Does anyone know if there are any soundcards on the market that can be used with laptops and have all the benifits of a normal pro audio card (such as; an ability to trigger VST instruments live, MIDI inputs/outputs ...etc)?

Thanks!

I have a PCMCIA sound card that does all that jazz....and whatta ya know - it's for sale ! (like all my gear)
It's a Digigram VXpocket professional sound card. It's time code compatable - has Analog and digital ins and outs .... XLR hard wires .... you name it - it's got it ! Originally $600 - Yours for $200!
Never been used. I bought it as an impulse item at a blow out sale this last summer. Couldn't resist the price, but I have no real need for it.

You could buy an external USB soundcard. That's what I did. I use the ESI Waveterminal U24. It doesn't have MIDI-ports, but it has all kinds of audio connections. Dave's price is right though, so go for that

-tek

Wow, are we having a "moment" here tek?

He's right about the $$$$ - this is a great deal if you need a high end sound card.

I'd go with external USB or Firewire interface.

-ED-

Are they under $200?

Does the VXPocket have the requested MIDI I/O? If not, a separate USB MIDI can be used with it. Another alternative without MIDI is the Echo Indigo IO, which I use, but the VXPocket seems to have more features. Some PC Cards require a CardBus slot, so check on this compatibility issue.

Well, I never came across a laptop that handled PC cards without some type of problems.
USB and Firewire stuff is definitely gonna be big bucks (unless you get one for christmas of coarse). From financial point of view Uncle Dave's offer is great. I mean $200.00 for a high-end PC card is pretty damn good.
My only concern is potential compatibility issues.


-ED-

Well, this all sounds very exciting, but I have to stress I'm just at the stages of early research and until I sell my Z1 I won't be able to buy a toaster.

Basically, I was saying in another thread that my Z1 is too heavy and I'm considering changing for something more light weight and easier to program (like a Nord Lead 2).

Anyway, the thought occurred to me that maybe I should go down the laptop/midi controller keyboard route. But I have to say, I'm not so sure any more. I read an article on the web last night that said that laptops can't handle audio stuff very well for a number of reasons.

One of the main flaws (according to this article) was that laptops have smaller and slower hard drives. And, according to the article, this means that if you're using something like Cubase, then your system will start to freak out if you use any more than 4 tracks.

So, the upshot is, I'm really just trying to figure out what's what. But the offer from Uncle Dave certainly sounds like a good deal.

Equalizer, I have been considering some of the same issues, so maybe you will find the following helpful or maybe someone can give some suggestions.

I have a laptop and music software. Unfortunately, to make music, I have to attach the laptop, laptop power supply, controller, audio and MIDI cables, boot the computer, and launch the music host application. Sometimes, the Muse does not want to wait that long!

My current thinking is to replace the controller (an Oxygen8) with a small, lightweight synth that I can use with and without the laptop. Two octaves is too limiting, four is ample, and three might (I'll have to try to know) be an acceptable compromise between size and range. (I can always MIDI my 76-key Roland A-50 when I need more range).

I am still deciding on which small synth to buy. There are some inexpensive alternatives: used Roland Pro-E, microKorg, Korg MS2000, used Korg Prophecy (kewl, but mono), Novation KS4. Any other suggestions?

No midi- just tons of audio options:
XLR, rca, 24 bit A/D D/A converters.
Works in wave, sound manager and asio driver envirnments, and lists WIN95/98, NT4.0, Mac Os8x on the box.

Maybe it's not what you want, but Fran loves his. I missed the request for midi in the opening post - sorry.

Eq, there are already 7200RPM 2.5" drives out there and they're bound to become the standard anyway (saw one from Hitachi). Then there's the plethora of external USB2 and Firewire drives that all spin at 7k.

I bought myself a PC-Card USB2 hub (ST Lab $35) for my soundcard and I'll be adding a faster drive sometime soon.

-tek

Ok. The thing is, I have read lots of articles on the Net that say laptops are NOT up to the job (for a whole bunch of reasons).

Lately I've had a sneaky suspicion that these articles I've been reading are out of date and that laptops have moved on a lot in recent times.

So, based on what has been said... can we officially declare that laptops ARE up to the job after all? Can they match their desktop counterparts when it comes to making music?

Infact, for anyone who is interested, here are two articles that talk in depth about how and why laptops are not up to the job...
http://www.audiomidi.com/classroom/cedge/cutting_edge1.cfm

...and....
http://www.audiomidi.com/classroom/cedge/cutting_edge2.cfm

Tell that to Aphex Twin and co. Saying laptops are not up to the job is so 1997.

-tek

Well, that's cool.

That's what I was hoping.

So, as of today (yes, that's right- TODAY!) laptops are officially as good as their desktop counterparts at doing music production.

Yeehaaa.

Yes, but that depends on your budget.

How much are you willing to pay?

How of a professional sound card do you want?

The one I was thinking about costs $1000

Wow! I never even realised that you could get soundcards that were that expensive.

I was actually thinking more in terms of an M-Audio Audiophile (external USB).

They come in at around £180.

I just got an Emagic a62m (6 audio in, 2 out + MIDI in/out) USB soundcard and am considering getting an Apple Powerbook and an external 80GB Maxtor firewire hard drive sometime next year. For audio, you definitely want a faster hard drive (most laptops ship with hard drives that are only 4200 rpm, 5400 is the bare minimum) and I've found that it's actually cheaper to buy an external 7200 rpm hd than to upgrade to a crappy 5400 one.

would that sound card also work with PC computers and would it work for desktops?
Thanks

OK, for my first post I'll stick my neck out onto the chopping block and say......Extigy.
It's a way low end Soundblaster external card/box thats got some MIDI,unbalanced audio in, 5.1 audio processing,etc. etc. blah,blah,blah. They're running for less than a buck($100)at auction and are targeted for "mobile" users. I snatched one up recently but haven't fired it up yet. Tied up right now trying to gut a 122 and stuff rotors and everythying into a 125. They say that it runs cleaner by being separate from the noise inherent in any PC or laptop.
Let the hanging begin.

Right now I'm using it on my desktop PC

Skywalker,

I'm not gonna hang you, but could you please let me know how you get on with your Extrigy??? I'm particularly interested to know how it performs with VST instruments (in terms of latency).

For me, the golden question with something like an Extigy is "Can it be used to trigger virtual instruments in a live situation?"

Still not there yet but a quick search turned this up from ZDnet--"People who want to tackle multitrack recording or MIDI work should go with the Sound Blaster Audigy instead since its latency is 2ms or less, as opposed to the Extigy's 40ms."

This is a very big moment for me.

I've taken the advice of this thread and have just bought a brand new laptop (a bit selfish at this time of year, but I've worked my arse off for it).

Anyway, this is literally the first website I've visited and I just wanted to say Hail Hail Rock and Roll and a Merry Christmas to the synthzone crew!

[This message has been edited by Equalizer (edited 12-19-2003).]