What kind of laptop to record live music

[G C]

I need a new laptop, any advice ?

After a couple of months of making digital tracks and samples on Cakewalk, I have decided to take up a notch a also record my own live instruments, ie guitar & vocals.

So I purchased a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen, but it is basically unusable as it is with my current setup. 
 

The audio monitring is constantly glitching and cracking, to the point where it is impossible to listen to an audio file.

I have fully installed Focusrite Control, and followed instructions from Help Center and videos to reduce audio craks / latency issues.
I have namely followed this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QykpGytOXs8&t=39s , but also most videos on youtube, adjusted buffer size, etc.

I own an ACER Aspire F15, with Intel Core i7 (2.7 GHz, up to 3.5 with boost), 8 GB DDR4 Memory, 128 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD. 
The computer is 5 years old, though it is still very fast apart from the digital interface issues. 

So, I wondering if it was purely due to my PC, any thoughts ?

I meant to buy a new one anyway, but not sure what to get. What PC do you use to record through a digital audio interface ?

[msmcleod]

5 minutes ago, G C said:

I have tried without with airplane mode, no tabs or ongoing tasks, it does not change.
 

Don't just turn on airplane mode - disable the driver in device manager.  You can always enable it again afterwards.
 

5 minutes ago, G C said:

Just to be clear, I cannot even listen to a track already recorded through the digital audio interface, even that glitches a 100%. 
Not a sound can come out clearly from the PC into the digital interface for some reason.

Any idea where than can come from ?

Also, turning on ASIO (I installed ASIO4ALL) in Cakewalk doesnt allow me to use my Focusrite Interface, Cakewalk doesnt recognize the device anymore.
I've read this about ASIO, which makes me think this is perhaps not the issue : discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/topic/34029-i-need-asio4all/ . 
 

Make sure:

1. You're using ASIO mode using the official Focusrite drivers.
2. Uninstall ALL other ASIO drivers - especially ASIO4ALL, Steinberg or other ASIO wrapper type drivers.
3. Run LatencyMon to track down exactly what's causing the glitches: https://resplendence.com/latencymon
4. Ensure your Cakewalk Projects directory and Cakewalk's global audio directory are excluded from any anti-virus, or cloud-sync applications (e.g. OneDrive, DropBox etc).

[rsinger]

1 hour ago, G C said:

I own an ACER Aspire F15, with Intel Core i7 (2.7 GHz, up to 3.5 with boost), 8 GB DDR4 Memory, 128 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD. 
The computer is 5 years old, though it is still very fast apart from the digital interface issues. 

So, I wondering if it was purely due to my PC, any thoughts ?

I meant to buy a new one anyway, but not sure what to get. What PC do you use to record through a digital audio interface ?

That should be OK. I used a 10 year old laptop, but replaced it last year. I could easily get 20 or more tracks recorded. 

I didn't watch the video you posted. It should be fine. You can look through this as well.

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/pc-optimization-guide-for-windows-10/

Did you install the ASIO driver for your IF? Are you using it? Did you try different USB ports?

I got an MSI gaming laptop last year. 

https://www.msi.com/Laptop/Crosshair-15-A11UX/

That screams. Now I'm about ready to upgrade my DAW.

Also, make sure you don't have any browsers open and try turning on airplane mode.

Edited March 11, 2023 by rsinger

[msmcleod]

FWIW I've successfully recorded:

24 simultaneous tracks on a 2008 2Ghz Core Duo laptop with 4GB RAM,  through a Yamaha 01X / i88x / ADA8000.
16 simultaneous tracks on the same hardware using a Scarlett 18i20 / ADA8200.
16 simultaneous tracks on a MeLe 2Ghz silent pc (slightly bigger than a compact cassette case) with 8GB RAM through a Scarlett 18i8 / Fostex VC8.
32 simultaneous tracks on the MeLe through a RME DigiFace USB and 4 x Fostex VC8.  In this scenario, I was also playing back 32 tracks of previously recorded audio as well.

Bottom line is  you need very basic hardware just to record audio.  If you're using VST's as well though, that's another issue.  I wouldn't even attempt to mix on either the core duo laptop or MeLe.

What I would add though - make sure any unnecessary stuff (like Wifi) is switched off, and if possible use internal SSD drives rather than external drives.

[G C]

Thanks for your answers.

I have tried without with airplane mode, no tabs or ongoing tasks, it does not change.

Just to be clear, I cannot even listen to a track already recorded through the digital audio interface, even that glitches a 100%. 
Not a sound can come out clearly from the PC into the digital interface for some reason.

Any idea where than can come from ?

Also, turning on ASIO (I installed ASIO4ALL) in Cakewalk doesnt allow me to use my Focusrite Interface, Cakewalk doesnt recognize the device anymore.
I've read this about ASIO, which makes me think this is perhaps not the issue : discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/topic/34029-i-need-asio4all/ . 



 

[Byron Dickens]

3 minutes ago, G C said:

Also, turning on ASIO (I installed ASIO4ALL) in Cakewalk doesnt allow me to use my Focusrite Interface, Cakewalk doesnt recognize the device anymore.

That's 99.99% of your issue right there.

 

Why in God's name are you using that garbage ASIO4ALL driver when Focusrite supplies a real one?

[G C]

Ok I'm a complete noob .. I googled how to addd ASIO, not knowing had its own.

So I just uninstalled ASIO4all and turned ASIO in Cakewalk.

