Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Unibody MBP for audio ???

marbles

marbles

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 30, 2008
1,776
1
EU mostly
Been reading about the hiss and pops from the audio ports on the previous MBP , it seems the new MBP suffers from this too , anyone confirm that the new MBP will be OK to use for audio purposes ..?

If these machines are good to go then my idea is this ....

Use Korg MicroKontrol for MIDI etc with Ableton Live 7 also to have some sort of digital vinyl system incorporated , somehow ?!.

Which MBP would be best suited to this work ?

I'm presuming I need an MBP over the MB because of the expandability of the 'pro' notebook , true ?

I was a professional club dj between 1988 - 1995 (using vinyl only) and am amazed by what's available these days , anyone point an old head in the right direction ?



*The only equipment I have just now is an external 500GB firewire/USB2 HD (7200rpm) .
I really need to try & get this set up as soon as possible , I've a contract staring at the end of January n figured if I start now I should be comfortable with what I get by then .


cheers

rj


http://www.ableton.com/live
http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=microkontrol
 
I belive there is a way to use Traktor Scratch with Ableton Live 7 but I had zero use for Ableton and just stuck with Traktor Scratch.

As for the sound issue, your going to have to get a Audio Interface anyway. Your going to get one via:

1. The club your working at has Serato Scratch Live, SSL. This come via the box that connects via USB to your Macbook Pro or a Rane TTM-57SL Mixer that has SSL built into the mixer. So all of your sound is going out via usb that is connected to a CDJ "blah" and/or 1200s.

2. Some may have Traktor Scratch. That has its own box that connects via USB to your Macbook Pro and mixer. Rarely will you find a mixer that has Traktor Scratch in it.

Do you have turntables or CDJ? Or were you thinking of DJ through ableton and a midi controller?
 
ah ye , I forgot about the audio interface ...I guess that makes the audio hiss/pop a non issue for me then ? .

I use 3x1200's/vinyl at present and was going to use SSL as DVS ( from the reviews it seems better than Traktor,, dont know tho' , thoughts?)

I've not really got my teeth into Ableton yet( still going oldschool vinyl, blowin away cobwebs! ) , and would really only use Ableton to produce on, along with maybe LogicExpress for mastering .
a keyboard /MIDI controller of some sort is a necessity. unless I picked up a mixer which could control functions within Ableton etc ( but I'm also being mythered by my youngest to get a keyboard so could poss kill two birds with one stone ??? ideas really appreciated here.

The SSL/Ableton announcement of there partnership has thrown me off course a little , maybe I should wait till NAMM 09 before I go buying audio interfaces / keyboards n the like?.
I know they're both software houses so I don't hold too much hope of an audio interface / controller of some sort appearing from them , but you never know .

Bottom line for me is I have to get up and running properly before tour begins.

cheers


rj



.
 
I don't use SSL and so I am bias towards Traktor Scratch Pro, TSP. TSP works really well and you are able to use up to 4 turntables at the same time.

As for making music, using the same audio interface that comes with TSP, Audio 8 DJ, I use Logic Studio to mess around.

This is my setup for performing.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=6509321#post6509321

Setup in the studio:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=6332770#post6332770

were you looking for something like this?
 
What made you get TSP over SSL ?

I've no bias to either system but using 4 decks in TSP over the 2 in SSL makes a huge difference to me , from what I've just been reading I'd have to hook up my third deck and play my vinyl if I wanted to have 3 decks with SSL , hmmmm not good.

And the thing about TSP is the Audio 8 interface can be used with other things such as you do with Logic .

Then I go reading reviews of SSL and TS/TSP , the majority seem to favor SSL . Why is that ?? TS/ TSP appear to offer much more than SSL ?

I'm confused .
 
SSL came out before TS/TSP. It is stable and a known name out there. TS/TSP came out last year, I got it the second month it came out.

However if your going to use more then two tables, TS/TSP will do the trick. I done it with three tables and too lazy to set up the fourth table.

Now on using the Audio 8 DJ with other things.

Ill let the pictures do the talking.
 

Attachments

  • out.jpg
    out.jpg
    25.6 KB · Views: 65
  • surround.jpg
    surround.jpg
    44.9 KB · Views: 50
  • Picture 6.png
    Picture 6.png
    433.5 KB · Views: 64
deffo looks sweet to have 7.1 sound but I don't need that man , just good old stereo for me (for now) is that what you where on about for the audio interface ? ? the 7.1 ?

