audio software on eee and other netbooks (user reports)

[bsork]

I haven't tried it myself, but apparantly the eee works ok with Usine:

http://www.sensomusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=755

http://www.sensomusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=763

http://www.sensomusic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=775

[dacaumodo]

I meant XT 1.4

I'll create a small test project then, with the classic freebies. I just want to have an idea of how fast/well it works, esp. if you can plug a usb/midi keyboard and play along a little.

thanks

d

[chrisby]

The rig control 2 driver says output latency is 8ms (12ms input to output), whatever this means.
I might not be overly sensitive to latency delays, but for me this is perfectly playable.
You'll need a USB audiointerface though, the input of the onboard soundchip is crap. I think it's mono, and there's some weird compression going on , hardwarewise. As i said, i use the NI Rig Control at home and an old Edirol UA-5 interface at work (live sound recording), both with their own drivers.

Dacaumodo: I have eXT2 on my eee, but didnt test it excessively. I usually use XT as a chainer, so i'm not so familiar with the sequencing side of it. What would you want the eee to do? If you can come up with a test project (with freeware synths/fx) i could try that for you.

Det

Hi Detritus,

Thanks for that... good to hear you found it playable. I actually didn't think it would be even close. One more reason for me to make the jump. Just curious though... did you try the asio4all V2 driver at all? In a few other posts (outside kvr I think) I'd seen people mention that they'd gotten good results with some other apps using the internal card and asio4all V2. Nobody mentioned realtime input monitoring though. Then again I may have just misread... I was pretty focused on just getting the latency numbers. Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to post. Good info...

[Detritus]

I meant XT 1.4

I'll create a small test project then, with the classic freebies. I just want to have an idea of how fast/well it works, esp. if you can plug a usb/midi keyboard and play along a little.

thanks

d

Ready when u are!

[Detritus]

...

Thanks for that... good to hear you found it playable. ...

Maybe i can make some kind of soundclip regarding sound quality and dropout issues. Might take 2 or 3 days, though, also having a tight scedule....

[chrisby]

...

Thanks for that... good to hear you found it playable. ...

Maybe i can make some kind of soundclip regarding sound quality and dropout issues. Might take 2 or 3 days, though, also having a thight scedule....

Yeah, I'm checking this post while doing my taxes (due tomorrow, damnit!). It's funny, I live in a highrise and I can look out of my window and see that a lot of my neighbors appear to be doing the same thing. Probably not the post checking part, but ya know what I mean. Again, thanks for the info...

[dacaumodo]

I meant XT 1.4

I'll create a small test project then, with the classic freebies. I just want to have an idea of how fast/well it works, esp. if you can plug a usb/midi keyboard and play along a little.

thanks

d

Ready when u are!

Just PMd you with a small, awful test project

[Detritus]

Just PMd you with a small, awful test project

Allright,

tried your test project with different asio(4all) settings, and that's how far i got:

all tests were made with the eee cpu unlocked (900mHz) by the tool eeectl (sits in the taskbar and controls cpu speed, fan speed and temp)

since i don't have CM-505, i replaced that one with Drumatic 3, so:

2x Synth 1
1x Ambience Rev
1x Crystal
1x Drumatic 3

Asio4all; EEE Realtek chip activated:
Project plays back smoothly at 1024 Samples Asio buffer size

Asio4all; NI Rig control interface activated:
Project plays back smoothly at 640 Samples Asio buffer size

NI Asio driver:
Project plays back smoothly at 528 Samples Asio buffer size


Latency-wise i can only tell you what the NI drive tells me with 640 Samples: that would be 12ms.

In either of those setups i found the latency while playing one of the synths live via Midi-Keyboard acceptable. I'm not a keyboarder, though... For my taste this works pretty decent...

Don't know, maybe you can simulate the latencies by entering the buffer sizes in the ext setup menu to see if you could live with that...

Anything else i can look into for you? Did i miss something?

Det

[dacaumodo]

Thanks Det, that's just perfect. On the whole then, you got the impression that this would be alright for instance for "jotting down" ideas but maybe not for a real "live" situation? I'll try and simulate the latency you quoted.