Turns out it works splendidly  


Thanks a lot 

[Starship Krupa]

22 hours ago, msmcleod said:

24 simultaneous tracks on a 2008 2Ghz Core Duo laptop with 4GB RAM,  through a Yamaha 01X / i88x / ADA8000.
16 simultaneous tracks on the same hardware using a Scarlett 18i20 / ADA8200.
16 simultaneous tracks on a MeLe 2Ghz silent pc (slightly bigger than a compact cassette case) with 8GB RAM through a Scarlett 18i8 / Fostex VC8.
32 simultaneous tracks on the MeLe through a RME DigiFace USB and 4 x Fostex VC8.  In this scenario, I was also playing back 32 tracks of previously recorded audio as well.

The clanking sound when you walk, does it disturb the neighbours? ?

This validates my thinking about the antique Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop I recently reanimated for a friend. He was going through his stuff and found this laptop that someone had left at his place. It had Vista on it, so I wiped it and put Windows 10 on it and managed to find a 128G SSD in my spares pile and got the memory up to 4G (from the stock 3G). He had shown it to the "IT guy" at his last employer, who told him it was for the dumpster. To me, that's like waving a red flag at a bull. If it boots, it's usable. Even if it's going to run one of the light Linux builds.

He's a musician, a bandmate from 35 years ago, and I've been wanting to get him started with recording and mixing using a DAW. He has experience with 4-tracks.

Of course I put Cakewalk on it, and y'know, it works just fine. I put A|A|S Swatches on, plugged in a MIDI keyboard, and played some fake guitar for him. He was suitably impressed.

I think I may even have an old Firewire interface and Firewire PC card kicking around somewhere. Or it could also give me a chance to try recording into the onboard line in using a mixer in front of it. I've always wanted to try that.

I don't think the processor is even a Core 2 Duo, although I found out that the laptop can be upgraded to a Core 2 Duo. $11 on eBay. Sooooo tempting.?

Some might question why I would spend any time at all or even consider $11 on this zombie computer, but it's a hobby for me. It's fun doing more with less. There's a few more years of use left in that laptop. He just wanted something he could check email and watch YouTube on, but he's ended up getting his first DAW.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Starship Krupa

[msmcleod]

38 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

The clanking sound when you walk, does it disturb the neighbours? ?

This validates my thinking about the antique Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop I recently reanimated for a friend. He was going through his stuff and found this laptop that someone had left at his place. It had Vista on it, so I wiped it and put Windows 10 on it and managed to find a 128G SSD in my spares pile and got the memory up to 4G (from the stock 3G). He had shown it to the "IT guy" at his last employer, who told him it was for the dumpster. To me, that's like waving a red flag at a bull. If it boots, it's usable. Even if it's going to run one of the light Linux builds.

He's a musician, a bandmate from 35 years ago, and I've been wanting to get him started with recording and mixing using a DAW. He has experience with 4-tracks.

Of course I put Cakewalk on it, and y'know, it works just fine. I put A|A|S Swatches on, plugged in a MIDI keyboard, and played some fake guitar for him. He was suitably impressed.

I think I may even have an old Firewire interface and Firewire PC card kicking around somewhere. Or it could also give me a chance to try recording into the onboard line in using a mixer in front of it. I've always wanted to try that.

I don't think the processor is even a Core 2 Duo, although I found out that the laptop can be upgraded to a Core 2 Duo. $11 on eBay. Sooooo tempting.?

Some might question why I would spend any time at all or even consider $11 on this zombie computer, but it's a hobby for me. It's fun doing more with less. There's a few more years of use left in that laptop. He just wanted something he could check email and watch YouTube on, but he's ended up getting his first DAW.

The laptop I used was a Dell Vostro 1500 (I also used a Vostro 1700, which is the 17" version) - however IIRC, the Vostro 1500 is basically a budget version of the Inspiron 1545.  AFAIK the only difference is the Vostro is missing the docking port.  I swapped the drives in both laptops with SSD's.

The Vostro has a Ricoh firewire port, which works fine with mLAN for the 01X/i88x on Vista/Win 7 32bit, but crashes on shutdown with Win 10 64 bit.  The wireless LAN had to be disabled in the BIOS to get any sort of performance.

 

[Starship Krupa]

15 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

The laptop I used was a Dell Vostro 1500 (I also used a Vostro 1700, which is the 17" version) - however IIRC, the Vostro 1500 is basically a budget version of the Inspiron 1545.  AFAIK the only difference is the Vostro is missing the docking port.  I swapped the drives in both laptops with SSD's.

The Vostro has a Ricoh firewire port, which works fine with mLAN for the 01X/i88x on Vista/Win 7 32bit, but crashes on shutdown with Win 10 64 bit.  The wireless LAN had to be disabled in the BIOS to get any sort of performance.

For whatever reason, the 1545 omitted the Ricoh Firewire port. So PCMCIA it must be.

Wow, you had to turn off the wireless in the BIOS? It wouldn't work to just do it in Device Manager.

Well, I ran LatencyMon on it with wifi connected and it gave it a clean bill of health. We'll see.

[John Vere]

And then there’s me who recorded a live band. 14 tracks, last summer with a 2008 Sony Laptop with 4 GB of Ram and a pathetic 2.8 ms duo core without a problem. It does have a SSD drive which I think is what makes it work.  
I still have a Dell laptop from 2003 running XP and it still works like the day it was made. I was using  it for lyrics using power point. Now I made Movies with backing tracks and the lyrics and those I use a 2007 Asus net book with 2 GB Ram and W7 for playback. So it makes me laugh when someone thinks that a 5 year old computer needs replacement.  

Edited March 15, 2023 by John Vere