Hey all - I've been reading a lot of threads on this site and gathered a lot of pertinent information. My desire is for a simple home studio to record MIDI and some audio into a laptop for sequencing and mixing. My budget is $2500 - I have no immediate need for mic's as I just want to lay down the music at this point.
I will be using an Alesis QS6 as my MIDI controller and for some sounds, and a Yamaha PS-120 for audio, and various softsynths. I have Reason 3.0 but it won't run on my current computer so I haven't used it yet. I have been using Arturia Storm. I'm guessing I won't have more than 8 tracks in a song - but LOTS of effects.
I want to get as pure a sound as possible, if it even is possible, with this budget to create pretty decent demos.
My needs (as I see it, if I'm missing something please advise)
-Laptop: thinking of an Acer Aspire (1.66 Core Duo, 2GB RAM)
-Audio/MIDI Interface
-Monitors?
-Soundcard (not sure what the ACER comes with)
-Is Reason 3.0 ok? Soundwise and for drums?
Thanks!
-Josh
Comments
I write ambient/ new age all MIDI except for some piano and voca
I write ambient/ new age
all MIDI except for some piano and vocals.
I need a nice drum module, softsynths, and effects. My music is nonlinear - minimal samples and loops.
My big hangup is how powerful a computer I need for this. 8-10 instrument tracks with lots of effects.
Well, I use a Dell Dimension Desktop that's about 2.5 years old.
Well, I use a Dell Dimension Desktop that's about 2.5 years old. It's a P4 2.4 Ghz with 3 gigs of Ram. I also have 2 seperate sample drives that are USB 2.0 and I use an M-audio 1010LT. I run alot of VSTi's like EWQL Gold XP, RA, StormDrum, Colosus, Choirs, Vapor, Albino, and others on occasion. I can usually get 20 or 30 tracks going at a time depending on the writing style.
It sounds like you laptop will be fine. Sound-wise, for ambient, you might want to consider RMX and Atmosphere. They are of the highest quality and you can hear demos at Ilio.com . Best of luck.
Eric
Well, I use a Dell Dimension Desktop that's about 2.5 years old.
Well, I use a Dell Dimension Desktop that's about 2.5 years old. It's a P4 2.4 Ghz with 3 gigs of Ram. I also have 2 seperate sample drives that are USB 2.0 and I use an M-audio 1010LT. I run alot of VSTi's like EWQL Gold XP, RA, StormDrum, Colosus, Choirs, Vapor, Albino, and others on occasion. I can usually get 20 or 30 tracks going at a time depending on the writing style.
It sounds like you laptop will be fine. Sound-wise, for ambient, you might want to consider RMX and Atmosphere. They are of the highest quality and you can hear demos at Ilio.com . Best of luck.
Eric
DAWBOX Would this Laptop http://www.dawbox.com/Laptops%202007-C
DAWBOX
Would this Laptop http://www.dawbox.com/Laptops%202007-Core-2-Duo.htm be overkill for a newbie? I don't want to buy an off-the-shelf pc and find out it can't handle all my plugins and synths. But then again, I don't want to buy this beast and have it be a year or two before I can utilize it fully when I could have spent 500 less on a off-the-shelf puppy.
What kind of music are you going to be writing/recording?
What kind of music are you going to be writing/recording?