Author Topic: I just won a netbook! Hmmmm... (Read 6317 times)

huskerbrewdad · « **on:** April 26, 2010, 12:38:32 PM »

So I just won a new netbook from a radio station contest. I was planning on getting a DR-07 soon to start recording, but since all shows I will be doing allow open taping, I thought why not try this? I do already have a pair or 61a mics and a battery box for them. I am somewhat familiar with Audacity.

So questions...(and yeah I tried to search but couldnt find)

1. Bare minumum, what other gear am I going to need to record from the 61a's to the netbook live at shows? Or can I run straight line-in to netbook?

2. Any software other than the latest version of Audacity?

Any help for a noob is much appreciated

mattmiller · « **Reply #1 on:** April 26, 2010, 01:08:20 PM »

I'm just guessing here, but would something like this be a big step up in quality for him?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102020

crazifyngers · « **Reply #2 on:** April 26, 2010, 06:32:24 PM »

Quote from: huskerbrewdad on April 26, 2010, 12:38:32 PM

1. Bare minumum, what other gear am I going to need to record from the 61a's to the netbook live at shows? Or can I run straight line-in to netbook?

to run the a61 will need to provide some sort of power to it. you can do this with just a battery box but a preamp will give you cleaner gain. also the built in soundcard for computers aren't normally very good. for better results us a usb or preferably a firewire audio card. but bare minimum you will need a battery box

Quote from: huskerbrewdad on April 26, 2010, 12:38:32 PM

2. Any software other than the latest version of Audacity?

free software wise for a DAW (digital audio workstation) I think that Audacity is the way to go. commercial software I use soundforge and others use wavlab. traders little helper will create flacs and hash files as well as torrents for your audio.

everyone has their own opinion and this is just my $.02 good luck!

Also are you decided on the dr-07 and if so have you ordered one? I just picked up a dr-2d and have a dr-07 i will be selling soon.

skelly14120 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 26, 2010, 07:00:41 PM »

Heres a thought about the netbook how long of a battery life does it have? These digital recorders have good battery life and even if the battery runs out you just pop in a fresh pair of double a's and your set . Also no need to upgrade your soundcard

Belexes · « **Reply #4 on:** April 26, 2010, 07:37:05 PM »

I had to upgrade my Dell netbook battery to the best one to get a 4 hour charge, but I don't use it for taping. Skelly made a good point about battery life.

yug du nord · « **Reply #5 on:** April 26, 2010, 08:10:31 PM »

If your set on running a laptop.... IMO, pick up a mod'd UA-5. You'll need the UA-5 driver which can be downloaded for free.. but it works well with Audacity. But yeah...... battery life is something to keep in mind. But maybe you can find an external that would work?? Good luck man.... welcome aboard!

huskerbrewdad · « **Reply #6 on:** April 27, 2010, 12:23:28 PM »

Thanks for the advice folks,

I do have a battery box for the mics. I had heard some things about the UA-5 but wasnt really sure exactly what it did and if it was necessary or not.

And yeah at the place in town where I will do most of my taping right now I could plug in for power.

Dunno, after the initial excitement of winning the thing wore off, I'm thinking I may just sell it, get the DR-07(crazifyngers pm sent), and have some left over for a decent SDHC card and a mic stand...

acidjack · « **Reply #7 on:** April 27, 2010, 01:09:41 PM »

^^^ smarter move.

kubacheck · « **Reply #8 on:** April 28, 2010, 04:57:12 PM »

Quote from: mattmiller on April 26, 2010, 01:08:20 PM

I'm just guessing here, but would something like this be a big step up in quality for him?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102020

btw, thanks for that link, that is exactly what I needed..... and better yet, it was the same price at Amazon, with free shipping...... and better still, I ordered it monday night, and got it the next day.....

rokpunk · « **Reply #9 on:** April 28, 2010, 05:35:19 PM »

netbooks are great for what they are designed for....surfing the net.
i think you'd be much better off with an Edirol R09 or something along those lines opposed to the netbook.
the netbooks give up processing speed in favor of long battery life and small form factor.

mattmiller · « **Reply #10 on:** April 28, 2010, 06:52:06 PM »

Quote from: kubacheck on April 28, 2010, 04:57:12 PM

btw, thanks for that link, that is exactly what I needed..... and better yet, it was the same price at Amazon, with free shipping...... and better still, I ordered it monday night, and got it the next day.....

