Ultra-Portable Notebooks will not Work with Audio Interfaces

dn83 · Post by **dn83** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:38 pm

Really?? Interesting! Hm...no crackle every few seconds with the Fast Track Pro then?

I'm not familiar with the Xone 3D...I see that it's a mixer device...is it USB?

stale bread · Post by **stale bread** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:18 am

have you thought of trying the panasonic toughbook, even though i have a macbook now the panasonic was the best laptop i've ever had in my life, I actualy had two of them they never broke, and I could hardly feel them in my bag. 12'screen, and with the battery and internal cd/dvdburner they still only weighed 2.8 pounds, i ran them with an echo indigo/soundcard and still miss the setup to this very day, it's been almost a year now since i sold it and got a macbook.

another kick ass very light laptop is the lenovo (used to be ibm) those m/fckrs rock too.
but unless apple comes out with a super lightweight computer i will be letting the macbook stay on the desk and get another panasonic next year.

samsensual · Post by **samsensual** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 10:35 am

Yeah, what you describe does not sound like the common ground loop problem. You'd hear a constant noise, but changing dynamically depending on what you do (moving mouse, resize window etc.). Unplugging the adapter would prove that it was a ground loop problem - you wouldn't be able to work with the battery only, of course... would just have been an indicator.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:39 pm

I saw 12` ASUS today, it is not pretty like MBP or Vaio but seems well build and not ugly., Nvidia, 2.2 C2D

dCross · Post by **dCross** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:53 pm

dn83 wrote:Really?? Interesting! Hm...no crackle every few seconds with the Fast Track Pro then?

I'm not familiar with the Xone 3D...I see that it's a mixer device...is it USB?

Yup - both USB devices with MIDI and audio interfaces. No problems at all.

Timur · Post by **Timur** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:55 pm

It is quite possible that all those ultra portable notebooks share one or several of the same components and that these are to blame.

It's likewise with TFT screens, it doesn't matter which brand you get they all seem to use the same USB-Hub and all of them don't transmit mouse-input at full rate, but more at 60-80% of what your PC is set at (125 Hz at default, can be changed though).

So if all those notebooks share some common components it very well possible that they all show the same erratic behavior.

Anubis · Post by **Anubis** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 9:46 pm

samsensual wrote:I would only guess it is what I suffer - the ground loop sounds, especially audible when moving the mouse, loading from a disc etc. If you get hold again of one of your testing candidates that made these sounds, try unplugging your A/C adapter. If the sound was exactly like overloading the CPU (the ground loop is [not always] that loud, especially not static)...

Yes! I recently purchased an HP notebook with a discreet video card(256MB) hoping it would eliminate any resource sharing issues only to find that now I'm plagued by this darn ground loop static noise! It's really annoying with the internal "high quality" sound card. It's not so bad on the usb SC until you connect it to your monitors then it's audible. It really ticks me off because my previous notebook( a Toshiba) had a two-pronged AC adaptor and I didn't have this problem.

blank · Post by **blank** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:33 pm

It's a common problem with a lot of laptop pc since years no?

I saw this pretty often with laptop used for music productions.

Maybe I was lucky but I own a hp pavillion dv 1635 and I have no problem running audio-midi from it after I beefed it up with more ram and a 7200 rpm hd.

To be honest, my macbook is causing me more probs when producing on the fly.

anyway

good luck

dn83 · Post by **dn83** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:24 pm

Anyone using a DELL xps m1330 along with an audio interface? Any problems? Thanks for your input.

dn83 · Post by **dn83** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:58 pm

dCross wrote:
dn83 wrote:Really?? Interesting! Hm...no crackle every few seconds with the Fast Track Pro then?

I'm not familiar with the Xone 3D...I see that it's a mixer device...is it USB?
Yup - both USB devices with MIDI and audio interfaces. No problems at all.

hm...well i wish i knew what the difference is...I've tried everything. =\ Have u tweaked anything special or anything? What OS are you using on it? Thanks!

dn83 · Post by **dn83** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:07 pm

Update: I tried a DELL xps m1330 and it did the same damned thing. WTF

This passed the point of ridiculous long ago. I've now tried 5 different notebooks (2 DELLs, 1 HP, 1 Jetta, 1 SONY) and 4 different interfaces. The only one that didn't exhibit the issue I mentioned previously was the 15.4" SONY VAIO FZ series. But...it's bulky...and expensive.

I'm about to try a 14" DELL Inspiron notebook, but I'm sure it'll probably do the same thing. =\

dCross · Post by **dCross** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:35 pm

dn83 wrote:hm...well i wish i knew what the difference is...I've tried everything. =\ Have u tweaked anything special or anything? What OS are you using on it? Thanks!

Windows XP Pro

dn83 wrote:Update: I tried a DELL xps m1330 and it did the same damned thing. WTF

This passed the point of ridiculous long ago. I've now tried 5 different notebooks (2 DELLs, 1 HP, 1 Jetta, 1 SONY) and 4 different interfaces. The only one that didn't exhibit the issue I mentioned previously was the 15.4" SONY VAIO FZ series. But...it's bulky...and expensive.

I'm about to try a 14" DELL Inspiron notebook, but I'm sure it'll probably do the same thing. =\

Weird question - have you tried to do any of these tasks outside of your home? Maybe you have dirty power, and it's having an effect on the audio quality.

[Tangent] Cool new super-ultra-portable by ASUS. Lower end models come with Linux, high end models can have XP Pro: http://eeepc.asus.com/en/

dn83 · Post by **dn83** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:41 pm

Hi again David, thanks for your reply. Good point, but yeah, I have actually experienced the same issue at work, for example, as well as at home.

That's what's so strange about this. How can it not be brand, model, operating system, audio interface or application-specific? What's also strange is that you don't have this issue with your m1210. When did you purchase your m1210 by the way, a while a ago when they first came out?

As a side note, I really liked the m1210 that I had - so portable and powerful and had basically all the features I want. =\ Figures...haha.

Oh and the tiny Asus looks cool! Small hard drive though - only a 4GB solid state.

dCross · Post by **dCross** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:47 pm

dn83 wrote:Hi again David, thanks for your reply. Good point, but yeah, I have actually experienced the same issue at work, for example, as well as at home.

That's what's so strange about this. How can it not be brand, model, operating system, audio interface or application-specific? What's also strange is that you don't have this issue with your m1210. When did you purchase your m1210 by the way, a while a ago when they first came out?

As a side note, I really liked the m1210 that I had - so portable and powerful and had basically all the features I want. =\ Figures...haha.

My m1210 is on my lap right now - and I like it quite a bit too!
The unit was purchased around February of 2007.

Now that I think about it, this is my second m1210. The first one completely crapped out on me after a day - wouldn't start, POST, or anything after a peculiar shutdown sequence. I had it replaced for my current one.

It's a c2duo 2ghz with 1 gig of RAM.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you really know your stuff with regard to troubleshooting, and have done your best to eliminate all possible variables to no avail.

Maybe it's you? Do you store more electrostatic electricity than the average human?

dn83 · Post by **dn83** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:57 pm

HAHAHA! Hey - I think you might have something there!

Ultra-Portable Notebooks will not Work with Audio Interfaces

Using a DELL xps m1330? Any problems?