MOTM

- Original Message ---------------------

The way I look at it, the macmini is a sign of things to come.  Feature 
to feature, it's a better deal than a cheepo PC.  It's got a G4, not a 
celeron, and firewire.  In a couple years this will have a G5 with 
gigabit ethernet.  Then we can stack them on a shelf for our 
distributed processing system.

woot!

----------------------------------------


Not to sound like "crabby guy," but I'd appreciate it if we didn't stray
too deeply into this subject, especially when the inevitable comparisons
between Macs & PCs come up. It's a sure-fire way to shatter the peace of
this e-mail group.

Comparing the two platforms has destroyed a lot of Internet forums, and
it's all the more unfortunate when it's way off topic from the general
theme of the list.

I'm confident that I'm not the only one who revels in the camaraderie
here and worries about its fragility.

Thanks in advance.

--KT

> Not to sound like "crabby guy," but I'd appreciate it if we didn't 
> stray
> too deeply into this subject, especially when the inevitable 
> comparisons
> between Macs & PCs come up. It's a sure-fire way to shatter the peace 
> of
> this e-mail group.

I'll second that. There is nothing more tired than a Mac/PC flame war, 
it's so 20th century. Let's keep the flames on topic ^_^

Besides, everyone knows that  op-ams are the best operating system 
components.

--mikes

Good point KT so I'll change the subject...

I just got a new laptop and I'm looking at retiring the old 500mhz Desktop
to the kids for homework.

Just curious if anyone out there is using their laptop for recording and
what accessories or software you are using?

BTW, I have been using Cubase 5.0 with a Steinberg 24/96 sound card on the
Desktop for recording.

Tx,
Al

-----Original Message-----
From: Tkacs, Ken 
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 12:29 PM
To: MOTM Forum All
Subject: FW: [motm] Re: OT: Digital recording and the Mac Mini



- Original Message ---------------------

The way I look at it, the macmini is a sign of things to come.  Feature 
to feature, it's a better deal than a cheepo PC.  It's got a G4, not a 
celeron, and firewire.  In a couple years this will have a G5 with 
gigabit ethernet.  Then we can stack them on a shelf for our 
distributed processing system.

woot!

----------------------------------------


Not to sound like "crabby guy," but I'd appreciate it if we didn't stray
too deeply into this subject, especially when the inevitable comparisons
between Macs & PCs come up. It's a sure-fire way to shatter the peace of
this e-mail group.

Comparing the two platforms has destroyed a lot of Internet forums, and
it's all the more unfortunate when it's way off topic from the general
theme of the list.

I'm confident that I'm not the only one who revels in the camaraderie
here and worries about its fragility.

Thanks in advance.

--KT

At 2:32 PM -0500 1/12/05, Aardvark wrote:
>Just curious if anyone out there is using their laptop for recording and
>what accessories or software you are using?

Digital Performer 4.5 on a G4 PowerBook. Works great!

I have a Firewire 410 audio/MIDI interface from M-Audio which I use 
with the PowerBook. At home I have an Edirol MIDI interface/patchbay 
(as far as I can tell, the only patcher that does -not- require the 
use of a computer) as well as a MOTU pocket-sized MIDI interface that 
I can't recall the name of.

Anyway, I do all my recording on my PowerBook. My guitarist buddy has 
a Yamaha digital mixing/recording deck. It's OK, except mine's better 
because I can record on my laptop but he can't send email on his 
Yamaha. <g>


        Seth

> Just curious if anyone out there is using their laptop for recording and
> what accessories or software you are using?

When I'm travelling, I use Digital Performer and an 828ii. It's been a solid
setup for me, but I think if I was starting over from scratch I would get a
MIO 2882 (probably the one with DSP):

http://www.mhlabs.com/metric_halo/products/mio/2882/
http://www.mhlabs.com/metric_halo/products/mio/dsp/

The convertors are more detailed than on the 828ii, and the Metric Halo
plugins I've used are very musical, leaning on the neutral side.

Regarding the 828mkii though, it is rather neutral sounding, has an amazing
featureset, is very rugged and dependable, is firewire (USB is not too great
for audio), has MIDI, but possibly on the downside it does require power.
There are some USB options which are bus-powered, so you can do remote
recording without electricity. I would use a portable DAT for something like
that though, so <shrug> But for some people, that's a deal-maker.

I've heard and briefly used an mBox, but wasn't impressed. Has a definite
character which isn't right for the kind of sound I shoot for. (Probably
fine for rock, indie, folk, country... not recommended for metal, classical
or electronic musics >> all imho, ymmv!)

The first rev MOTU 828 sounds pretty drab, in most people's opinion. It was
a breakthrough at the time, but that was a while ago. Don't take my praise
for the 828mkii as being applicable to the 828mk1.

The M Audio stuff is getting high marks considering the price, but I haven't
heard any of it, and haven't heard anyone compare it to MOTU, Metric Halo,
that illk...

I won't talk about software because that's really a personal thing. I'll
just say that DP is right for me, and I've tried all the other top
contenders except Nuendo... which I've heard is really, really, really good
but hasn't been remarkably stable or mature until late.

best,
- Scott
____________
http://www.red-noise.com
http://www.strawberryplanet.org

powerbook g4 667mhz with mbox here. flawless performance always and 
super stable. no complaints at all.

>Good point KT so I'll change the subject...
>
>I just got a new laptop and I'm looking at retiring the old 500mhz Desktop
>to the kids for homework.
>
>Just curious if anyone out there is using their laptop for recording and
>what accessories or software you are using?
>
>BTW, I have been using Cubase 5.0 with a Steinberg 24/96 sound card on the
>Desktop for recording.
>
>Tx,
>Al
>