Audiorecordings with low latency on a laptop

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 28 Nov 2004 20:28:47 -0800, musicianQ@hotmail.com (Frank de Waal) wrote:

>Hi there,
>
>I just read some older threads on this,
>but the computerbusiness changes quickly,
>so I wonder what's the way it is now.
>
>I want to update my audiorecording gear
>and prefer a laptop with an external firewire
>sound'card' while I'd like to be mobile.
>But if it's to critical to my needs I'd
>rather spend my money on a desktop instead.
>
>The laptop I'll buy would be at least
>Pentium 4, 3GHz.
>What's important for the soundcard to me is
>that it can be connected to firewire, that
>the latency is very low (for multitrack recording
>and VSTi's) and that the driver-support is good.
>Ofcoarse the quality of converters is important too,
>but 2 analog inputs and 4 analog outputs are enough.
>I don't need digital in- or outputs and already have a
>midiman midi-interface for COMport.
>
>So my question is:
>Is it a good idea to do multitrack audiorecordings
>on a laptop? And is it nowadays possible to have very
>low latencies on that machine? And what audio-interface
>is recommended for firewire?
>
>I can't find much good info on this on the net,
>so I really hope someone here can help me on thisone.
>
>Thanx in advance!
>
>Frank

I think the firewire audio interfaces will not be your problem since most of
those are very low latency. Your problem is going to be the hard drive.
Standard notebook drives are 4800 RPM, or sometimes 5200 RPM.

You can get 7200 RPM, but it's almost never standard because it draws more
power, but you'll presumably be using it mostly with an outlet with a 3GHz
Pentium anyway, so that's probably OK. Look for a notebook you can order with
at least a 5200 RPM drive, and preferrably a 7200 RPM.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Yup - I routinely operate my MOTU 896 at 4 ms latency on a Mac dual G5.

On 29 Nov 2004 07:19:06 -0800, musicianQ@hotmail.com (Frank de Waal) wrote:

>Thanx for your reaction.
>You're telling me the harddrive is a critical part in this case.
>
>So, if I buy a Laptop Pentium 4, 3GHz with a harddrive of 7200RPM,
>Windows XP
>and use my Midiman BiPort (via COMport) and a new external audiodevice
>via firewire... should that be ok to get very low latencies (I prefer
>below 5ms) compared to a desktop pc?
>
>Frank
>
>
>Steve Jorgensen <nospam@nospam.nospam> wrote in message news:<ipelq0dibo474gtdnraiq25pcpoufhl6i3@4ax.com>...
>> On 28 Nov 2004 20:28:47 -0800, musicianQ@hotmail.com (Frank de Waal) wrote:
>>
>> >Hi there,
>> >
>> >I just read some older threads on this,
>> >but the computerbusiness changes quickly,
>> >so I wonder what's the way it is now.
>> >
>> >I want to update my audiorecording gear
>> >and prefer a laptop with an external firewire
>> >sound'card' while I'd like to be mobile.
>> >But if it's to critical to my needs I'd
>> >rather spend my money on a desktop instead.
>> >
>> >The laptop I'll buy would be at least
>> >Pentium 4, 3GHz.
>> >What's important for the soundcard to me is
>> >that it can be connected to firewire, that
>> >the latency is very low (for multitrack recording
>> >and VSTi's) and that the driver-support is good.
>> >Ofcoarse the quality of converters is important too,
>> >but 2 analog inputs and 4 analog outputs are enough.
>> >I don't need digital in- or outputs and already have a
>> >midiman midi-interface for COMport.
>> >
>> >So my question is:
>> >Is it a good idea to do multitrack audiorecordings
>> >on a laptop? And is it nowadays possible to have very
>> >low latencies on that machine? And what audio-interface
>> >is recommended for firewire?
>> >
>> >I can't find much good info on this on the net,
>> >so I really hope someone here can help me on thisone.
>> >
>> >Thanx in advance!
>> >
>> >Frank
>>
>> I think the firewire audio interfaces will not be your problem since most of
>> those are very low latency. Your problem is going to be the hard drive.
>> Standard notebook drives are 4800 RPM, or sometimes 5200 RPM.
>>
>> You can get 7200 RPM, but it's almost never standard because it draws more
>> power, but you'll presumably be using it mostly with an outlet with a 3GHz
>> Pentium anyway, so that's probably OK. Look for a notebook you can order with
>> at least a 5200 RPM drive, and preferrably a 7200 RPM.