Jan 20, 2004 10:35 pm Are you absolutely sure you want a PT rig, there are much cheaper and expandable solutions out there. And if you are looking for firewire, there are several from M-Audio that will fit your needs.
Toshiba Laptop w/ Digidesign 002 Rack
Posted on Jan 20, 2004 10:03 pm
haitian boy
Member Since: Jan 20, 2004
Hello. Any help is greatly appreciated. I haven't yet purchaced the protools rig, just shopping around. I pondered on the MBox, but I will need more than 2 I/O. My question is, how can I use the firewire connections of Digidesign 002 Rack to work on my Toshiba laptop. I have WinXP Home Edition with 1.5GHz Intel Celeron. Can a firewire card be installed on a Toshiba laptop; is my processor fast enough. Please help.
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Jan 20, 2004 10:35 pm Are you absolutely sure you want a PT rig, there are much cheaper and expandable solutions out there. And if you are looking for firewire, there are several from M-Audio that will fit your needs.
Jan 20, 2004 10:51 pm I've always heard that PT is the industry standard. Don't get me wrong I'm always out to save money which is why I'm trying to make things work out without upgrading laptops from my Celeron PC. I have Magix Audio Studio 7 and have been messing around with it, I only have 1 input on my laptop. What other cheaper options do I have with this laptop?
Jan 21, 2004 04:06 am hang out around here for a few weeks before you go and buy that PT joint.
i highly recommend looking into a VST environment instead.
dig into the old threads and use the search link on the left. I hear great things about pro tools, but NOize has got right, there's much more cost effective solutions out there.
btw, I'm a Cakewalk and Wavelab user. Big ups to Wavelab as the ultimate editing/mastering app. And my interface is an M-Audio Delta 44 card. 4 in 4 out for < $200. Sorry i can't help you with laptop interfaces :O(
Jan 21, 2004 04:54 am hey haitian boy, welcome to HRC. I am with these two guys, yes, PT is still pretty much the indutry standard, and if you read article or interviews with studio owners, most of them really aren't happy about it. PT is a great set of tools, but it's not the only way you can go. There are a few solutions that are JUST as good, Sonar, Cubase, Nuendo and Vegas being four.
But, thats not your question. A laptop is what a laptop is, really not that much upgradability into it like that. Unless they make USB Firewire devices :-D Laptops can really only be upgraded with hardware if you can get external devices to do it, and firewire I don't think has any external devices for interfaces, i'd like to see one tho, it'd look funny.
There are many solutions for you from M-Audio and Echo Audio tho...maybe look into their stuff in our Gear Bag section for more info.
How much I/O do you need?
Jan 21, 2004 10:17 am Thanks guys. I think I WILL wait a few weeks to do more research. Yesterday, I actually found a firewire PC card that slides right into the laptop which in theory should solve my problem of just having the usb inteface options.
My buddy has an 002 Rack which he hasn't even opened up yet. Shouldn't I be able to plug the 002 into the installed firewire PC card on my laptop and make things work? Maybe I can then see if my Celeron laptop can handle the 002 rack. What do u think?
dB. I need enough I/O to record a big band with full horns and big drums.
Jan 21, 2004 10:21 am Oh yea. Nobody commented on my Magix Audio Studio that I'm currently messing with. If and when I do find the right audio interface, should I continue to use Magix?
Thanks
[size=1]*** edited by mod (dB Masters) ***
*** reason - NEVER discuss bootlegging software, HRC does not support, condone or facilitate illegal activities ***[/size]
Jan 21, 2004 10:25 am uh oh...a celeron eh, so you have the Celeron 1.5 Ghz with 256 MB of RAM...hmmmm, OK, you also saw a PCMCIA card for firewire. I have not used a PCMCIA for that high demand of an application, but Echo has a sound card that uses it as well, so I am guessing the bandwidth is decent there.
Quote:
I need enough I/O to record a big band with full horns and big drums.
That really doesn't answer the question...how many tracks do you expect to use for the drums, and the horns and such. Do you plan on recording them all at once or a section at a time? Each horn seperately or as an ensemble?
You will NEED to upgrade your ram, 256MB of ram running on the relatively low-performance Celeron processor, if trying to record many tracks at once you will have dropout issues. 1.5 Ghz is nice, but the Celeron has a slower bus speed than the P4's and high-end Intels, or even AMD's.
Jan 21, 2004 10:28 am If you would have a copy of ProTools that comes with the Digi002 and you would continue to use Magix, I would really have to point and laugh :-D
That said, we have one member that uses magiz and he makes very good music with it...
Jan 21, 2004 10:43 am Ok. The ideal setup for me would be to track out everything. 5 mics on drums and 3 horns and some stacking on horns and vocals. Start things off by recording drums, bass, and vocal scratch track all at once. And later overdub the rest. Maybe a total of 20 - 25 of available tracks.
If I do install my buddie's 002 just to see if it works, can I use PT software on other interfaces?
By the way, sorry for breaking the rules there.
Jan 21, 2004 07:34 pm Well it sounds as though you are going to need about 8 inputs for audio. I may be wrong there, but if you are going to record 5 drum mics and and bass and vocal all at once that would be 7.
Now the 002 has 8 channels of analog I/O, of which there are only 4 channels with mic pre amps on them. The rest of the channels are digital and midi. The rig comes with PT Le which is a dumbed down version of PT. It has a 32 track limit for audio. You must be aware of the fact that to add pluggins to PT is a very expensive ordeal since they are propriatary and only work in PT. Also be aware that the 002 and PT Le will only owrk in Windows XP, nothing below that will run it. And they also recomend a minimum of a 2 gig P4 or AMD CPU. I suggest you head to Digidesigns site www.digidesign.com/ and go read the compatability issues you are facing. I dont think your laptop will run it very well, if at all. Let us know and we can help you find some suitabel alternative if need be.
I believe M-Audio has a nice firewire interface that might just be up your alley.
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