4 are 24/96 compatible. Is this a way of saying that the other 4 are 24/48? Either way, looks pretty damn cool. Now I only need the powerbook G3 500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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