Advice on portable recording setups (Dell, VSTi, RME...)

[Anaon]

Hi everyone!

After reading some topics about portable equipment, I feel lost. Your advices would be really welcome to help me in building my setup...

Here are some facts :

• I have to buy a laptop, low budget, I thought about a Dell Insipiron 1545, it's probably not the best but it's far more powerful than my actual audio desktop PC
• I don't know if I should go for USB or firewire...
• My main goal is to use this laptop as a "VSTi player" that I could record in audio in my audio PC desktop (RME Multiface II)
• I could buy a RME Express Card but I don't find any laptop with Express card
• Occasionnaly, I'll have to record some vocals somewhere else with my preamp
• I don't need a lot of inputs then
• I don't know about my budget, actually, I'd like to know which way is the best one

Your advices and opinions about a setup that would work well for my needs would be really great!

Thank you

[Corran]

If you don't need a lot of inputs I personally think USB is the way to go. Most budget laptops have neither Firewire or an ExpressCard slot to get any kind of FW or cardbus interface in there.

There are tons of options out there for USB and it depends on just how mobile you want to be, and of course what you want to spend.

I've been doing some research to build a new extra-portable rig and the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra looks pretty nice. It has 4 mic inputs as well as all the regular digital i/o you find on these things. One neat thing is that if you don't have a power source handy, it will run on USB power with only 2 mic inputs enabled, as well as the SPDIF ports and 1 headphones, which is neat (plug it in to get all inputs, etc.).

If you want something else I would suggest browsing some online catalogs like sweetwater.com or fullcompass.com, and looking at the Low-End Theory forum for lots of threads on USB interfaces.

[Anaon]

Thank you Corran

Actually, I'm not against USB or MAudio neither Do you think that today, problems of latency with USB interface are gone? I need low latency to run my VSTi...

Beside this, I just found a Toshiba laptop which has an Express card port :
Toshiba Satellite Pro A300-2C8 :: Materiel.net
It's not as cheap as Dell but it's maybe better?

Thanks for your help thumbsup

[rumleymusic]

A laptop I can recommend most highly is the Lenovo T series. Not pretty to look at, but a great performer and has an express card slot for firewire if needed. Also check out ADK pro audio laptops. They have inexpensive solutions.

[videoteque]

I once had a Dell, it worked wonderfully, but the power supply was so (electrically) noisy I couldn't record audio with it. I had to use the battery, which is not always possible!

[Gerax]

I'm using a Dell Too, and I'm very happy with it. I have an XPS M1330, which is super stable and plenty powerfull to record as much as 16 tracks at once (the maximum I have pushed it so far in a live gig) with Pro Tools M-Powered and the M-Audio Lightbridge FW interface.
I have it partitioned with XP and Vista, so I can choose which OS to use (I have XP set so that's very barebones and Vista for Office and Internet stuff).
The power supply in this model isn't noisy at all...

[Corran]

Hey Gerax, does that model have a built-in FW or an ExpressCard to put on FW?

I'm trying to figure out if ExpressCard FW will power audio equipment like a normal FW input.

[Anaon]

Videotheque and Gerax : Could you tell me which Dell models you use?

Thanks

[Gerax]

@ Corran: it has a built in FW, but in the mini connector fashion. I found it more than adequate to hook up my FW interface, though it doesn't power up FW drives like on the Mac side. I also tried an external FW on a PCMCIA expansion card, and it's the same; I wish Dell allowed customers to choose which array of connection to use when configuring the laptop: I've never used the HDMI port that comes standard with this laptop and find myself missing an additional FW and USB.

@ Anaon: It's a Dell XPS M1330 with a Core2DUO 2GHz CPU.

[AndrasFL]

I think M-Audio Fast Track Ultra is great. I get very low latencies in both Cubase and Pro Tools 8.
It handles 64 samples which gives me a latency in and out at 5.4 ms in all.
It sounds neutral and has quiet preamps.

No driver problems at all.

Hope it helps
Andras

[Anaon]

Sure it helps Thanks!

No problem to run VST instruments then?

[AndrasFL]

None at all.
I use it with Cubase Studio 4 and Pro Tools 8. With their bundled software instruments I have no problems.
Sorry about the late answer.

Andras

[Anaon]

No problem for the late answer, thanks for your help

There's the new Focusrite Saffire 6 which seems to be really interesting as well...

[videoteque]

Sorry Anaon for the late answer, my Dell was an 15XX?? I don't remember well, possibly my power-supply was the worst of all the power-supplies made that day in China...

What did you decide about the computer? I am a Mac head, so I can't recommend any PC!!!!