I know nothing about computers. I'm a technophobe. They hate me and I hate them. Why I'm doing a Foundation Degree course in Music Production is still a mystery, even to me. But I need to get a laptop. I've been told to get one with a dual processor thingie and can only afford somewhere between £300 and £400.
And no bloody Macs, for I hate them most of all. Even more so than I hate David Cameron and Simon Cowell. Grrr...
Can anyone help point out a model that might suit me?
Hi Mouse, for that kind of money you should be able to get a Dual Core with 2gb of memory, that in theory is enough to run most music software, only problem is no laptop that i know of has onboard sound with Asio support (this is needed to run softsynths and record audio etc with low latency), you can use something called Asio4all which adds asio support to most onboard soundchips but its a little flakey in my experience.
So you may need to allow some extra funds to get an external audio interface with asio support, which could cost you anything from £80 to many hundreds of pounds depending on the level of kit you want, nice thing is most of them are bundled with cut down versions of the big Daw packages like Cubase etc, so gives you some software to start off with until you find your feet..
Hope this helps a tad..
Rick
Quote from: "Mouse"I know nothing about computers.
And no bloody Macs, for I hate them most of all.
hmm. connection?
:P
Handy hint
Avoid wine, esp. RED
Quote from: "rogerg"Quote from: "Mouse"I know nothing about computers.
And no bloody Macs, for I hate them most of all.
hmm. connection?
:P
I thought Macs *were* for people who hated computers? ;)
Quote from: "James_S"Quote from: "rogerg"Quote from: "Mouse"I know nothing about computers.
And no bloody Macs, for I hate them most of all.
hmm. connection?
:P
I thought Macs *were* for people who hated computers? ;)
Macs are for people who never shut up about their computers. (;-)
Quote from: "Philadelphia"Macs are for people who never shut up about their computers. (;-)
That's because we enjoy using them! :-)
(PCs are cheaper, the Mac still doesn't have a decent bit of project management software and Omnigraffle tries too hard to be beautiful unlike Visio's usefulness, so I'm Windows at work. But at home, for pleasure, it's a Mac-only zone.)
Firstly, why do you need a laptop? Is it essential that you go back and forth from home to Uni/College with your machine? You will probably get more value for money by buying a good desktop PC with the essential Core 2 Duo CPU (Dual core) 2GBs RAM and the biggest hard drive you can afford, the advantages of PC over laptop include generally being able to afford a better spec for your money - you'll see PCs having more RAM and usually more hard disk space than laptops. You don't want anything lower than 2GB Ram, a CPU with a speed of 2ghz and a hard disk drive no smaller than 160GB, especially if you have a large music collection and will be using sample libraries on your course.
Are you aware that you will also probably need some kind of audio interface for your foundation degree?
If you are working purely with MIDI then you will be able to get away with using your laptop's onboard soundcard, however if your course requires you to record AUDIO (live instruments, vocals) etc at home (where the university/college's equipment isn't available) then you will definately need an audio interface. To be honest, as this is a foundation degree, I think it will be unlikely that your workload will be such that you'll have to record audio at home, expect a lot of MIDI based activities.
You will also (ideally) want some speakers for listening (or 'monitoring' as more commonly known) to your recordings, these can sometimes be expensive, check out M-Audio, Edirol and Behringer monitors for value for money, you could also check out some headphones to use instead of more expensive speaker monitors, AKG and Sennheiser are reliable makes, buy the best you can afford.
In terms of laptop, Dell can be very cheap - go to dell.uk, and click on BUSINESS (not home), look at their VOSTRO range of laptops, these are the cheapest as they don't have fancy colours/cases. I myself bought one recently with a very good spec for around £550 - it had some hefty upgrades too which weren't essential. You'll be able to get a double core (Core 2 duo) 2gb RAM and at least a 160gb hard drive for around £400.
