Members marcfmo Posted October 18, 2006 Members Share Posted October 18, 2006 right guys... im in the market for a synth. what i need to know is...would a midi controller....such as m-audio keystation...with a very good soundcard....and a very good laptop with an emulated synth be suitable for live performance?...or would i get too many problems with latency.? im very attracted to the versatility of emulating synths....i understand the quality wont be as good... any help with this would be greaaatly appreciated...if it is possible any suggestions with what i should get would be awesome too. thanks in advancemarc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Umbra Posted October 18, 2006 Members Share Posted October 18, 2006 Partly depends on how well you know how to use and setup a stable PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marcfmo Posted October 18, 2006 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2006 by that you mean what specs the laptop would have? or what software/settings i run during the performance? sorry...but your reply is a bit vague Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meatball Fulton Posted October 18, 2006 Members Share Posted October 18, 2006 An off the shelf PC works poorly for live performance...you don't want a dialog box popping up asking if you want to update your software or telling you new email has arrived in the middle of your hot solo You would strip the laptop down, removing or disabling all programs not needed for music use. Set it up to autoboot into your main music application. Max out the RAM. You would probably want to add an external USB or Firewire audio interface (some controllers have one built in) rather than depend on the built in sound which might be low in fidelity and high in latency. Actually a lot of cheap laptops would work as long as your needs are modest...I have a $400 Toshiba that can run a dozen tracks in Reason or Acid without maxxing out the CPU. If you use CPU hog software you'll need something with a much faster CPU. Keep in mind it's not really cheaper than hardware to get started: $200 controller $400 laptop $100 extra RAM $100 audio interface $400 software $1200 total...you can buy a new workstation for that kind of money, and that's with all super-cheap components for the soft system! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marcfmo Posted October 18, 2006 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2006 well i have a decent laptop already. 2.4Ghz, 1Gb Ram, 60Gb HD. also a toshiba... i dont need the laptop for anything else. so stripping it down is no problem... im a lead guitarist in a band...weve just recorded our debut ep...and the producer has used synths over certain parts of the songs (thru emulated synths) and it sounds fantastic. so the idea is i would split duties between lead guitar and synth...so my needs are modest. were goin on tour early in the new year so im trying to get this sorted early as possible to get ready for the tour... so as long as i know it is possible ill go ahead and start looking... anyone recommend a midi controller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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