Re[2]: Using a laptop onstage: Dominic Frasca's take is misguided

[numbernine@gmx.net]

> If anyone out
> there is doing all their signal processing and looping on a laptop,
> I'd love to hear the specs of what they're using.

I run a two years old Pentium 4 Mobile, 1 Gig of Ram, 845 chipset.

It is a "no name" Xeron (www.xeron.de) notebook, but at the time I
ordered it, this was the only company, that could clearly tell me
which chipset, cardbus controller, firewire controller etc. was in
there. I was reading computer magazines and audio-websites a few month
before buying it to avoid any compatibility problem. Apart from a
heating problem due to dust in the fan it ran without problems for a
lot of gigs during the last 2 years. I payed $3000 for it with a
second battery for 3-4 hours of playing.
I've got the RME multiface as soundcard (www.rme-audio.de)

Before I was doing just sound processing with CubaseSX but now I run
Bidule as VST host and Möbius for looping.
As Bidule can switch off plugins which are not needed I can switch
between different FX chains from 5 to 15 VSTs.
With Möbius playing 6 tracks of 5 layers and some heavy effects it
runs at 80%. The border to glitch-danger is at about 85.

Of course I've got ideas what to do if my notebook was 10 times
faster. Most I wish to use a Impulse response reverb like the one
from voxengo, but it needs way too much processing power.

I don't think now is a good time for buying a new computer. There are
too many things changing at the moment. I wait for a time when all
computers have 2 or 4 cores-cpus and firewire 800 and when I can run
Windows XP on a Powerbook;-) I have tried the opposite which wasn't
too exciting. The main disadvantages of my notebook for live playing
is the instability of the housing.

Matthias (L)



http://matthias.loibner.net