Portable macbook pro recording studio

[hobgobbler]

Hi expert sound people,

I'm considering investing in a firewire interface to go with a 2.4 GHz Macbook Pro with 4 GB RAM and I'm leaning toward the Apogee Ensemble with a few Heil microphones and some Fatheads.

Most of the time it would be used to record acoustic instruments with friends but do you think the Ensemble/Macbook combo would be capable of recording 8 tracks to an external hard drive while outputting to a P.A. using Logic or Mainstage (with effects if possible) in real time?

Would that be too unreliable for a live show? Any other problems I'm overlooking? I know it's not the same as this but could it pass for a kinda-professional recording studio/sound system?

How about if I add a word clock or separate preamps?

[edwinhurwitz]

I haven't used the Ensemble, but I do basically the same thing with a Metric Halo 2882 and it's pretty damn solid. The pres are a little noisy once you get past 24db of gain or so, so for ribbons or quiet sources, I add some outboard pres (either 7th circle, API 3124 or Grace) and that works great.


I don't think an outboard clock would be necessary at all unless you need to sync up a bunch of gear.

What I would do is to get an eSATA card and run an external SATA drive. Using a firewire drive while also using a firewire interface will probably cause frustration.

Also, while the internal drive will handle 8 tracks with ease, I don't recommend recording to it on a regular basis. You don't want to chew up the drive prematurely or deal with extra heat. An eSATA drive is faster than the internal (if you get SATA II, which most 3.5" SATA drives are these days).

Have fun!
Edwin

[just.sounds]

And the metric beats the ensemble on sound quality. (yes i heard them side by side)

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by just.sounds

And the metric beats the ensemble on sound quality. (yes i heard them side by side)

Are you referring to just the converters or the whole preamp/converter chain?

Just curious -- I'm a MIO guy.