Recording with a laptop?

[SEAN RAF]

Ok, I've got an old Toshiba laptop (4 years old) that's running Windows XP. I think it has 512mb memory. I want to use it as a mobile recording studio, what do I need? What interface for plugging in mic and guitars? What software is best? I want to be able to take it out to a rehearsal and record our drummer (each drum mic'd individually) and then go home and work on a great drum sound and add the guitars, vocals etc.

So far, as far as software is concerned, I've been looking at Sonar 8 Producer; would this be a good purchase?

All help appreciated.

[jtr]

You'll need a Interface with 8 inputs and firewire is the best and quickest. I have a Protool didgi 002 rack its got 4 mic pres and 4 1/4" input . From there it depends on your mic, software and your EARS.

[El Chiguete]

What did you go for?

[Spivonious]

What CPU is in the laptop? You might have some trouble processing all 8 tracks without the proper hardware.

[scott.court]

That had better be a P4 3.0Ghz in that laptop or 512Mb simply won't cut the mustard. I would certainly recomment a minimum of 1GB RAM if you're going to be running 8 inputs at a time.

I used to have an Advent P4 3.2Ghz, 512Mb RAM with Win XP Pro, and just trying to record a drum pattern from my keyboard, and my guitar at the same time used to seriously tax the poor thing (mind you, I was using cakewalk!).

The poor machine eventually met its maker after the processor fried (I failed to notice the fan stopped working!)

[rocksoldier]

Ram is incredibly cheap these days, get an extra GB if possible.

Not sure how it is configurated, in my 4 year old Acer there was a air of 256MB memorys, so i replaced one of them with a 1GB and got 1.2 GB total.

[scott.court]

Ram is incredibly cheap these days, get an extra GB if possible.

Not sure how it is configurated, in my 4 year old Acer there was a air of 256MB memorys, so i replaced one of them with a 1GB and got 1.2 GB total.

Indeed it depends on the Motherboard configuration, and what sort of RAM the laptop takes (I'm guessing PC 3200 for a laptop that age). The Motherboard should have no trouble supporting 2GB RAM, so go for it