I've built 3 home PCs specifically with recording in mind, including the laptop mentioned previously, I got virtually 100% of the information necessary to do this by using the internet, a really good resource is the forum over at overclockers.co.uk, I'm a member there (Andelusion), ask around in the hardware forums and you'll get some replies. Do the research yourself, you will learn on the way, it's important I think to know about your machine when you're doing music production to understand how to maintain it and plan for any future upgrades that may/may not be necessary.
Quote from: "Steve"If you are working purely with MIDI then you will be able to get away with using your laptop's onboard soundcard
I agree with everything else you said, however I would disagree with the quote above if you are using soft synths and want to play in real time, as the latency from an onboard soundcard is probably far too high to work effectively.
I think for anything serious music related, you are going to need a decent audio interface anyway and there are plenty of options (again look at m-audio and edirol).
ive had nothing but great experience with ASIO4ALL it infact has acheived lower latencies than my ProFire2626 or Mbox 2 mini ever did, mainly because they are limited to 64 and 128 samples, whereas ASIO i have had down to a shocking 30something samples i think
I really like my Lexicon Omega (//http://www.lexiconpro.com/ProductIndex.aspx?ProductID=6)
and this is also a pretty neat unit: Tascam FireOne (//http://www.tascam.com/products/fireone.html)
Quote from: "James_S"Quote from: "Steve"If you are working purely with MIDI then you will be able to get away with using your laptop's onboard soundcard
I agree with everything else you said, however I would disagree with the quote above if you are using soft synths and want to play in real time, as the latency from an onboard soundcard is probably far too high to work effectively.
I think for anything serious music related, you are going to need a decent audio interface anyway and there are plenty of options (again look at m-audio and edirol).
Using ASIO4ALL should get rid of most if not all noticeable latency, so I've found anyway :) Using my Dell Vostro's onboard soundcard (no idea what it is) I have no noticeable latency playing back VSTs such as Superior Drummer 2, NI FM8 etc.
mmmm mac... even better... .big mac ! *tummy rumbles*
Quote from: "rogerg"I really like my Lexicon Omega (//http://www.lexiconpro.com/ProductIndex.aspx?ProductID=6)
and this is also a pretty neat unit: Tascam FireOne (//http://www.tascam.com/products/fireone.html)
I have a FireOne and it's great. 8-)
For advice on a laptop: make sure it fits on your lap. Some of those laptops are extremely tiny or large and you might have an extremely small or tiny lap. It's vital those two variables are in balance. Well, come to think of it, lap size isn't really a variable is it? But the size of your laptop is. Well, not of one and the same laptop obviously (which would be spectacular!!!) but choosing between different types (which come in different sizes..... well, not always but moslty they do) makes it a variable. Just be aware of that.
My 2 cents.
Buy the best Mac you can afford. Because they work. A PC comes with an instruction book. A Mac comes with AN instruction: Plug it in. Use it.
And an Edirol FA66 Firewire interface. They sell for about £199. But come bundled with loads of software.
That's my tuppence-worth. And I use both Mac and PC. But I only buy Macs. :D ;)
Quote from: "Big Black Shed"And I use both Mac and PC. But I only buy Macs. :D ;)
Hmmm....anyone had their PC stolen recently? ;)
Quote from: "Big Black Shed"I use both Mac and PC. But I only buy Macs. :D ;)
... sorry Mac haters, but what he said ... my PC is for dull things like work, my Mac is for fun things like music .. I record ooodles of audio, I use logic and not had so much as a murmur yet ! (doh kiss of dead statement, hard drive will probably fail tonight !)
Well I can tell you now being an IT Tech if you want compadbilty and something that just works, a PC is the way to go. There is nothing wrong with a Mac other than the price. And yes while OS X 10.5 works. You have to see what enviroment you are using your computer in. Some colleges around Florida use strictly Mac, and some use PC, so know what is being used. I mean it doesn't really matter what computer you are going to get as long as its a sold computer. And remember there is always Linux to consider. ;)
Wooo! I broke the century mark!
Quote from: "Sean"Wooo! I broke the century mark!
Well you can jolly well fix it again before someone else needs it.
