15 Jan
2006
15 Jan
'06
8:59 p.m.
Hello!
I'm not quite shure, if this belongs here, or to the LAU list, but I am
subscribed here, so this is why I post it here. First, let me explain:
I'm in an urgent need for a notebook, as I am a university student
(from Slovakia) working as a part time PHP programmer and playing in a
(prog)rock band. I don't have much money I can spend on that book and I
need it now, so I am considering buying a refurbished IBM ThinkPad 600X
(PIII/450MHz, 128 or 256 MB RAM, 12 GB HDD). I'm not very demanding,
but I would be very glad, if I could use it for performing music on
stage. In the beginning maybe only playing a bit with PD and playing
samples and loops. I had an idea (this is why I'm writing) to buy later
a better desktop PC (with a good audio interface; maybe with a
rack-mount case) which would be running some audio apps (Jack,
softsynths, sequencer, ...) and could be controlled on stage via MIDI
and/or from the notebook using VNC (or NX) or MIDI. Or do you have any
suggestion, what could work better with lower latencies? Or is this
idea foolish as a whole?
I'm also interested if it is worth thinking about Linux HPC clustering
in a studio environment (Ardour with MPI?).
Thank you!
FerD
16 Jan
16 Jan
6:20 a.m.
On Mon, Jan 16, 2006 at 03:09:03AM +0100, Ferdinand Vesely wrote:
Hello!
I'm not quite shure, if this belongs here, or to the LAU list, but I am
subscribed here, so this is why I post it here. First, let me explain:
I'm in an urgent need for a notebook, as I am a university student
(from Slovakia) working as a part time PHP programmer and playing in a
(prog)rock band. I don't have much money I can spend on that book and I
need it now, so I am considering buying a refurbished IBM ThinkPad 600X
(PIII/450MHz, 128 or 256 MB RAM, 12 GB HDD). I'm not very demanding,
Just some thoughts about laptops and audio. This might not be
relevant to you because you will work with VNC or something
similar in the end. But any way.
My experience is that it is some what a coin flip if you will be able
to do some real audio work with a laptop. Especially an older one. The
SMBus (system management bus) is in a lot of cases something that you
can't tamper with and that means that the management kicks in once in
a while. On my really lousy Acer Ferrari 3000 (soon to be exchanged
with an IBM/Lenovo) the SMBus starts every 50 second and then after 10
second the fourth time. This system management will affect your
xruns. I hear a click every 50 sec (and then after 10 sec also). This
is nothing that I can do anything about because it is not reachable
from software.
So I would not by a PC-laptop to do serious audio work. I don't know
every (in fact I've only tested 3 of them) vendor out there so there
could be good laptops two. If you really want to buy one. Try it out
with a Live-CD (for audio first).
I can't find the references now for the SMB-thing but it was Alan Cox
that saw this first. You should be able to find it in the kernel-list
archives.
regards,
- Bengan -------------------------------------------------------------
- KTHNOC/SUNET/NORDUnet | http://www.noc.kth.se/~bengan | 08-7906586 -
7:38 a.m.
Hello!
I'm not quite shure, if this belongs here, or to the LAU list, but I am
subscribed here, so this is why I post it here. First, let me explain:
I'm in an urgent need for a notebook, as I am a university student
(from Slovakia) working as a part time PHP programmer and playing in a
(prog)rock band. I don't have much money I can spend on that book and I
need it now, so I am considering buying a refurbished IBM ThinkPad 600X
(PIII/450MHz, 128 or 256 MB RAM, 12 GB HDD). I'm not very demanding,
but I would be very glad, if I could use it for performing music on
stage. In the beginning maybe only playing a bit with PD and playing
samples and loops.
for samples and loops with something like pd, that setup should be fine,
but if you want to start using more synthesis you'll probably need
something with a little more power.
thinkpads are good laptops for live use, as they are pretty robust and
reliable. funnily enough, I've found the little light they put on the lid
to be essential for gigs, for when you need to see the keyboard :)
I had an idea (this is why I'm writing) to buy
later
a better desktop PC (with a good audio interface; maybe with a
rack-mount case) which would be running some audio apps (Jack,
softsynths, sequencer, ...) and could be controlled on stage via MIDI
and/or from the notebook using VNC (or NX) or MIDI. Or do you have any
suggestion, what could work better with lower latencies? Or is this
idea foolish as a whole?
I've known a few people to use this technique - even across different
operating systems. Personally, I'd try and use osc for this sort of thing,
but not everything supports that yet.
cheers,
dave
8:22 a.m.
On Mon, Jan 16, 2006 at 11:38:24AM -0000, Dave Griffiths wrote:
thinkpads are good laptops for live use, as they are
pretty robust and
reliable.
I can confirmn that. I'm quite happy with mine. Only problem is
that at 1.7G it's rather hungry (for battery power) - more so if
for reliable audio at low latencies you have to disable the CPU
speed scaling.
funnily enough, I've found the little light they
put on the lid
to be essential for gigs, for when you need to see the keyboard :)
Yep. When you first try the 'Thinklight' as it's called it seems
ridiculously weak. But it's just the right intensity to clearly
see the white legends on the black keytops.
I also have a USB light on a flex arm, but rarely use for the
keyboard - it's too much. But fine for scores etc. besides the
computer.
--
FA
8:20 a.m.
Hallo,
Ferdinand Vesely hat gesagt: // Ferdinand Vesely wrote:
I'm not quite shure, if this belongs here, or to
the LAU list, but I am
subscribed here, so this is why I post it here.
I think, this is more a topic for LAU, so you may want to subscribe
there, too.
First, let me explain: I'm in an urgent need for a
notebook, as I am
a university student (from Slovakia) working as a part time PHP
programmer and playing in a (prog)rock band. I don't have much money
I can spend on that book and I need it now, so I am considering
buying a refurbished IBM ThinkPad 600X (PIII/450MHz, 128 or 256 MB
RAM, 12 GB HDD). I'm not very demanding, but I would be very glad,
if I could use it for performing music on stage. In the beginning
maybe only playing a bit with PD and playing samples and loops. I
had an idea (this is why I'm writing) to buy later a better desktop
PC (with a good audio interface; maybe with a rack-mount case) which
would be running some audio apps (Jack, softsynths, sequencer, ...)
and could be controlled on stage via MIDI and/or from the notebook
using VNC (or NX) or MIDI. Or do you have any suggestion, what could
work better with lower latencies? Or is this idea foolish as a
whole?
Generally a standard PC will of course give you "more bang for the
buck". Laptops are more expensive and cannot be upgraded as easily.
Still on stage you see people perform with laptops almost exclusively
because they are much easier to transport and set up on stage.
You will be able to do a lot with a 450MHz CPU already. Playing
samples and loops is not very demanding CPU-wise. You may want to make
sure to have at least 256MB RAM, though. I don't think, VNC is a good
idea for remote control of audio applications. VNC has a certain lag
which makes controlling graphical audio applications difficult, at
least in my opinion. I would rather build a GUI on the local machine
with Pd and control the other side through Midi or better yet through
networking/OSC. This way you don't generate that much load on your
network and gain a consistent latency.
Ciao
--
Frank Barknecht _ ______footils.org_ __goto10.org__
6685
days inactive
6686
days old
linux-audio-dev@lists.linuxaudio.org
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
Alfons Adriaensen -
Bengt Gördén -
Dave Griffiths -
Ferdinand Vesely -
Frank Barknecht