Computers for sound

[paulears]

The OP wanted a laptop for uni that can do sound properly.

 

Have a look at the carillon range. I've had a couple of their 19" rack versions and am impressed - I have heard good reports about their customised lap tops.

 

They key to making PCs do sound properly, is for the computer to be properly tweaked to do the job. There are a few decent pro-audio dealers who disable certain windows features, set buffers and memory settings to suit audio, not word processors and games!

 

There are far more decent editors around for windows, although I pretty well use Sony Sound Forge as my main editor, with aodobe audition for odds and ends.

 

If you are doing just music, the apples are fine, and are more stable - although windows unconnected to the net is pretty good now.

 

At uni, you want to be able to do word and excell, and maybe a graphics package too - so a compromise may be in order. My Carillon in the studio does not have any non-music software on it. The other I had until last year had word, excell and Photoshop on it - it was not so stable. This could just be a coincidence, but the number of running processes was considerably more, once all these programmes were installed - even when not being used?

 

If you have the knowledge (I don't) then Sound on Sound Mag recommend a dual boot system - one optimised for audio, the other for everything else. I haven't tried this, but makes sense!

[Nick S]

^ I can recommend the Carillon. I havn't seen their laptops about, although they're obviously lacking what really attracts me to their racks (the customised front panels). You'd still need an audio interface if you were looking to record straight in.

 

If you are wanting to use Cubase/ProTools or similar then a Mac is supposedly more suitable there...but other than that wouldnt touch them with a barge pole!

 

You shouldn't be so quick to dismiss the platform of choice for many colleges and companies when it comes to video (Final Cut), audio (Logic, ProTools), and graphics work. They're not sutiable for some work, but neither are Windows based machines.

 

I have no preference for either platform, but it annoys me when people from both camps just slate the other out of hand. Each platform (be it Windows, OS X, or Linux) should be weighed up on their own merits rather than dimissed out of hand with no real justification.

[bruce]

While I'm having a rant, let me expand it a bit farther. A major complaint I have about much of the advice on this forum is what happens when somebody asks "what speakers do I need?" and somebody else chimes straight in with "the superdingus 2000 is a great cabinet..you should buy four".

 

Agree totally. And I don't have the painkillers to use as an excuse. I don'tn want to hear people say "the superdingus 2000 is a great cabinet.." - what I really want them to say is "I think... the superdingus 2000 is a great cabinet.. BECAUSE...."

[OB2]

I did have an intresting conversation with someone recently, with the whole mac / pc debate working with audio and they were working along the lines of the fact the mac used to be a long way head for processors for such a long time that they became the industry standard, and thus still the standard but in fact pc / windows based systems have caught up and that they actually utilize the new quad processors a lot more than a macs, and have become a lot more stable!

[Jivemaster]

Don't buy til you have some experience of what you intend to do and what support your teaching environment can offer.

 

I use a toshiba sat 4090CDS on W2K and it works for me for playback, it has a line in recorder but I never use it!

 

Keep your audio machine clean for audio, and nothing else, mine has never been on-line so it has no protection to take up processor time.

 

But then I have a mate who was using his laptop to DJ from and sending the mixed audio back into the computer to webcast via the hotel's open broadband, He can also manage his DJ forum while gigging And may well use his palm thing as a wireless remote. However he is a (likable) GEEK for his day job!

 

I also have a good friend who spent 1500 on a lappy (P4 3600 100G 1Meg 17"widescreen) and has had 3 new boards drives memory in the first year, and he is never certain it will boot next time. DONT buy anything too close to the cutting edge as the technology may not be stable. My PII/300 just keeps on going!

 

With a lappy always carry a DI box as that is one of the best ways of killing most of the noise.

[Al Cain]

With a lappy always carry a DI box as that is one of the best ways of killing most of the noise.

 

 

I have an external Berhinger USB sound card (U-Control UCA202) does same job. but worth pointing out. :P

 

TVM

Alex

[jonhole]

I own a PowerBook and it's great for visual work, and the sound quality is excellent but once I had a problem when audio AND a DVI projector was plugged in at the same time (serious 'buzz' through channel, no other signal). This has only happened once, but be warned.

 

If you are going to use a Mac laptop for visuals aswell, also be aware they do not have S-Video outputs anymore - a pain if you want to use a S-Video / Composite Video Mixer. You need to have a special cable from Apple - not major but slightly annoying.

[James]

Alex,

 

There have been a number of people who have said please wait until you get to university.

 

Until we get to that point this thread is unlikly to reach any conclusion

 

It would be worth you coming back then and re-opening this thread when you start your term with any new information.

