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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

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EricWatkins Sat, 02/17/2007 - 06:01

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

EricWatkins Sat, 02/17/2007 - 06:02

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