Ableton Forum

check dis · Post by **check dis** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 6:47 am

http://www.handykey.com/site/twiddler2.html

triggers key groups and strings of characters too

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 7:41 am

i like these:

http://www.hoojum.com/html/home.htm

Alex Reynolds · Post by **Alex Reynolds** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 7:48 am

I was thinking of building a machine with a Shuttle enclosure, but was worried about heat dissipation and thus the longevity of my purchase.

I know some of the parts offered include fans, copper heatsinks etc. but was wondering how efficient these components are in the real world, for such a small enclosure?

-Alex

UknowWho · Post by **UknowWho** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 9:15 am

Actually that Dolce with a 1.6ghz centrino would give a 2.6ghz machine a run for it's money processor wise.
Funny you said "don't need a lot of processing power' becuase I've seen a 1.6ghz Centrino (P4mobile) do 32 tracks with Protools LE6.1 + a Digi 002 with 5 pluggins per track and not even hiccup

.

gaspode · Post by **gaspode** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:54 pm

I have had no heat problems with Shuttle Cases. In fact, the CPU and core temperature remains far cooler than most systems I have built in a long time. The heat pipe is an amazing piece of technology, I am kind of surprised they haven't figured out a way to sell it to existing pc manufacturers to make it work on any case.

So pluses for the shuttle case are:

Cooler internel temps.
The system has far fewer fans than most, which helps keep your ambient noise down.
It comes loaded up with almost any port you'd need.
The newere systems support some if not all of the latest technology.

Honestly... I wouldn't shake a stick at my system

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:35 pm

Haven't looke at all these links, but from the names and comments, it sound like you're looking at overly high-end specialty pcs (alienware are much more suited to graphics, and have uneeded features). Get whatever you want/can afford, but you can get a killer pc laptop for well under $2,000, that will be extremely fast (faster than any mac) with Live. P4, 2.8, 512 RAM laptops can be had for close to $1500. Toshibas work great (I gig weekly with my Toshiba satelite--P4 2.4, gig RAM, RME multiface, XP pro--no problems), Sony's are also good, IBM are well made, and if I bought a new pc laptop right now it would undoubtledly be the new gateway with the 17.1" screen (having those extra Live session track on screen would be HUGE!)--P4 3.06 HT, 512 RAM (up to 2 gigs!), 80 gig hd , cd/dvd Burner (back up to dvd!), all for under $2000. These boxes could all do the trick and then some with Live. Since HT isn't used by live, a 2.8 P4 unit will be your best bet. If you must operate on batteries, consider the P4m, and centrino chips, but you'll pay more for less power up front--buy only if you need the batery power...my 2 cents on the matter....If you must go audio specific high-end pc, check out sweetwater sound--they are doing custom laptops, are the best and most knoledgible music service team in the biz, and have very reasonable prices.... www.sweetwater.com

Ryan

gaspode · Post by **gaspode** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:39 pm

Montrealbreaks,

If you're looking at rack units... why not build your own rack unit... you can find decent enough pieces over at www.newegg.com and other sites I am sure. Then get a motu 828 mkII or other rack device.

I guess I'm just iffy on what they actually put into those coyote units, and they look pretty dang expensive compared to what somebody could do themselves.

Good luck with your research though!

montrealbreaks · Post by **montrealbreaks** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 7:06 am

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 2:56 pm

Not sure on the HT, Live doesn't support it, and I don't think FL or REason does. I think its only taken advantage of by apps that use it, so it might not help anything (yet). A 2.8 processor is fast enough where you probably won't miss the extra .26 ghz unless you're doing like 75 tracks and tons of effects (but you might miss your extra $). With how quickly technology changes, and how quickly prices drop, and with all the other gear I'm sure you (and all of us) would love to buy, I'd reccomend not spending more than $2000 for a pc laptop--you can get a killer unit for that price. Get the 3 year no-fault insurance and your covered for the drops and spills--even on the tough-ass $5000 lappie, you'd still obviously be insuring that bad boy. Then you've kind of paid for toughness and protection twice. With how much prices are dropping (the TOshiba I bought a year ago now sells for like 60% what I paid), I think you would regret dropping $5000 on a laptop that will be obsolete in 5 years. And though analog keyboards and other gear is easy to get you money back from on ebay, we all know that in a few years our fancy computers will not be worth a fraction of what we paid.

ryan

norphus · Post by **norphus** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 1:48 am

You may want to check out www.abspc.com. I picked up one of their Mayhem G1 notebooks for about $1800.

P4 - 3Ghz HT
1024MB Ram
60GB 7200rpm Harddrive

Has worked pretty well for live so far. For what it's worth...

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 4:45 am

i have a Shuttle XPC 2.5 GHz Athlon system, 512 MB RAM, cost me $850. Its a great system, however... i have noticed extra noise coming out of my outputs that wasn't there on the tower system i used previously. It's not loud, but is definetely noticeable when amplified in a live setting. Now, this problem may be something i've done wrong or an issue with my specific hardware configuration, but i wonder if it might have something to do with everything being so close together inside the case. There's only about 2-3 inches between my audio card (M-Audio 2496) and the fan/CPU/power supply area. Could this be causing the extra noise? I don't know the answers, but it might be something to look into before buying a small form-factor PC.

right said fred · Post by **right said fred** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 10:33 pm

where are you getting these pc laptops at montrealbreaks, are you trying to have them custom made in gold chasis or what?, nobody on this or any
other music site is using a 3-$5000 pc laptop for music, you're being had. you mac guys like to pay too much money for everything i guess.

everyone is overly satisfied with pc laptops in the range of 1-2000. dollars
with the majority of them being 12- 18 range. good luck and if they offer you a cuppacino with the computer just tell them you don't need that feature.

Alex Reynolds · Post by **Alex Reynolds** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 10:37 pm

right said fred wrote:where are you getting these pc laptops at montrealbreaks, are you trying to have them custom made in gold chasis or what?, nobody on this or any
other music site is using a 3-$5000 pc laptop for music, you're being had. you mac guys like to pay too much money for everything i guess.

Are all Wintel users obnoxious assholes or is it just you?

-Alex

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 1:14 pm

right said fred wrote:where are you getting these pc laptops at montrealbreaks, are you trying to have them custom made in gold chasis or what?, nobody on this or any
other music site is using a 3-$5000 pc laptop for music, you're being had. you mac guys like to pay too much money for everything i guess.

everyone is overly satisfied with pc laptops in the range of 1-2000. dollars
with the majority of them being 12- 18 range. good luck and if they offer you a cuppacino with the computer just tell them you don't need that feature.

Expensive PCs:
Alienware.com
voodoopc.com

the one for five grand plus is a military grade ruggedized laptop - you aren`t paying for the performance, but for the build quality.

Picking one up this week. There`ll be a G4 Powerbook 500 with a gig of Ram on ebay soon, I`ll post the link in a topic on the general forum.

L8er
Montrealbreaks

PS. At work, can`t log in - damn firewall.

...

...

No heat problems with Shuttle Cases

Uhm...

small form-factor noise issues...