Best tablet to run Cakewalk

[Ian Fife]

Hi All,

New to music recording and I'm thinking about which laptop or tablet to purchase to use Cakewalk. Leaning towards a tablet. I'm mainly an acoustic guitar player. What tablet would be recommended for a complete recording beginner? Laptop, tablet or doesn't matter? How easily does the tablet connect to an audio interface? Is there a particular tablet favoured over others to get the most from the software? TIA for your advice. 

 

[Jack Stoner]

Cakewalk is a Windows OS app.  

 

[reginaldStjohn]

You would need a laptop, or a Windows OS device and a decent USB audio interface.  Processor speed is important, RAM and HD capacity and speed are important for loading virtual instruments.

In general Laptops are not optimal for music production because of  windows wanting to reduce performance to conserve battery power. There are people who use them it is just harder to setup and get working consistently well with a laptop.

Edited January 24, 2023 by reginaldStjohn

[X-53mph]

If you're considering a tablet/laptop, look into a surface pro. There's a great site where a guy takes you through the setup and tweaking to get the best performance.

http://surfaceproaudio.com/

[Larry Dickerson. jr]

3 laptops ive gone through since joining bandlab none of em ever did run cakewalk without a myriad of hassles  I wonder what's chances of my new samsung tab A7 to handle running cakewalk ? I know it runs on Linux but that's all I really know,that and I'm not savy enuff to go it alone I'm looking at deals on ebay and am considering an hp elite 600/800G3 mini  core i5 6th gen3.2GHz processor speed  32 gigs ram max with twin 22in lcds refurbished with fresh win 10 pro I'm hoping this rig will get it done so to be sure the first time I'm here to ask You all if this will suffice,I'm in a studio apartment so I'm opting for a desktop mini but if it has to be a standard tower might as well be a twin cpu server with raid arrays etc right ? I will lol but not if I can get away with the mini all information and opinions Greatly Appreciated  I'm finding that this tech stuff is seriously cramping my creative flow and now I have a Great Guitarist to work with I really seriously need gear that works goodbye latency laden ik pro dual mwaa bye-besides I need 6 channels now come Tuesday I'm planning to order the pc

[Byron Dickens]

12 hours ago, Larry Dickerson. jr said:

I wonder what's chances of my new samsung tab A7 to handle running cakewalk ?

None.

 

On 1/24/2023 at 12:58 PM, Jack Stoner said:

Cakewalk is a Windows OS app. 

Also, unless you really need to be mobile, a desktop is a far superior choice.

[Jim Roseberry]

If you have reasonable expectations, you probably won't be disappointed running Cakewalk on something like a SurfacePro.

 

The issue with tablets is the same as with laptops (but more extreme).  Thermal management (heat) is tough in a super tight enclosure.

There's no space for large heatsink/fan... so CPU clock-speed has to be kept low (to keep heat in-check).

There's also power-management (performance throttling) to ensure longer battery life.

If you're doing general-purpose tasks (Surfing Internet, Email, Word docs, etc), you won't notice the low clock-speed.

Running a DAW application at low latency with lots of realtime processing (virtual-instruments and effects), low clock-speed is going to be limiting.

ie: The $2400 Surface Pro 9's CPU is running at 1.7GHz.  By comparison, the 13900ks (13th Gen desktop CPU) is running at 6GHz.

If you have much in the way of high performance expectations, a tablet is not the right choice.

[Starship Krupa]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:05 PM, Larry Dickerson. jr said:

and am considering an hp elite 600/800G3 mini  core i5 6th gen3.2GHz processor speed  32 gigs ram max with twin 22in lcds refurbished with fresh win 10 pro I'm hoping this rig will get it done so to be sure the first time I'm here to ask You all if this will suffice,I'm in a studio apartment so I'm opting for a desktop mini but

Questions about what will suffice are hard to answer without knowing more about what you want to do with Cakewalk.

Strictly audio? If what you do is record audio and then mix down using a sparse number of  the FX that come with Cakewalk, that task is not beyond a Core 2 Quad system with 8G of RAM and a 500G 7200RPM spinner.

If you’re doing professional scoring with multiple soft synths, sampled orchestral libraries, fancy sound design FX, maybe a gen 7 i7 with 32G RAM and a couple of SSD’s will just get you in the door.

