Need some serious advice, possible move from powerbook to PC
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err_fatale
- Posts: 326
- Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:18 pm
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err_fatale
- Posts: 326
- Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:18 pm
i suggest doing what I did: go to Compusa and get on one of their tablets and connect the wireless and download the Live 5 Demo and install it on the floor model and try it out. If you want to get a feel for the Toshiba Tecra M4 they have the less powerful version called the R10/R15 there. It is pretty much the same machine (give or take) but with the older Centrino chipset (400 Mhz FSB instead of 533) and silver instead of black. The screen on these Toshibas is dazzling to say the least. As I said, the little knobs on Live take time to learn how to control, as does any aspect of using the stylus/digital pen on a tablet......but you get used to it real quick. If you do try it out, make sure you calibrate the pen, in start>control panel>tablet and pen settings>calibrate.
I find that I deliberately have to calibrate the pen a little off to get it on point while in actual use, again it is something you get a feel for and get better at over time....
this is the R15...which in itself is a great computer, beautiful design, just a little slower than the newer 915 chipset...if you know how to mix your tracks down live will work on it....
that's the beauty of using a computer for sequencing and songwriting and such. As long as it's fast enough, you don't need it to be the fastest if you know how to mix your tracks down ALA 4-track/8-track recorder style. years of composing on a 4-track taught me how to view a song like a Moebius loop. Once you have a decent computer with a good roomy hard drive and enough RAM you can do a hell of a lot even if it isn't 5.000.000 GHZ....
I find that I deliberately have to calibrate the pen a little off to get it on point while in actual use, again it is something you get a feel for and get better at over time....
this is the R15...which in itself is a great computer, beautiful design, just a little slower than the newer 915 chipset...if you know how to mix your tracks down live will work on it....
that's the beauty of using a computer for sequencing and songwriting and such. As long as it's fast enough, you don't need it to be the fastest if you know how to mix your tracks down ALA 4-track/8-track recorder style. years of composing on a 4-track taught me how to view a song like a Moebius loop. Once you have a decent computer with a good roomy hard drive and enough RAM you can do a hell of a lot even if it isn't 5.000.000 GHZ....
err_fatale: What is it like doing audio production with a tablet notebook? I've thought for a number of years that it would be cool to buy an old touchscreen LCD to plug into a desktop for this purpose, but I never thought of doing the tablet PC thing. What are the pros and cons?
(And here's hoping that Apple turn their 12" Powerbook into a 13" widescreen tablet MacTablet Pro :p)
btw if anyone turns this into a stupid flame war about platforms, you're a stupid tool and I hate you. I'm sick of that shit. Sick to death! I mean it, I will forever hate you if you start bickering over stupid shit.
(And here's hoping that Apple turn their 12" Powerbook into a 13" widescreen tablet MacTablet Pro :p)
btw if anyone turns this into a stupid flame war about platforms, you're a stupid tool and I hate you. I'm sick of that shit. Sick to death! I mean it, I will forever hate you if you start bickering over stupid shit.
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err_fatale
- Posts: 326
- Joined: Sun Oct 30, 2005 10:18 pm
It's a whole new dimension. one of the things I've grown to hate about doing art and music aon the computer over the years is the lack of direct physical contact w/ the interface using a mouse and keys (ascII not keyboard I mean).
Being super stoned out the past year or two I've noticed the abyss between my hand on the side w/ the mouse and what i'm seeing on the screen and have started to get the feeling like I'm not really doing anything, I'm not making anything just moving pixels around. Also i've been getting bad cramps in my hand and sometimes can't use the mouse for awhile. That is a big issue. Now I am having direct contact with my creations. If i want to move a sample, I LITERALLY drag it from here to there. When I get into a piano roll it's just so much more pleasant to draw the little notes and draw the envelopes and contoller data (velocity, etc.).
