Laptop/external soundcards

[eyeswithoutaface]

right i know its probably been asked but i just did a search and quite frankly the results came back ****ing shite.

soooooooo..........

indulging in a new laptop, soundcard and controller over the weekend, and i need some genuine good advice on external cards, as this is the one area where the pool of my knowledge doth run into shallow waters. Im going to be doing a bit of djing on it and learning to play live, so obviously just needs the required ins/out's and i'd love crystal clear quality too of course

any recommendations guy's and gal's??

and controllers, im thinking of the UC33e for the knobs and sliders, but i do like those behringers with just the knobs. Right now i have a couple of big evolution keyboards with various knobs and sliders but im not hiking them around with me everywhere and i need a dedicated midi controller

decisions decisions

anyone?

thanks

[theledge]

Remote series

http://www.computersandmusic.com/productimages/novation/novation_25sl.jpg

They do have keys but only two octaves. They are great totally reprogrammable to whatever you want

Doubt they're that much bigger than the uc33e either

I have the old remote 25, only half as nice as that^ but i'd recommend it to anyone, just perfect

[dan the acid man]

as far as controllers, i've got the uc33e and its great, but tbh, there's not much between this and the behringers, it depends what you want i suppose.

as for external soundcards, whats your budget ?

[eyeswithoutaface]

got about £900 or there abouts to get a laptop, controller and soundcard, looking to spend around £500 - £600 on the laptop but i can stretch the budget slightly if need be. Any recommendations?

been looking at this

http://www.dv247.com/invt/27465/

[eyeswithoutaface]

was also looking at this http://www.dv247.com/invt/33410/

[eyeswithoutaface]

and this rather beautiful looking thing http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/36008_l.jpg

[eyeswithoutaface]

http://www.dv247.com/invt/36008/ thats it

really tempted by this, looks great and does everything il need

[dan the acid man]

the last two links are the same, out of those, i'd go with the emu, im not sure what the pcmcia interface is like these days, not used it for years, but i cant't see there being a problem.

Edirol cards come highly recommended too in this price range, obviously, if its firewire, just make sure the laptop has a firewire interface

[tOM B]

I've just got an edirol and there seems to be some kinda glitch when running it on a dual core mac with live 6. It just pops and crackles at me. Apparently someone else has the same problem and the guys at support are trying to sort it out?!? Just to give you the heads up

[eyeswithoutaface]

thanks for the heads up mate

still not sure what to go for

[dirty_bass]

I`d go for external, and firewire. the NI thing is usb2. Which I just wouldn`t trust.

There`s this
http://www.dv247.com/invt/25936/

this
http://www.dv247.com/invt/19660/ (I use this, it`s rock solid, has 24/96 output, and you get live lite with it, meaning you can upgrrade to ableton 6 for about 150 quid), and has the a/b outputs so you can have monitor or main mix out in the headphones.

http://www.dv247.com/invt/35953/ echo stuff is pretty stable

http://www.dv247.com/invt/33078/

Unless you want loads of outputs, I would say you don`t need to spend over 200 quid. But definitely go fireiwre.

I`d recommend the behringer controller over the UC-33.
It feels nicer, and the faders are great. Although the all knob version is good too.

If you have a slightly higher budget then this controller is simply raw sex
http://www.nusystems.co.uk/product/CME.Bitstream.3X
You can order them from the states for about 200 due to the exchange rate, but they are 300 over here

[dan the acid man]

the m audio fastrack pro is supposed to be good too.

firewire is good, but im sure scotts laptop doesn't have firewire on it, and to be honest, usb isn't too bad.

it can be temprimental with things like usb modems, but external soundcards seem fine from what iv'e experienced.

[oldbugger]

the m audio fastrack pro is supposed to be good too.

firewire is good, but im sure scotts laptop doesn't have firewire on it, and to be honest, usb isn't too bad.

it can be temprimental with things like usb modems, but external soundcards seem fine from what iv'e experienced.

i got the fasttrack pro. propper bo i tell thee.

[eyeswithoutaface]

yeah no firewire unfortunately, but i dont mind USB ive never had a problem really. The Native Instruments one still has my eye but the fastrack looks decent too. Laptop cards are new to me so all this help is appreciated, just confused as to which to plump for. Controller wise the Behringer BCF2000 looks wikid, just a little worried maybe not enough knobs but the faders look smooth i think il get that

[dirty_bass]

yeah no firewire unfortunately, but i dont mind USB ive never had a problem really. The Native Instruments one still has my eye but the fastrack looks decent too. Laptop cards are new to me so all this help is appreciated, just confused as to which to plump for. Controller wise the Behringer BCF2000 looks wikid, just a little worried maybe not enough knobs but the faders look smooth i think il get that

The behringer has a paging system remember.
So those 8 nobs at the top, are actually 32, as you have 4 banks of 8, and just use the page button to scroll to the next bank of 8.
I use the 8 faders for the vols of 8 channels, with filters on the 1st 8 above the faders on page 1.
Page 2 is synth controls
page 3 fx controls, and page 4 is extra volume controls, and master output fx controls.
Works wicked.

[eyeswithoutaface]

had a go of a friends Behringer today after work, lovely controller. Feels and looks solid, definately ordering that as soon as ive made a decision on a card, but im still really tempted by the NI card