Hi
...not a specific mulab Q, but related.
Should I buy a laptop or desktop for use with mulab???
I'm looking round for a DAW - must be easy to use - and I am homing in on mulab (possibly energy xt). I have been playing with the free version, and like it.
I've been running it on an old laptop (below the necessary spec!) but the sound faded away, and packed up completely (I don't think this is a driver problem, due to the fading-away bit).
So... I'm a Windows user (not mac), and wonder - as regards sound - would a basic laptop meet my needs (e.g audio recording, vsti use).
When I compare my old-style midi use (triggering samples on a soundcard, not vsti) I found that my laptop had serious latency, even with asioAll installed, but the desktop was OK.
But with vsti instuments, the latency goes.
Anyone know if a basic laptop plus mulab is a 'sound' idea?
best wishes
Mike
Mulab - best on desktop or laptop?
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- KVRAF
- 7412 posts since 8 Feb, 2003 from London, UK
If you have a 2GHz/2GB machine, it'll run MU.LAB fine. A 64bit CPU does not run things significantly faster -- the first priority is clock speed (2GHz), then RAM (2GB). On a laptop, you may want to get a firewire or USB2 external "pro" sound card. Avoid any laptops where the video RAM is shared (they're less common than they were but still more common than they should be). Watch for slow hard disks if you stream samples a lot.
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 3 posts since 12 Feb, 2009 from uk
Thanks for the useful info, PL.
You are suggesting that a laptop soundcard (if they even have one) might not be as good as a basic desktop for e.g recording? I'm thinking about noise levels.
If size is not an issue, I may go for a desktop, as the external sound cards don't seem to be a budget purchase (even though Mulab saves me a lot
thanks again
Mike
You are suggesting that a laptop soundcard (if they even have one) might not be as good as a basic desktop for e.g recording? I'm thinking about noise levels.
If size is not an issue, I may go for a desktop, as the external sound cards don't seem to be a budget purchase (even though Mulab saves me a lot
thanks again
Mike
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- KVRian
- 951 posts since 14 Apr, 2004 from Maryland, USA
I'd think a basic laptop will be fine, performance-wise, for MU.LAB, but wonder about the built-in sound on most of them for serious audio work. I was using a generic desktop's built-in sound card (AC97 I think) and started getting dissatisfied with it. I decided to upgrade and wound up buying a refurb E-MU 0404/ProteusX bundle off eBay for about what the 0404 by itself would have cost new. I was a little surprised just how much difference the recording-oriented soundcard made over the built-in sound, and I'd expect that the built-in sound on most laptops isn't going to be any better than my old desktop. Things you need to decide:
DaveL
- What's your budget?
- How many ins & outs do you need?
- What your interface options are on your laptop?
- How important is portability?
DaveL
You can twist perceptions, reality won't budge.
-- Rush Show Don't Tell
-- Rush Show Don't Tell
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- KVRAF
- 7412 posts since 8 Feb, 2003 from London, UK
As Dave says, even on the desktop you'll probably want a "pro" sound card if you're planning to do serious recording work (e.g. any kind of multi-tracking or overdubbing). I mentioned it specifically with the laptop to highlight that you'd have an extra box lying around, whereas it could be inside the desktop.
(That said, my next PC will have an external sound card -- just to make it easier to get at the I/Os. I don't like the breakout boxes that some internal cards have.)
(That said, my next PC will have an external sound card -- just to make it easier to get at the I/Os. I don't like the breakout boxes that some internal cards have.)