it's worth mentioning that most tablets also have high screen resoultion. I am waiting for my Toshiba Tecra M4, after trying a friends, I realized like a lightning bolt that I NEEDED this more than anything else. The screen is HUGE, NO SCROLLING NECESSARY EVER!!!!! You can see the WHOLE song & all of your tracks right there. The screen is Bright as hell and the resolution is ridiculous. Also it has the option of a 128 bit 128 MB Nvidia Geforce go 6600 graphics card (GPU processor/RAM) which frees the computer's main RAM for your audio, which I've heard makes a big difference. My friend does 3d and animation, I'm not so familiar with that stuff, but it is ridiculously dope for that also. The stylus/screen is WACOM and is pressure sensitive and feels so damn smooth. I could go on and on, I'm just so happy I discovered these things cuz I would've bought a regular notebook and they seem ridiculously boring. The tablet can be a normal notebook too, so you get both worlds. And they aren't super expensive compared to other notebooks, a few hundered more generally. The one thing I noticed is the little knobs in Live take some practice to control, but it didn't take me long to calibrate the pen and get the feel down. Right now I use the Gateway CX2608 I bought from Compusa which is also great. The screen is wide and very bright. The design is solid and has everything you need, dvd player (you can order one with a dvd burner from gateway) firewire good processor. The sylus is so nice and precise on the Gateway, the only thing about the Gateway is the digitizer (pen sensor) is made by Finepoint instead of Wacom, and it doesn't support pressure sensitivity in some programs yet, but supposedly the drivers are on the way. If you are using it for music that won't be an issue......the battery get @ 4 hours too.....
I could go on and on. It's a relatively new technolgy, that only really came up in the past 9 months or so, most models came out just this past fall, so it's super new. The older tablets were a bit weak cuz they were using ( the OEM's ) low-voltage processors to make them lighter and more portable, and not including optical drives (DVD/Cd).....not very good for music. Now these newer ones are just as good as any other notebook you would buy, only way better, and more FUN.
Just being free from mouse-induced hand cramps is really enough for me.....
i would recommend trying the Toshiba R15 and the gateway cx2608 at COMPUSA if you are in the USA....I said before, just get on the wireless network and download/install the Live Demo on the floor model. it takes like 6-7 minutes to DL and a minute to install. No one at the store even paid any attention to me. I did go to one store where the pens were missing and they didn't have them . Just ask the salesperson, if you are interested in a $1000 ++++ item you should be able to demo it, even with LIVE since that's what you will be using it for (I'm assuming).
remeber to go to your control panel in the start menu and calibrate the pen, since it will most definitely be off unless you do. Keep messing with the calibration until you get it how you like it. Calibrating it in the exact center of the crosshairs does not necessarily mean it will be precise in actual use, so keep messing with it. If you aren't sold right away then it must not be for you. I recommend the R10/R15. just try it and see. I think the mouse will be obsolete soon, once everyone tries these things. Maybe I'm wrong, some people like mice and carpal tunnel, maybe.....
the R10/R15 is not as fast as the Tecra M4, but it is much cheaper, and has good specs. Like $1200 now I think, it goes between $1200-$1300 up and down, cheaper from Toshiba, but if you order from them just shell out a few more $$ and get the Tecra m4. It will kick a G4 powerbooks ass as far as performance any day ( no offense to powerbook users, just the facts....it's faster) so if you are used to a powerbook then it will be a definite increase. I personally think the R15 is one of the freshest computer designs ever.....
a final not: just like when you started using a mouse, there is some learning involved in getting to a level of fluidity with the stylus,. I find I get a hell of a lot more done more quickly now. it just is faster than using a mouse and my interest is sustained in my projects a lot longer and more intensely too......
