laptop issues. Please Help!

**Trace** · 10-10-2006, 05:59 PM

Recently I purchased and customized a laptop for audio use. However, I am running into more than a few obsticles. I first purchased a TC Electronics 24D Firewire audio device, only to find its' drivers to be buggy, and that niether the TC box, nor my external firewire HD wanted to sit at the end of the firewire chain.

So, I returned the 24D and baught an EMU 1616. Only, now I discover that my laptop, and most recent models, no longer contain PCMCIA slots. So the EMU card is a bust.

Does anyone have any experience using a quality firewire audio device and an external HD?

Is an USB 2.0 external HD fast enough for audio work?

I am using Cubase SX 4 as a host under Windows XP home on a core 2 duo 2.16 GHZ processor with 2 gig RAM.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

**Bela D Media** · 10-11-2006, 06:34 PM

I wish I could help you more but I wanted to put any fear to rest about USB 2.0. Our entire studio runs on 5 - USB 2.0 external HD's.

Audio
Sampling
Video

USB 2.0 ROCKS!

**Trace** · 10-11-2006, 07:58 PM

Thank you. That is really good news. Now maybe I can get a mackie atelite, and not have conflicts betwenn drive and audio interface.

Anyone know if there are inhearent problems with the onboard firewire controllers on Dell laptops?

Thank you.

**Bela D Media** · 10-11-2006, 09:26 PM

Hi Trace,

Now and again I would hook up my Digi002 (Firewire) to me Dell Laptop. No issues on that setup. Could be a good sign.

FB

**masimon** · 10-11-2006, 11:28 PM

Thanks for the info Francis, have you tried booting from one of these drive. I'm interested to know if this is possible and which system would be better for this USB2.0 or firewire.

**Bela D Media** · 10-12-2006, 10:46 AM

Do you mean booting the PC from an external drive? Never had the need. I would assume that the basic C drive is best for that.

**Trace** · 10-12-2006, 04:32 PM

I think the C drive is the only option for Windows. Quite a few mid to high-end laptop manufacturers will offer the option of a 7200 rpm drive as your C drive. This is a good idea if you are planning on using the machine for audio.

Thanks Bella for the info on the 002. Did you record direct to the Dell's internal drive, or did you use an external USB drive?

**Trace** · 10-12-2006, 04:35 PM

Also, does anyone know if the Digi interfaces: Mbox 2, 002, are ASIO compient. In other words, can I use them with Cubase?

**Pando** · 10-12-2006, 07:47 PM

Some laptop chipsets have a problem with running external audio boxes using the built-in firewire port. This manifests itself as static or pops/clicks on the output. If that's the case, the workaround is not to use the the laptop's built-in firewire port, but get a PC-Card (PCMCIA Cardbus) or ExpressCard firewire card.