Here, use this:
(//http://www.jrlinton.co.uk/images/UHU.jpg)
It's a box. It works, or it doesn't. When it doesn't it's mostly the operator these days. Having said that, get a Mac, or you'll catch a terrible case of cooties and your eyelashes will fall out.
PCs mainly exist to keep Sean in a job ;) but he's right about cost.
I'd advise you take the Mac-brigade with a large grain of salt. I like my little white macbook a great deal, but I've had many more reliability problems with it than with my previous two Dell laptops.
Quote from: "vocalnick"I'd advise you take the Mac-brigade with a large grain of salt. I like my little white macbook a great deal, but I've had many more reliability problems with it than with my previous two Dell laptops.
Mac-brigade? You make us fully-paid-up-Jobs-sycophants sound like the Salvation Army! ;)
Seriously though, if you can get more bangs for yer buck with a Dell or whatever, go with that. Whatever you get, you'll be looking around for a faster replacement in a couple of years. Such is the way of the computer. :(
Crikey, I'd forgotten I'd asked this! :shock:
Thanks for all the replies chaps and chapettes, and I am pleased to announce that in the New Year, with the arrival of the next grant/loan into my account, I shall be building a laptop under the guidance of a mate who actually knows what he's doing. Hooray! :D
I don't know what's going into it, apart from it will be good and will cost a maximum of £500. Woo hoo! 8-)
It won't ever, ever be a Mac though. Sorry, I may have started a little war... :shock:
I'll scarper now, cheersandbysie! x
Quote from: "Mouse"Crikey, I'd forgotten I'd asked this! :shock:
I shall be building a laptop under the guidance of a mate who actually knows what he's doing. Hooray! :D
I don't know what's going into it, apart from it will be good and will cost a maximum of £500. Woo hoo! 8-)
That is certainly the best way of ensuring value for money. I've built several systems and generally find that you can build to a specification at a cost of 75% of that same spec in the shops.
Quote from: "johninblack"That is certainly the best way of ensuring value for money. I've built several systems and generally find that you can build to a specification at a cost of 75% of that same spec in the shops.
It's also a lot easier to upgrade bits as time goes by, which is considerably cheaper than buying a whole new one! Every bit of my main desktop pc has been replaced/upgraded at least once since I first built it some 17 ( :shock: ) years ago. It's a kind of Frankenputer.
I'd advise you test it by dropping it on your foot and if it doesn't break your toe, it's the one for you!
[sorry Sarah :lol: ]
Quote from: "Mouse"It won't ever, ever be a Mac though. Sorry, I may have started a little war... :shock:
just curious as to why you are so vehement about this?
Quote from: "rogerg"Quote from: "Mouse"It won't ever, ever be a Mac though. Sorry, I may have started a little war... :shock:
just curious as to why you are so vehement about this?
Well, in the college where I'm doing my course, pretty much all of the computers in the Music Department are Macs. One of the modules required us to recreate a song of our choosing using computers, MIDI and keyboards and such, trying to get it as close to the original as possible.
I assume that you've all heard The Dark Side Of The Moon? I chose to recreate Any Colour You Like. I had to listen and try to copy the drums exactly. Have a listen to the drums on there. They sound simple, but as I found out, when you try to identify every single bloody sound, it's one hell of an example of perfectly crafted drumming technique!
Anyways, I spent nearly two hours straight one day finishing off my drums for the track (from where the guitar solo comes in onwards), then went to save it. The Mac decided to vanish the drive my work was saving to as I clicked it, resulting in the work I did that day to be wiped. Bah! :cry: :evil:
I don't trust Macs anymore. I hate them for more reasons, but that's mainly because of how unnecessarily annoying the process of opening up a piece of work is. I don't know, maybe I'm just incompetant... At the end of the day, I just really don't like them.
I'll get me coat... ;)
(Still, it could have been worse - one of my mates decided to pick Oxygene (Part 4) by Jean-Michael Johnny Foreigner. The fool! :twisted: )
I'm actually quite pleased with the end result, so I guess that's something! :D