 

PS - you might find that your university can get you a good deal on computers through central purchasing - I know a number of computer manafacturers offer discounts to staff at large companies, they may offer students similar discounts.

 

James

[bruce]

There have been a number of people who have said please wait until you get to university.

 

Don't wait - contact them now and ask them. They won't bite...

 

my own institution has a student laptop scheme - we've now got several thousand in circulation. Laptops are compulsory for several courses - students can either buy one (which comes with all relevant software pre-loaded, and on-site tech support), or they can opt to borrow one for the course duration. Most buy.

 

However, one problem we had in the early years was students arriving on day 1 with a "non-standard" laptop - they could not be offered the same level of tech support. So we now write to all students very early in the admissions process - usually in the springtime at the "conditional offer" stage - advising students that the scheme is in place, and if they are planning a purchase they should consider this scheme.

[stuartglen]

on a side note, I have found a solution to the noise in the audio out problem.

 

The noise in the analouge out of a laptop is mainly due to interference from the power supply unit.

 

Using an extenal sound card, connected over the usb bus solves the problem, at least for me it does

(playing music off a laptop on school shows)

[bruce]

Using an extenal sound card, connected over the usb bus solves the problem, at least for me it does

 

Glad to hear it worked with your setup. It doesn't with mine....

[Andrew C]

I have an external Berhinger USB sound card (U-Control UCA202) does same job. but worth pointing out. :)

Not always. :P

The noise in the analogue out of a laptop is mainly due to interference from the power supply unit.

Using an external sound card, connected over the usb bus solves the problem, at least for me it does for me

In that case, you are lucky! :)

Glad to hear it worked with your setup. It doesn't with mine....

And that folks, is what happened to me! :) Isolating transformers on the audio line works (Homebrew DI box) :)

[SeanT]

Get a nice fast secondhand P3M or P4M machine with plenty of ram (I use a 1.13GHz P3M with 1 gig of ram and it's as usable for heavy soundforge use as a 3.06 Ghz P4 desktop - although it gets a bit warm), an external HDD - editing from one drive back to the same drive is an absolute nightmare and makes the system hang for ages (usually whilst it is playing a short section over and over again in soundforge), and a nice little Edirol external sound card (that I use for all my 2 channel recording and playback, even on the desktop machine) - and keep the change, that little lot should set you back less than 400 quid.

 

Having a desktop pc in your room aswell as a lappie (or even instead if you don't really need a lappie - find out...) is a very good idea if you are a student, nice machine to watch films on with a big hdd to dump all your crap on and a dvdrw for archiving.

[GreatBigHippy]

Hey up,

 

I've had issues with laptops in the past and lots of noise over an A/V rig. I believe (shoot me down in flames if I'm wrong) that the main issue comes from laptops coming with non-earthed connections. This causes the problem that (again I think) that there is no longer a common earth to all your equipment thus causing them hum.

A good way to avoid this problem is, as has been said, go to the specialists. Carillon do very nice, beautifuly quiet systems. They do run a little hot though ( at least mine do) and as such, need space for ventillation. Inta-Audio do some very nice PCs that I have bought in the past and they know thier onions when it comes to PA and Studio sound.

I have used my Mac G5 in a concert before. But this was only as a recording station as I had an 8in/8out firewire interface (edirol ua-10 I think) and as such could record the mix down afterwards. They are beautifully stable and they make your nest look a bit sophiticated! Perfectly luggable, wouldn't recommend carrying too far but easy to run across a theatre from remote flight cases. I have also heard, and witnessed the new G5 line and those intels are much faster than equivilant PCs. Especially with lots of A/V stuff running. Lovely and quiet also.

Another Mac solution is the Mini. These could easily fit in a lockable flight cased drawer. They are quiet and will proably have easily enough power.

Again, the problem can be software compatibility, I don't know off hand of any mac stage control software. And they are pricy compared to PCs.

Unfortuantly (from an "advice" viewpoint) I sit on the fence in this debate (quite literally, I have a mac on my left and a pc on my right :blink: ).

Yes... hmmm... Go to the experts. Look at the software you want to use and spec for that. Get a decent audio interface, the best speakers in the world will sound awful if you cheap out on this (also it will take the strain away from the processor, means less crashing and locking). There... that counts as advice.. I think..

[Hambone]

Mac Book or Mac Book Pro, running OSX and XP. Upcoming Mac OS 10.5 will allow simultaneous running of both. Best of both worlds. Copy and paste between Mac and PC apps.

 

There are tons of quality external audio interfaces out there. (Using an 01V/mLAN here).