How's it working for you? I've had that on my wish list for a couple of months. I do a lot of late-night editing in my hotel room and my laptop's on-board audio just doesn't power my headphones. I reckon this would provide a little more volume for me.

kubacheck · « **Reply #11 on:** April 28, 2010, 11:00:54 PM »

Quote from: mattmiller on April 28, 2010, 06:52:06 PM

Quote from: kubacheck on April 28, 2010, 04:57:12 PM
btw, thanks for that link, that is exactly what I needed..... and better yet, it was the same price at Amazon, with free shipping...... and better still, I ordered it monday night, and got it the next day.....

How's it working for you? I've had that on my wish list for a couple of months. I do a lot of late-night editing in my hotel room and my laptop's on-board audio just doesn't power my headphones. I reckon this would provide a little more volume for me.

haven't even had a chance to pull it out of the box yet, had a show last night and a hockey game tonight..... I'll probably play around with it in the next few days.....

Fried Chicken Boy · « **Reply #12 on:** May 01, 2010, 07:24:48 PM »

In replying to the original topic and, personally, having less than ideal results when getting my feet wet with using a notebook as a recorder, I'll side with those that suggest using a dedicated recording device (DR-07, R-09, 661, etc...). That being said, notebook recording has come a long way since I tried it and there's a relevant, albeit slightly old, thread regarding netbook recording HERE. Doing a search for "netbook" in these forums brings up a handful of threads but this one seemed the most pertinent to this discussion. Good luck with whatever you decide and keep us posted!

runonce · « **Reply #13 on:** May 02, 2010, 08:56:05 AM »

This netbook user reports success running 8 channels @ 32/44

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=132552.msg1741185#msg1741185

runonce · « **Reply #14 on:** May 02, 2010, 09:07:37 AM »

Quote from: rokpunk on April 28, 2010, 05:35:19 PM

netbooks are great for what they are designed for....surfing the net.
i think you'd be much better off with an Edirol R09 or something along those lines opposed to the netbook.
the netbooks give up processing speed in favor of long battery life and small form factor.

Bullocks!

Im pretty sure any netbook is well within the spec for a UA5...

OS: Microsoft Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP
Computer: Windows compatible computer with a USB connector*
CPU/Clock: Pentium II processor 233MHz or higher (win98/SE/ME)
Pentium II processor 400MHz or higher (win2000)

The Sys Req for M-Audios Fast Track require only a PIII 500...
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html

12milluz · « **Reply #15 on:** May 02, 2010, 11:36:11 PM »

Quote from: runonce on May 02, 2010, 09:07:37 AM

Quote from: rokpunk on April 28, 2010, 05:35:19 PM
netbooks are great for what they are designed for....surfing the net.
i think you'd be much better off with an Edirol R09 or something along those lines opposed to the netbook.
the netbooks give up processing speed in favor of long battery life and small form factor.

Bullocks!

Im pretty sure any netbook is well within the spec for a UA5...

OS: Microsoft Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP
Computer: Windows compatible computer with a USB connector*
CPU/Clock: Pentium II processor 233MHz or higher (win98/SE/ME)
Pentium II processor 400MHz or higher (win2000)

The Sys Req for M-Audios Fast Track require only a PIII 500...
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html

Yes but the processor speed is not what is important here. It is the architecture. I will bet any money the atom notebook architecture is not as good as Pentium for recording.
Still, it will probably work. Just not necessarily as well as with a Pentium processor.

