sound card for laptop?

Gary

So I my old laptop broke and I will finally be getting a new one soon.My old soundcard, which I loved, used the PMCIA slot, which newer laptops do not have. The cool thing about that old card was that it had a headphone jack, so I didn't have to have the breakout box connected to use it. If I just used the built in sound card, playback would be all jittery because it lacked dsp power or something, I guess. I'm wondering if this is true on newer laptops? Can newer laptops run something like ableton live with the built in sound card?Now, as far as recording vinyl on to the computer I know I will need an external sound card. All I really need is 2 1/4inch ins, and 2 outs. Maybe even RCA inputs would do it. Can anybody recommend something?I guess my biggest issues isn't so much buying a card for recording and playback, but being able to "compose" on the laptop without having the sound card attached. So that if I'm lying in bed, or on the road, I just want to be able to plug my headphones in to the laptop's headphone jack and be able to use ableton with no issues. Can most new laptops do that with the built in sound card?Thanks in advance for the advice.

Saracenus

Gary,

I recently had to get a new laptop (screen died on my old Dell) and I haven't really seen what you are looking for out there. Take this with a grain of salt because I was not looking for the very specific specs you are.

I would probably go to a music store that specializes in digital music production rather than trying to find the right machine yourself out in the wild. While the prices will undoubtedly be higher the laptops will be purpose built for the job at hand.

My two cents...

chase

I run cubase 5 on my cheap $500 laptop (ACER). Like you said, you need a decent sound card to record, but if you already have the sound digitized you should be able to make music with out a sound card, I just use my headphones.

spelunk

So that if I'm lying in bed, or on the road, I just want to be able to plug my headphones in to the laptop's headphone jack and be able to use ableton with no issues. Can most new laptops do that with the built in sound card?

Any new laptop that you buy now will be able to do this just fine.

If you're looking for something superportable I think these guys make nice stuff and their drivers are really solid:

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/AudioFire2/index.php

Saracenus

Gary,

If you get 64bit Windows 7 with your new laptop, make sure that any USB devices you plan to use on it have 64bit drivers. I found that a couple of my old items (my scanner, my sony universal remote) don't have updated drivers and they will not work with my new computer.

Also HP is being really lame and not updating their old printer drivers to 64bit drivers and I have been forced to use their sucky universal print drivers for my legacy printers.

doom

if youre on pc you can get the asio4all drivers and be able to make music without a "real" soundcard, and still get decent performance. wount solve any recording issues tho!

doom

So that if I'm lying in bed, or on the road, I just want to be able to plug my headphones in to the laptop's headphone jack and be able to use ableton with no issues. Can most new laptops do that with the built in sound card?

Any new laptop that you buy now will be able to do this just fine.

If you're looking for something superportable I think these guys make nice stuff and their drivers are really solid:

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/AudioFire2/index.php

can also recommend echo audio, ive never had a single problem with the card or its drivers, ever. i know other dudes who get used to their setups problems, i got used to not having a single problem. exept that i want more chans.. but that doesnt count.

chase

good luck finding a pc laptop with firewire, these days it is slim pickings

Gary

thanks for the input, everybody.