Need some advice on how to get started / what to buy

[c00kie]

Hi all,

I´ve been using a lot of classical/vintage studio gear until now, but will be traveling a lot in the future. Therefore, I thought about using a company laptop with a second OS installation for those long nights in the hotel .

I´m pretty sure that Live 9 Suite controlled by PUSH is where I want to be, so the question is: How do I get there ?

a) Buy the 8 Suite with included upgrade now. Wait. Profit. But, alas, there is no audio interface in that deal.
b) Buy some audio interface with Live 8 Light included (but no free upgrade), then buy the upgrade from Live 8 Light to Live 9 Suite.

I´m a little indecisive between the RME babyface (which I like for overall RME quality, I use 3 Hammerfalls in the studio and never ever had any reason to complain, great drivers, low latency, happy homer) and one of the Focusrite Scarletts (unknown).

So basically option a or b depends on whether the Focusrite compares to the rme or not. What is important to me is low latencya and dual use, ie the interface should be fine to operate in a hotel situation. When returning home, I´d like to plug via ADAT into the mixing desk/hammerfalls and go. Focusrite seems to get me more for the buck, ie. around 300 Euro for the interface including Live 8 Light against around 500 Euro for the rme with no software (and therefore no savings by upgrading).

It boils down to: Pros and cons of both interfaces - and possibly some alternatives I didn´t think of.

What do you think ?

[vitalispopoff]

I'm not into HW, but from my experience (keeping the HW setup as simple as possible), for the mobile setup the less is more, I'd even suggest a laptop + headphones only.

[login]

You use RME already and know their quality, focusrite wont give as low latency as RME, but can get the job done.

Maybe if you can justify using the RME on other situations it could be worth. (lets remeber RME interfaces can be integrated using total mix on a single computer)

Then the discount from the Lite versions vs buying the full product is about 50 USD.


If I were you I would get the babyface.

[c00kie]

Thanks for your input, I´ll probably stick with RME as I´ve had no problems with them in the past. I guess the upgrade prices from the hardware-bundled versions to Suite aren´t that much of a killer anyway, since we currently have the 25% sale ongoing.

With that being said, I´ll order the Suite as soon as I get my head around warping, this concept still is a little unused to me and I don´t get the results I want when handling complete song files for offline DJing purposes.

About pricing:

PUSH standalone = 500 EUR (yes it includes a light version, but I´m after suite anyway)
PUSH suite = 1000 EUR
Suite = 416 EUR

So am I right assuming that buying the Suite download now and get PUSH whenever it is available will actually save me 85 EURs ? Or did I miss something ?

[KrisM]

I bet that Push Suite package comes with the boxed Suite, which is more expensive than the Suite download.

[c00kie]

Oh well,

after reading back and forth thru some posts I think I will do this:


1. Get a decent laptop purely for Ableton + Resolume
2. Work with asio4all until I really feel the need for babyface or others
3. Get an APC-40 (270 Euro, it´s a steal these days)
4. Get PUSH when it´s released.

I think that APC and Push will team up well, either as
a) PUSH for generating beats and lines and APC for mixing (faders, knobs) and clip selection.
b) PUSH for ableton and APC for resolume control

So the only question that remains is: How to get the best deal on Suite 9, either upgrade from the APC bundled Lite version or directly go Suite when PUSH is released.

Currently, my calculation is:

PUSH SUITE = 1000 Euro
As PUSH solo = 500 Euro, SUITE = 500 Euro as well
But SUITE download = 416 Euro, so PUSH solo + Suite Download is the best deal, unless the upgrade price from APC Bundle to Suite 9 is better than 416 Euro. Any comments ?



Cheers,

Oliver

[ian_halsall]

get a low latency usb interface - I use Maya44 - 4 outputs and low latency and a decent price

4 outs means you can use it back home as well - easily switch from speakers to headphones in software

and you can do disk jockeying as welll

[102455]

Forget about ASIO4ALL. You don't need it.

Either get yourself a decent low latency audio interface (which will have its own ASIO drivers) or use the class compliant Windows drivers.

ASIO4ALL is not an ASIO driver. It doesn't magically turn a standard soundcard into a low latency pro card.

It's a bodge. A workaround piggyback driver that just sits on top of the existing Windows driver, to fool "ASIO only" software (which is rare these days) into thinking there's an ASIO card installed.

Live isn't ASIO only. It'll work fine with onboard sound. Therefore ASIO4ALL is not required.

[c00kie]

about asio4all: will skip this part then

regarding resolume, I will spend a little more on the laptop for pure gpu power, therefore buy the babyface a little later (a few weeks). until then, I have to accept latency.

I guess it´s better to go with latency for a few weeks, but have a decent setup from then on - otherwise I may be constantly cursing for not buying the better GPU with the laptop, ie less layers in resolume stutters etc.

Cheers,

Oliver

[ian_halsall]

why do you need the babyface versus cheaper options?

maya44 is 80 quid - babyface is 400

[c00kie]

hi ian,

it´s just that I have very good experiences with rme so far, running three hammerfalls in a digital mixing setup with wordclock sync, digital outboards and whatnot - and setup is rock solid, stable, flexible. so that´s a big plus for the brand itself. often you get more than expected, ie all the little tools that help troubleshooting the digital audio connections on a bit level. but that alone would of course not justify THAT many additional $$$.

for ableton, i want a highly mobile setup (will be traveling a lot this year) with the laptop, but still be able to go to the studio and have adat lightpipe connectivity, for example using max for live as an audio processor or streaming ableton output to several channels in the studio DAW.

so hi mobility, low latency, good drivers and ADAT I/O, windows based.... not much left to choose from

[ian_halsall]

hi ian,

it´s just that I have very good experiences with rme so far, running three hammerfalls in a digital mixing setup with wordclock sync, digital outboards and whatnot - and setup is rock solid, stable, flexible. so that´s a big plus for the brand itself. often you get more than expected, ie all the little tools that help troubleshooting the digital audio connections on a bit level. but that alone would of course not justify THAT many additional $$$.

for ableton, i want a highly mobile setup (will be traveling a lot this year) with the laptop, but still be able to go to the studio and have adat lightpipe connectivity, for example using max for live as an audio processor or streaming ableton output to several channels in the studio DAW.

so hi mobility, low latency, good drivers and ADAT I/O, windows based.... not much left to choose from

yeah true - thought you might be a vst only person - like me

[login]

LOL pople, take the time to read he has his mind set on a babyface and you recommend a maya? srly?

[ian_halsall]

LOL pople, take the time to read he has his mind set on a babyface and you recommend a maya? srly?

What does srly mean?

[agent314]

Live isn't ASIO only. It'll work fine with onboard sound. Therefore ASIO4ALL is not required.

Except for the fact that if he's doing any kind of latency-dependent recording or MIDI work, ASIO4ALL gets significantly better latency than most onboard Windows/MME drivers. So technically Live doesn't "need" his drivers to be ASIO, but he'll probably have a better time if he's using them.

Also, I find that ASIO4All is far more stable than the drivers that came with my interface - fewer crashes, lower latency, and I can easily turn it on and off if I want to use my interface for browser audio at the same time as I'm doing things in Live.