Laptop and D.A.W. Recommendations

Posted on

Member Since: Jan 22, 2005

Hey All,

Read a lot of past threads but still have some questions so pleae bare with me.

I need to buy my first laptop as well as first D.A.W. For now and the near future, musically, I will only be using Reason 2.5-3.0 on it but need the D.A.W especially so I can more easily sync up audio to video, as I score a decent amount.

I was pretty set on some version of PT M-Powered since I have a good amount of experience on PT LE and esp. HD from my recording classes, know LE has issues comparatively, and can't afford HD. But I am pretty open-minded about other D.A.W.s.

I saw that a lot of people here like Sonar and the price/plug-in advantages esp. sound great to me. My first question then is which D.A.W, if any, works the most efficiently w/ lappys - considering their limitations? 2nd -Which D.A.W. is the best at syncing audio to video/offers the most options working with video? Also, which D.A.W would also run soft-synths the smoothest (Reason or others)?

Finally, for the lappy itself, I saw a lot of people recommending a 7200 rpm hard drive. After seeing how much more that adds to the $ (trying to keep it around a G if possible), and considering what I'm going to be using it for, do I really need that 7200? If not, what should I be looking for?

Thank You!

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Member
Since: Jan 22, 2005


Aug 17, 2008 04:34 pm

Sorry, forgot to mention that I am only considering a PC laptop/no macs.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 17, 2008 08:37 pm

Well since I am a Sonar hardcore user I'll give you my 2 cents worth on it and why I use it.

I do a good deal of scoring as well and love Sonar for that. They were the first to put the video capability directly into their DAW and it runs very smoothly for me. I simply rag a video section to another monitor and I'm good to go. Most times I can use it in a smaller size just sitting on the corner of the screen to get a working idea.

As for the syncing and working with the video, Sonar does very well with many options to use for that. It will sync to external video or time code as well without any hiccups. Sonar is built to run ReWired and DXi or VSTi without any problems. It uses what is called the Synth Rack to avoid having to run through several menus and set up multiple tracks and change the settings on each individual track. It does the whole set up automatically for you in one simple menu.

AS for working with video option's. What exactly do you need to do with the Video while working in Sonar? I can try and be more specific if you tell me if your looking to edit video or simply lining things up.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 17, 2008 08:39 pm

Oh ya, on the 7200 rpm drive. While it is a big help to have that. You will be much farther ahead to save a little bit up to add an external HD that will do the 7200 rpm work and then you can save all project, audio, video data to that to save the workload on the internal drive to accommodate running the programs more efficiently.

Member
Since: Jan 22, 2005


Aug 18, 2008 10:56 am

Hey,

No video editing; only syncing it to audio and possibly exporting the two together. What video file types does Sonar allow for when exporting?

Appreciate your input on the other q's. I think what I need to know most right now is what processor, RAM, etc. specs I would need for my laptop in oder to smoothly run Reason, a proficient D.A.W. with the video syncing, and yeah, (I want to do some gaming on the side). :)

I obviously just dont want to pay more than I need to for all that.


Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Aug 18, 2008 11:23 am

I just did this. I bought a $700 laptop from bestbuy (2.0Ghz Dell 1420 w\ 3GB ram and 250GB 5400rpm drive).

Suprisingly the internal drive worked well capturing 12 channels at 44.1, I went ahead and picked up an external drive which I have tested using the USB and E-Sata connectors at 48, both worked very well.

I did test it with video also, nothing fancy as Audition only imports one video at a time and it was pretty simple. I am working on the mixes for the recently recorded live gig and will post some of the performances once completed.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 18, 2008 08:58 pm

Sonar will export in a few different formats. I believe Windows Video, WMA, Quciktime and a few others I can't recall as I don't have the codecs loaded for them. It does use about 20 different video compression codec's though as well.

I run a PC running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+ which is clocked at 3.2 gig running with 4 gigs of ram. You can probably get by with less. But to be honest I would get as fast as you can afford with as much Ram as possible. The Ram is what will help keep Reason running smoothly.

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Aug 18, 2008 09:57 pm

running Reason reasonably requires RAM reserves... HA!

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Aug 18, 2008 10:04 pm

::sigh::

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 19, 2008 07:58 pm

zek, you must have been working that one out for hours.

Member
Since: Jan 22, 2005


Aug 19, 2008 10:39 pm

Thanks again. On my Pentium D desktop, with only a Gig of ram, Reason runs really smoothly. But yea, since this will be a new purchase, and I'll have the D.A.W. using up memory too, I'm shooting for 3 gigs.

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