13" screen sufficient for on the road production?

[Citizen]

Just contemplating buying a 2nd hand Mac Book Pro for on the road production. Will be running Live 9, maybe Maschine, Komplete 9 and some other VSTs.

Just wondering if the 13 inch screen will drive me nuts working on it for production? I kinda want something thats portable and lightweight enough to fit in a backpack when travelling - but will the 13" be enough screen?

Thanks in advance!

[oddstep]

it'll be annoying but workable

[chapelier fou]

I've been producing on a 13" for 10 years. I'd say it's a matter of habit.

[Citizen]

Hmmm....a vote either way.

Does using the various key commands to minimise/hide unneeded parts of the interface negate the aforementioned annoyance factor?

I'm hoping to take this unit backpacking with me - so the space is a key issue. I've had no problems working on 15" before, but maybe 13 is too tiny.

In which ways specifically is it annoying? Which tasks suffer - or is it annoying across the board?

[Citizen]

I've been producing on a 13" for 10 years. I'd say it's a matter of habit.

Wow - is that an on the road set - up - or have you been using it in your studio with a larger monitor?

If its an on the road set up, may I ask what - if any - other tools you take with that set-up for on the road production?

[oddstep]

Hmmm....a vote either way.

Does using the various key commands to minimise/hide unneeded parts of the interface negate the aforementioned annoyance factor?

I'm hoping to take this unit backpacking with me - so the space is a key issue. I've had no problems working on 15" before, but maybe 13 is too tiny.

In which ways specifically is it annoying? Which tasks suffer - or is it annoying across the board?

I found a 13 inch screen totally fine with Live 8. the new two column browser in Live 9 used up a lot of screen; which was a bit irksome. for other reasons I replaced the laptop and noticed that a 15 inch screen was a lot more L9 friendly. a 13 inch screen will be fine and the portability/smaller footprint will always be handy.

[Citizen]

Thanks for clarifying. I'm still on the fence.

So aside from when you had the browser open in L9, was using Live OK on the 13 inch?

I'm going to buy second hand, so if it doesn't gel with me, I can always put the unit back up on Ebay after my trip I guess.

[Citizen]

Oh, if you are able to comment - as far as power goes - would a 2011 13" Mac Book Pro 2.7ghz i7 with 16GB of ram be fine for running Live 9 - and some VSTs, maybe some bits and bobs from Komplete?

[oddstep]

i was using a pc...
L9 was totally OK apart from the browser using up loads of space, which made it edgy to drag stuff into and out of session view whilst I was performing.

[chapelier fou]

I use it for touring, studio and on the road production.

Even in the studio i don't use a larger screen. i'd love to, though, it's just that my studio is so full.
On the road, when i want to work on music, i usually go with my RME UCX, korg nano key and a good set of headphones.

[unix23]

You could also bring a set of cable adapters to plug the video output into hotel tvs. Many LCDs take HDMI and SVGA these days.

[Citizen]

You could also bring a set of cable adapters to plug the video output into hotel tvs. Many LCDs take HDMI and SVGA these days.

Good point - I never would have thought of that!


Kore Nano Key? How do you find that device? I've only heard negative things about it. I was probably going to go with one of the Akai Mini keyboards - either the one with just the keys, or the one with keys and drum pads.

[chapelier fou]

My mistake ! in fact it's an Akai...

[re:dream]

In my experience, screen real estate on a 13 inch screen is constraining but managable. Just get used using hide / show to keep the interface as uncluttered as possible

A much bigger factor for me is midi controllers. Unless you want to bring your Push along. I get by with Akai's LD8 and LPK and an outboard mouse, and good quality headphones. As long as I am not drawing notes in with a mouse, I don't get too frustrated.

A

[TomViolenz]

I worked for the last 3 years on a 13" MacBook Core2Duo and only internal sound and headphones (these have to be good though!).
(No external Monitor)
And just recently got the cash to upgrade.

Is it the best working environment possible? Certainly not. Can you make almost anything including producing albums on this sort of hardware? Yes, you can

Albums you know and love, have been produced on much lesser hardware in the past!