How Much Computer

voidseeker · Post by **voidseeker** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:48 pm

I need some advice on a future hardware purchase(s). My goal is to do some live ambient/electronica with synced visuals. I will be using Live with mostly Kontakt 3 including it's fx, with only a couple external plugs, and syncing that with Arkaos for visuals. My songs are usually not more than 8 tracks, but sometimes intensely layered in Kontakt.

Is it possible to use only a laptop for both, or would I be better off building a micro ATX lan type box that is more powerfull, or should I split between 2 computers? I don't care so much about cost, just want to cover the goals. I would prefer the laptop senario, for the ease of transport.

Any suggestions/experiences highly appreciated

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:05 pm

wel, if you can pay for it, then get two machines, one for music and one for visuals. all music- and visuals-software is easily hitting the wall when it comes to the use of cpu, ram etc.
so two dedicated machines are surely better than just one.

might be different with other kinds of software, as you can easily use the same computer for web-browsing and writing documents simultaneously, but doing live-visuals and live-audio will be tough for just one cpu. if you only playback a movie and an audiofile it might work, but not if you do realtime audio or video processing.

I did several shows running live on a macbook while simultaneously performing a freeware video applicaion called neuromixer, and it sucked. live hung, the videos hung, I got nervous.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:02 pm

IF you HAVE to get a laptop for your visuals, make sure you get a laptop with decent openGL implementation - that means either macbook PRO or a beefy pc with a kicking nVidia in it.

For that approach by FAR the best way to go is a desktop machine that will hold something like the nvidia 8800 gt or better.

Personally I would get a machine that was:
deep enough to fit the gfx cards (rules out a few of the mini cases, for sure)
small enough to fit in something like a shuttle-bag.

here's a cool site that shows cases that will fit an 8800:
http://www.tosk.co.uk/8800/

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:36 pm

I've been playing around running Live and Grand VJ simultaneously on my MBP. It works incredibly well. Grand VJ is SO much more efficient than Arkaos VJ.

I use separate computers when playing live, though, mainly for redundancy and simplicity.