Brian Skalinder · « **Reply #16 on:** May 03, 2010, 01:33:21 AM »

I don't think whether the raw specs and/or architecture can handle audio recording is really the issue -- I suspect the specs and architecture are perfectly cabable of doing so. The bigger issue in my mind is creating and maintaining a reliable netbook recording environment. Software, drivers, services, and other configurations -- and not only those obviously used for audio recording -- can all have an impact on whether or not the netbook recording environment is reliable and stable. Even something as simple as Windows Updates or anti-virus updates could have an impact on the stability of the platform. That's where the real headache comes into play: creating, and more importantly maintaining, a reliable platform. And for me, that's the attraction of a dedicated recorder: simplicity and stability.

rastasean · « **Reply #17 on:** May 15, 2010, 12:04:44 AM »

perhaps netbooks wouldn't be great for LIVE recordings but for lite to moderate audio editing, I don't see it being too bad. after all, most of you tapers started using less sophisticated machines and audacity and that worked perfectly fine. don't expect to load pro tools and do 192bit recordings on 24 channels or anything but load audacity and maybe even reaper for audio editing later on...I would personally connect the thing to a larger monitor for more editing.

another positive thing that netbooks can be used for is live streaming of shows. it seems like live streaming of shows has become popular and I personally wouldn't want to take something like a mac book pro into just any venue.

plus netbooks are less expensive than the ipad.

heyitsmejess · « **Reply #18 on:** May 15, 2010, 01:28:05 AM »

i have a netbook.
i reguarly run 10 channels to it with no problems (i use reaper).
however, i have access to power, and i do all editing/effects/etc on my home desktop.
but for recording, it works just fine!

(i have done some light processing on it. it takes a little while longer to render, but it does work)

rastasean · « **Reply #19 on:** May 15, 2010, 01:33:43 AM »

Quote from: heyitsmejess on May 15, 2010, 01:28:05 AM

i have a netbook.
i reguarly run 10 channels to it with no problems (i use reaper).

excellent! thanks for the input. what make/model and, most importantly, color do you have?

heyitsmejess · « **Reply #20 on:** May 15, 2010, 07:02:02 AM »

emachines em250

-Intel Atom CPU N270 1.60GHz
-InsydeH20 BIOS
-1 GB RAM
-250GB HD
-Ethernet
-3-cell Li-ion battery
-10.1 ” LED LCD
-3 x USB

and its black.

havent upgraded the RAM to 2 gigs, but that will change soon. should see a big performance increase.

absolutly a cheap computer, but does what i need it to do flawlessly.

EDIT : you can disable alot of the windows 7 services with little effect on appearence or function.
heres the site that i learned this from

http://www.blackviper.com/Windows_7/servicecfg.htm

Brennan · « **Reply #21 on:** May 17, 2010, 12:24:29 AM »

I own an Asus eeepc, model 1005HA and to tell you the truth the mic in just sucks ass. I would get an audio card seperate of the netbook. I used Audition for my recording and it worked great, just a slight lag in the waveform display.

I have upgraded mine to 2GB ram. I'm running Windows 7 Pro.

Oh and 10 hour battery to boot

heyitsmejess · « **Reply #22 on:** May 17, 2010, 04:42:31 AM »

Quote from: Brennan on May 17, 2010, 12:24:29 AM

I own an Asus eeepc, model 1005HA and to tell you the truth the mic in just sucks ass. I would get an audio card seperate of the netbook. I used Audition for my recording and it worked great, just a slight lag in the waveform display.

I have upgraded mine to 2GB ram. I'm running Windows 7 Pro.

Oh and 10 hour battery to boot

dosent sound devices make a phantom/preamp combo with a usb 2.0 out? i know tascam mades a 2 channel and a 4 channel version with usb 2.0 out as well

Brennan · « **Reply #23 on:** August 07, 2010, 11:48:16 PM »

Jess I'm not knowledgeable in this equipment in the slightest. I did do a quick Amazon'ing though just to see what's out there at a reasonable price. Seems that all we need is a solid USB (-powered) audio interface. Here's what I found:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BD31ZW?ie=UTF8&tag=wareit-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000BD31ZW
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NTDFMC?ie=UTF8&tag=wareit-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001NTDFMC