I can figure how that go's with the reviews on SSL n TS/P then , little more stable = longer released , understandable , how frequent are the updates to TS/TSP and what sort of difference in stability have these made , if any ?

, was it intuitive to set up or a ball ache ? when you said "too lazy" was it too much hassle for you to do ?



cheers

rj
 
I did not feel like borrowing the 4th table to try it out. Plus my setup is for two and it is easy to connect a 3rd and 4th table.

I use stereo also but I wanted to show that you can go up to 7.1 if you wanted to.

Download the demo to TSP at native instruments and the manual is full of info. If you need help, fire away and ill help you out.

I only been a temp DJ for a year but I should know enough to help you out.
 
haha yeah I can understand that , 3 decks is definitely enough .

Guess it's TSP's in favor till I see what Serato n Ableton come up with .

Off to dl the demo just now , thanks mate . btw , nice set up but put those monitors on a stand :)

couple questions....

I noticed you use a MBA, how that go with DVS ?

Audio 8 , any issues at all ?

The MBP ..overkill for what I'm doing with the machine ? or firewire/ express card slot necessary ?
cheers


rj
 
My Air does fine for DVS. Unless you are going to Video DVS, then SSL is your only solution with Rane TTM-57SL.

I have a Macbook Pro 17" as the studio computer and is not over kill for making music. You can use it with logic and you might want to link TSP to ableton and a Macbook Pro would be great for that. I got an Air for my college classes and figure it would be good for DVS.

I am going to replace my Macbook Pro with a Mac Pro next year.

The firewire is going to be great for you and express card just incase you want to use eSATA.
 
nah , will be sticking to music mixing , for now a least I'll let the other fella deal with the pic's n artwork side of things . does look fun tho .



I'll probably get the MBP , do I get the 2.53 or the 2.4 ? 6Mb cache and 4 Gb RAM standard on the 2.53 over the 2.4 , worth it or no ? I mean the RAM can be got for about £100 for a 4 Gb kit .......so is the extra cache worth it ? graphics don't really bother me , don't play games or anything ....just music .


Don't think I'll use the express slot for eSata , maybe just get a firewire adapter for it to give me a little more firewire expansion since for some reason Apple seem to be reducing the amount of connectivity :confused: any way thanks for the advice mate , appreciate it .

peace n beats



rj
 
Any of them are fine. I run DVS on 2GB of ram so any of those two are good. I would go with the pro and not regular because the screen size but that a perference thing.
 
If you are serious about audio, then you would use an external sound card that connects via either firewire or usb.
 
xparaparafreakx said:
Any of them are fine. I run DVS on 2GB of ram so any of those two are good. I would go with the pro and not regular because the screen size but that a perference thing.
Click to expand...

it was the 6 Mb level 2 cache size on the 2.53 that intrigued me more than the RAM if I don't need that for what I'm doing then the 2.4 it is but .....
 
If you do not have the money they you are going to be alright without it but buy it for to keep your machine bulletproof for a while.
 
Well the lowend Macbook Pro will do it for you. Later on get an external hard drive, firewire 800, or replace your internal hard drive with a bigger once as you know that your library will get bigger and bigger.
 
was going to get a 7200rpm hd replacement almost straight away , just keep the original with a system back up and fill the rest of it with mp3's to keep safe .
kicker is I bought a 400 FW external HD a week or so before the new machines came out , it caught me with a curve big time when the FW was removed from the new macbooks .

maybe I'll keep the FW400 I just bought and have that just as a music library back up then go get a FW 800 external for work , sounds sensible to me ,


thoughts ?



rj
 
spacepower7 said:
Another good forum for audio

http://www.gearspace.com/board/music-computers/


Side note:
I have never heard of Serato Scratch Live referred to as SSL.
Usually in audio circles it is referred to as Serato, Serato Scratch, or Scratch Live.

SSL refers to Solid State Logic, makers of legendary mixing boards, compressors, EQs, and very expensive convertors and audio plug-ins.
www.solid-state-logic.com
Click to expand...
appreciate your input man , cheers ,


got to say though everyone over at the Serato forum just calls Serato Scratch Live 'SSL' , I know of solid state logic of course and makes sense that is called SSL too , I guess when it is understood the conversation is about either Serato or solid state then folks would know what they was on about with these abbreviations ,so I guess no harm done ?

cheers


rj
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back