Optimize Your Laptop and Go Mobile

They used to say that you can’t take it with you. But that’s changed.

Today’s laptops have reached a point where you no longer sacrfice power and speed for portability, and Cakewalk customers have been asking us “Can I do digital recording and arranging on my laptop?”  Yes you can; and with this month's tech tip we’re going to walk you through setting up a laptop for digital audio and upgrading it into a pro-grade studio machine.

The first place to start, as with any computer used for recording, is by turning off all of the unnecessary programs and utilities that come preloaded onto most machines today.  Start by disabling or turning off programs like CD burning utilities, anti-virus programs, data backup software, and networking utilities.  Most applications that are running in the background will place an icon next to the clock in Windows.  Often, right-clicking this icon gives you the option to disable or close the program.

1. Audio Interfaces

Ultimately, the quality of your recordings is only as good as your soundcard.  The built-in soundcards in laptops are fine for games or Real Audio clips but the awkward 1/8” inputs and tinny speakers are often the biggest roadblock for doing quality audio work.   Also, in order to take advantage of real-time effects monitoring and low-latency soft synths, you’ll want a card with well written (and well supported!) WDM drivers.  These are the new Microsoft standard for audio interfaces and ensure maximum compatibility with Windows 2000 and XP.  Manufacturers have responded with a wide range of soundcards in a variety of formats such as Firewire (IEEE1394), USB, and CardBus (PCMCIA).  

USB

USB is by far the most common and least expensive format for audio interfaces.  These devices are often powered via the USB port and are therefore small and light without the need for power adapters or wall warts.  The disadvantage is that most of these units are limited to 44.1khz/16-bit recording and rarely feature more than 1 or 2 sets of inputs and outputs.  However, they are a great solution when size and cost are a concern.  

Firewire

There are only a few Firewire cards available as of this writing, most notably being the Mark of the Unicorn 828 and 896.  With a host of analog and digital I/O and support for WDM drivers, these are fast becoming popular units.  

Cardbus PCM CIA

Another solution is a CardBus/PCMCIA device that plugs into the slot on the side of your laptop.  Some units such as the Digigram VXPocket features an attached group of cables for hooking up your gear while units like the Echo Layla24 and Mona feature rack-mount breakout boxes, replete with ADAT lightpipe, S/PDIF, and Microphone preamps.  Since these last two units can also connect via a PCI card, they can be used with both your laptop and desktop computer for maximum versatility.  

While Firewire and CardBus units are often larger than USB devices, they take advantage of increased throughput to offer higher resolution recording/playback, an increased number of inputs and outputs, and a more robust interface than USB provides.

2. Hard Disk Space

Next, you’ll need to make sure that you have plenty of hard disk space.  Fortunately most computers these days come with 30Gb+ hard drives, which should give you plenty of storage for all but the most intense audio projects.  You’ll need room for loop libraries, your software, and of course any tracks you record to the computer.  For the latter, figure on 5 megabytes for every minute of a single channel audio track.  Stereo tracks, for example will eat 10 MB every minute and recording four tracks of audio will consume 20 MB per minute. 

One disadvantage that laptops have is that their hard drives are typically much slower than an equivalent desktop computer.  In order to keep noise, heat, and power consumption low, manufacturers have created 2.5” drives that operate at around 4200 RPM compared to 3.5” IDE drives that typically run at 7200 RPM.  This equates to slower access times and less bandwidth for laptops, which will limit the number of tracks you can run simultaneously.  

External Drives

If you are interested in recording a lot of tracks or recording at higher than CD quality (44.1 khz/16-bit) then you should consider using an external drive just for audio.  An external drive will prevent your boot drive from getting cluttered up, will provide greater performance (more tracks), and will give you the freedom of moving your projects between several different computers.  Several options are available but Firewire (IEEE1394) has turned out to be the most practical.  There are several companies that make Firewire drives such as Glyph, Lacie, and Maxtor.   

Other companies such as ADS Technologies make Firewire enclosures that allow you to use an ordinary IDE hard drive as a FireWire drive.  This is a great way to recycle an older ATA33 or 66 hard drive from a desktop.  As with any drive, make sure to backup your data regularly to another hard drive or CD and defragment the drive often to ensure that it is running at maximum efficiency.  Microsoft provides a disk defragmenting utility which is available under Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Defragmenter.

3. Tips

Here are some parting tips that can help improve your laptop experience:

• After adding a soundcard, external hard drive, MIDI controller, etc, some may question the portability of their system. The nice thing about external gear is that it can be unplugged and left at home. If you are arranging a MIDI score on the plane, leave that hard drive and soundcard behind and likewise doing field recording probably won’t require a keyboard controller. 
• Many users will want a way to input MIDI into their machine without lugging around a full-size keyboard.  Small battery powered units such as the Midiman Oxygen 8 are beginning to appear in order to address this very concern.  Battery-powered units such as the Boss DR-202 can also make handy controllers for entering percussion.
• USB and Firewire devices can be picky about the type of USB/Firewire controller you have. Always check compatibility with the manufacturer before purchasing.
• Some USB soundcards such as the Edirol UA-5 allow 24-bit recording and feature WDM drivers for low-latency monitoring and DXi playback.
• On some laptops, the power adapter can create electrical noise when plugged in. When trying to track down an elusive "hum," try running off the battery. When the laptop is plugged in, make sure not to run any audio cables near the power adapter.
• USB hard drives can be useful for backup but lack the bandwidth to be used for audio.
• Using a Firewire soundcard AND a Firewire hard drive can sometimes lead to problems. Using a CardBus based soundcard like those from Echo in combination with a Firewire drive seems to be the best combination.

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