I've been thinking of buying this laptop but have also weighed it against the fact that you can get 2 gig ram ones for around 600 euros now. Sure, it's twice as expensive but...

Thanks a lot man.

d

[Detritus]

... On the whole then, you got the impression that this would be alright for instance for "jotting down" ideas but maybe not for a real "live" situation?...

Definately! Realtime audio and sequencing is possible with that machine

I've been thinking of buying this laptop but have also weighed it against the fact that you can get 2 gig ram ones for around 600 euros now. Sure, it's twice as expensive but...

Thanks a lot man.

d

The fact that sold the eee to me is the size , the weight & the price. To me it was important that this machine runs the Yamaha studio manager since i always wanted to be able to remote control our Yamaha Digital live mixer via wlan, do EQing ec. from stage... For me it's a bonus (a huge one though) that it can also do audio.
You have to keep in mind that there might be extra expenses like a Windows license, extra ram (i upgraded to 2 gig), extra storage space (8g ssd + 160gig ext harddisk) etc. thats easily 150€ or so. So, as always: it depends on what you want to do with it...

in any case, i it

[chrisby]

in any case, i it

Thanks for all the info and taking the time to post... if you got 12ms with all that load, one instance of Amplitube should be pretty playable. Now I just have to figure whether to buy now or wait and see what their 9" screen version looks like (supposed to be out very soon). Thanks again...

[dacaumodo]

Extra expenses, yep, good point. Still, it's a neat lil' machine Colleague of mine has one, I'm a little jealous

[devinjv]

i've had my eyes on this for a while:

"Eee 900 Series
The Eee 900 Series was officially launched in Hong-Kong on April 16, 2008 for 513 USD.[18] The system will launch on May 1, 2008 in the UK for £329 (approximately €410, $650) including VAT and in the US for $549 on May 12, 2008.[19][20]

The Eee 900 series dimensions are a little larger than the 70x models - measuring 225 × 165 × 35 mm (WxDxH) and weighing around 1 kg.[21] The machine has a multi-touch trackpad that allow two-finger scrolling and zooming via a "pinch" gesture[22] The machine is available in both Linux and Windows XP configurations. The Linux version is named the EeePC 900 and comes with a 20 GB SSD, while the Windows XP version is named the EeePC 900 Win and has a 12 GB SSD. Reports indicate that the storage is split between two SSD devices - a 4GB SSD installed similarly to that in the 701, and the remainder in a second SSD in the expansion bay.[2] The Windows version comes with Microsoft Works and Windows Live Suite preinstalled. The machines are otherwise identical to each other with 1 GB of RAM, an 8.9-inch 1024×600 LCD and an 1.3 megapixel webcam. This model has the same Celeron CPU as the Eee PC 700, running at its full 900 MHz clock speed (rather than the 630 MHz speed seen in the Eee PC 700).[23]"

quoted off of wikipedia. time to upgrade??

[whyterabbyt]

time to upgrade??

nope. £200 for the 701 makes it a no-brainer as an always-with-me second laptop. £330 or more puts it into close territory to the new Core2 Duo laptop I just bought for £400. The main benefit of the 900 is the larger screen and drive, but Im actually quite used to the 701's screen, and mine has an 8Gb SD card in it already.

And even if the 900 were £250, I'd rather wait and see what price the Intel Atom based models wind up at in a few months.

[chrisby]

time to upgrade??

nope. £200 for the 701 makes it a no-brainer as an always-with-me second laptop. £330 or more puts it into close territory to the new Core2 Duo laptop I just bought for £400. The main benefit of the 900 is the larger screen and drive, but Im actually quite used to the 701's screen, and mine has an 8Gb SD card in it already.

And even if the 900 were £250, I'd rather wait and see what price the Intel Atom based models wind up at in a few months.

I basically feel the same. The lower price is part of the draw.... I don't want to have to worry about the damn thing like I do my main laptop. If it does manage to get busted, well $400 stings 33% less than $600 would. Just curious though... I went and finally got to check one out here locally and saw the thing with the scrolling screen. I know there are work arounds or specific drivers that will give it a higher resolution and do away with the scrolling. Have you tried that and if so is it pretty livable? Any downsides to setting it up that way? Thx for any info...