A savvy user can  stretch requirements by freezing instrument tracks and FX-heavy audio tracks. That turns them into audio tracks, which Cakewalk can read with little overhead.

It really comes down to how much processing you need to do at the same time. Cakewalk can record and play back a LOT of audio tracks at one time on a low end system. On that same low end system, a handful of fancy FX or synths might bring it to its knees.

You can also take care to work with plug-ins that are easier on the system. IZotope’s tend to be resource hogs, Meldaproduction’s tend to be more efficient. The Sonitus fx and ProChannel modules that come with Cakewalk are very efficient.

[Larry Dickerson. jr]

Thanks for the responses, Now I have some numbers to compare in my search now i'm pretty sure of what I'm gonna go with depending on current availability,there's a few to choose from I'll figure it out on payday lol.My needs are pretty simple most of the time just a vocal mic and my harmonica bullet mic,to record with forked tracks on bandlab,and lately adding a guitar and another mic for rehearsing and recording originals we have both written we've got tons of material to go thru and neither Myself or my Guitarist are tech savvy so imagine the frustration when one of us has got a new melody or riff In our heads and forget it because we couldn't get the daw to work on the laptop haha I'm getting a reel to reel for backup lol but I'm going to learn and get proficient using cakewalk and pro tools but ATM tech is busting my brain when I've got music I'm trying to work with it sucks the life out of me like the suck cut on Wayne's World so I'm figuring the more of my setup that is accomplished before it goes into the PC  like effects and eq'settings the more dummy friendly the daw should be so in my mind is how I see it and I'll be gigging soon  and want to keep it simple so I'm ordering a Mackie  fxv3 12channel usb mixer after trying to record with 2vocal mics my bullet mic and an electric guitar and not enough input channels and preamps had to just mic the amps I don't wanna go thru that again,im gonna make sure ive got enough channels for everyone drums n base too when it comes time but also keep it consistent from rehearsal to gig using the same setups as we practice with just plug our mains into their PA, Originally I was trying to do that with the laptop and cakewalk and bandlab editor and ik pro dual that was a pipedream so I'll be happy just to have a standalone that's sufficient to record our raw multi channel audio no secondary effects from the DAW Mackie comes with 24 onboard effects all I care about is reverb delay and overdrive Frankie has pedals for His guitar. Less tech ,I think is best for Me. ,anybody want to buy an iKmulti media irig pro dual interface comes with amplitube lol the latency is barely noticeable HAHHaaa ptttthhh comes with a slightly melted Toshiba laptop

[Byron Dickens]

Ever heard of this new thing called paragraphs?

[Larry Dickerson. jr]

On 2/9/2023 at 9:44 PM, Byron Dickens said:

Ever heard of this new thing called paragraphs?

i Think i heard a pair of those when i was a kid,haha you poor miserable soul you honestly didn't have anything better to do other than get shiTtY about my punctuation ? tHat's awesome yeah actually I was A straight a student for guite a spell as a kid I'm not in school and I don't do a lot of writing I'm in my fifties I honestly don't give a ***** about Grammatical bullshit sorry ,wait He'll no Not Sorry

[Byron Dickens]

Wow. Overreact much?

 

 

[Alan Tubbs]

Paragraph breaks these days are important.  Not a big deal on the net but if I see a big block of text it better be interesting or my eyes will just slide down to the next break.  If you are asking for help make it easy for us.

and yea, Byron doesn’t have a bedside manner but is knowledgeable.

some notes.  I had an hp all in one with a 24 inch screen that would go thru 90 degrees to flat and pitch to any angle and hold the position.  Only an i5 but I used it to work on songs.  Didn’t mix on it since there was no feedback on the faders.  It worked fine but died after a few years.  I need to see if they can fix it but it might be the screen a d that would junk the thing.

heat is a great killer, but as above if you freeze synths and processing you can make laps and tablets work alright.

[John Vere]

If all you are doing is putting ideas down you can’t go wrong with a Zoom or Tascam hand held recorder . My partner has a stereo Zoom recorder he paid about $100 for. I have the 4 channel Tascam DR 40. It was more cash but I’ve had it for 10 years or more and used it for a zillion things. 
We both keep them in our guitar cases and lots of great jams and song ideas were recorded at the press of a button. Amazing sound quality.