Powerbook or ibook for multitrack recording?

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

I've heard mixed messages on this. Is a new Powerbook or ibook fast
enough to simply plug in a Digi 002 and start recording 8 tracks? I've
heard that the harddrive just sputters along. If this is the case,
then you'd need some sort of external drive, which probably means
firewire, right? Then, I hear that you're sharing the buss with the
firewire which would bog down there as well.
I'm sure someone out there is recording with a mac laptop. Can you
tell me the real story?

Thanks,
m

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

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 16:17:35 +0100, david morley
<david.morley@gmx.net> wrote:

>mwood5nospam@yahoo.com wrote:
>> I've heard mixed messages on this. Is a new Powerbook or ibook fast
>> enough to simply plug in a Digi 002 and start recording 8 tracks? I've
>> heard that the harddrive just sputters along. If this is the case,
>> then you'd need some sort of external drive, which probably means
>> firewire, right? Then, I hear that you're sharing the buss with the
>> firewire which would bog down there as well.
>> I'm sure someone out there is recording with a mac laptop. Can you
>> tell me the real story?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> m
>>
>I used a motu HD896 with no problems on an iBook 1.33mhz
>Also, using a firewire drive and an interface shouldn't be any problem
>at all.

Hello David,

I'm homing in on the current Apple ibooks/powerbooks solution (1 or 2
gb) for portable audio capture. Beyond capturing, have you or
anybody else an idea of how much stress (number of tracks, digital eq,
ambience plug ins, comprssor plugins, etc. etc. etc. ) you can put on
these portable machines before they start spazzing out and resorting
to track bouncing/submixing etc. needs to happen? My typical
application is up to 16 tracks.

Just trying to get a rough feel here...

Thanks,
Andy
- Possibly fixing to leap from the dark side...

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

<mwood wrote:

> So, did you need the external firewire drive as well to get the audio
> to record properly?
> I'm really wanting to avoid that if possible. I'd love to be able to
> plug in the 002 rackmount and start recording up to 8 tracks...

There are folks posting into the DAW-Mac list who manage that and more
with iBooks, and those who manage even more than more using P'books.
that'd be a good palce to ask about this.

--
ha

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

In article <1gshcc6.ui31d01d7zn6uN%walkinay@thegrid.net>,
walkinay@thegrid.net (hank alrich) wrote:

> <mwood wrote:
>
> > So, did you need the external firewire drive as well to get the audio
> > to record properly?
> > I'm really wanting to avoid that if possible. I'd love to be able to
> > plug in the 002 rackmount and start recording up to 8 tracks...
>
> There are folks posting into the DAW-Mac list who manage that and more
> with iBooks, and those who manage even more than more using P'books.
> that'd be a good palce to ask about this.
>
> --
> ha

couldn't find that group... how about a specific group name?? thanks in
advance!

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

mwood5nospam@yahoo.com wrote:
> I've heard mixed messages on this. Is a new Powerbook or ibook fast
> enough to simply plug in a Digi 002 and start recording 8 tracks?
I've
> heard that the harddrive just sputters along. If this is the case,
> then you'd need some sort of external drive, which probably means
> firewire, right? Then, I hear that you're sharing the buss with the
> firewire which would bog down there as well.
> I'm sure someone out there is recording with a mac laptop. Can you
> tell me the real story?
>
> Thanks,
> m
I did many multitrack sessions for a few years on a Powerbook G4 500
Mhz using a MOTU 828 and Audiodesk with no trouble. I could easily do
20 tracks, sometimes recording 10 tracks at a time, but things would
start to get tough with more than 2 reverbs going, depending on what
size buffer I was using. More than anything else, the reverbs seemed to
demand lots of CPU power. I presume that a present day laptop with
double or triple the speed would manage better than mine. I started off
with the internal hard drive, but ended up using a faster external
firewire drive. For remotes, I still use the laptop, recently for
example recording a string band live using 6 channels straight to the
internal drive.

Albert

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

david morley wrote:

> I noticed that RAM helps a lot. Add 512mb straight away.

What he said. And if it'll hold a gigabyte of RAM, go there.

--
ha

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

On my band's recent tour, we recorded ever show (14 tracks - live mics and
stems coming out of the board) at 16/44. Average show was 110 minutes. We
used an Ibook1.25 with a motu 828 and a glyph external. Never crashed and
although we used no plugs while recording, a bunch were used for mixdown. 44
shows, no crashing, no problems, occasional circle of death, but that
happens on every system. I found the difference between the Ibook and the
Powerbook not worth the $1000 difference. If they ever come out with a G5
Powerbook the story may change.

I think the key was the external Hard drive - the internal one, which I
believe spins at 5400rpm, will let you down.


On 2/28/05 1:16 PM, in article
f319fea4.0502281016.3f111c2f@posting.google.com, "kooz"
<atomic79@hotmail.com> wrote:

> mwood5nospam@yahoo.com wrote in message
> news:<1109262880.631423.17670@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>...
>> So, did you need the external firewire drive as well to get the audio
>> to record properly?
>> I'm really wanting to avoid that if possible. I'd love to be able to
>> plug in the 002 rackmount and start recording up to 8 tracks.....
>> later,
>> m
>
> You might also wish to consult digi's User Conference.
> Someone there has come up with a way to test people's rigs to
> determine maximum track count, and they call it the davec test.
> Everyone there seems to be using an external FW drive, whether they're
> using PBooks or iBooks, and they're also upgrading/maxxing out their
> RAM.
> Good Luck! I'll be in your situation next month...
> -kooz