Being super stoned out the past year or two I've noticed the abyss between my hand on the side w/ the mouse and what i'm seeing on the screen and have started to get the feeling like I'm not really doing anything, I'm not making anything just moving pixels around. Also i've been getting bad cramps in my hand and sometimes can't use the mouse for awhile. That is a big issue. Now I am having direct contact with my creations. If i want to move a sample, I LITERALLY drag it from here to there. When I get into a piano roll it's just so much more pleasant to draw the little notes and draw the envelopes and contoller data (velocity, etc.).
it's worth mentioning that most tablets also have high screen resoultion. I am waiting for my Toshiba Tecra M4, after trying a friends, I realized like a lightning bolt that I NEEDED this more than anything else. The screen is HUGE, NO SCROLLING NECESSARY EVER!!!!! You can see the WHOLE song & all of your tracks right there. The screen is Bright as hell and the resolution is ridiculous. Also it has the option of a 128 bit 128 MB Nvidia Geforce go 6600 graphics card (GPU processor/RAM) which frees the computer's main RAM for your audio, which I've heard makes a big difference. My friend does 3d and animation, I'm not so familiar with that stuff, but it is ridiculously dope for that also. The stylus/screen is WACOM and is pressure sensitive and feels so damn smooth. I could go on and on, I'm just so happy I discovered these things cuz I would've bought a regular notebook and they seem ridiculously boring. The tablet can be a normal notebook too, so you get both worlds. And they aren't super expensive compared to other notebooks, a few hundered more generally. The one thing I noticed is the little knobs in Live take some practice to control, but it didn't take me long to calibrate the pen and get the feel down. Right now I use the Gateway CX2608 I bought from Compusa which is also great. The screen is wide and very bright. The design is solid and has everything you need, dvd player (you can order one with a dvd burner from gateway) firewire good processor. The sylus is so nice and precise on the Gateway, the only thing about the Gateway is the digitizer (pen sensor) is made by Finepoint instead of Wacom, and it doesn't support pressure sensitivity in some programs yet, but supposedly the drivers are on the way. If you are using it for music that won't be an issue......the battery get @ 4 hours too.....
I could go on and on. It's a relatively new technolgy, that only really came up in the past 9 months or so, most models came out just this past fall, so it's super new. The older tablets were a bit weak cuz they were using ( the OEM's ) low-voltage processors to make them lighter and more portable, and not including optical drives (DVD/Cd).....not very good for music. Now these newer ones are just as good as any other notebook you would buy, only way better, and more FUN.
Just being free from mouse-induced hand cramps is really enough for me.....
i would recommend trying the Toshiba R15 and the gateway cx2608 at COMPUSA if you are in the USA....I said before, just get on the wireless network and download/install the Live Demo on the floor model. it takes like 6-7 minutes to DL and a minute to install. No one at the store even paid any attention to me. I did go to one store where the pens were missing and they didn't have them . Just ask the salesperson, if you are interested in a $1000 ++++ item you should be able to demo it, even with LIVE since that's what you will be using it for (I'm assuming).
remeber to go to your control panel in the start menu and calibrate the pen, since it will most definitely be off unless you do. Keep messing with the calibration until you get it how you like it. Calibrating it in the exact center of the crosshairs does not necessarily mean it will be precise in actual use, so keep messing with it. If you aren't sold right away then it must not be for you. I recommend the R10/R15. just try it and see. I think the mouse will be obsolete soon, once everyone tries these things. Maybe I'm wrong, some people like mice and carpal tunnel, maybe.....
the R10/R15 is not as fast as the Tecra M4, but it is much cheaper, and has good specs. Like $1200 now I think, it goes between $1200-$1300 up and down, cheaper from Toshiba, but if you order from them just shell out a few more $$ and get the Tecra m4. It will kick a G4 powerbooks ass as far as performance any day ( no offense to powerbook users, just the facts....it's faster) so if you are used to a powerbook then it will be a definite increase. I personally think the R15 is one of the freshest computer designs ever.....
a final not: just like when you started using a mouse, there is some learning involved in getting to a level of fluidity with the stylus,. I find I get a hell of a lot more done more quickly now. it just is faster than using a mouse and my interest is sustained in my projects a lot longer and more intensely too......
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glitchrock-buddha
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kenn michael
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