Making a completely portable DAW

[megajoe]

I am wanting to make a DAW that I can use to go anywhere and record, whether it be in a bedroom in a different country or doing live/field recordings.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

ibook: 14", 1.33GHz, SuperDrive - $1500
Mbox with plug in pack -------------- $500
1GB RAM ----------------------------- $270 (this is a price I saw in the minimac topic)
Pair of AT4040s ---------------------- $600
USB 2.0/Firewire 80GB Hard Drive - $150
Case ------------------------------------ $60
Midi -> USB ---------------------------- $40

So that's about $3120. I already have stuff that I will use with this, like some SM57s and 58s, Cables, MIDI controllers, ect...

So my question is do I have everything I need? Do I have stuff I don't need? Can I replace anything on my list to reduce my total price? I will not replace the ibook or the Mbox though, and I will be using MIDI. Just looking for some opinions.

[dirty]

I have no idea about this, but is the RAM cheaper buying from a third-party or from Apple when you order the iBook? Or do you already have the computer?

[megajoe]

I don't have any of the gear that I listed a price for. If you buy the gig of RAM from Apple, it's $600, I planned on buying it seperate.

[megajoe]

Oh yeah, I'll need headphones. I know nothing about them, as far as what's good.

[spankenstein]

Here's my rig... not nearly as mobile but it can be moved easily.

I've got a small Shuttle PC. It's a little cube. I have a new mobo and processor and a 4U rackmount case ready.. just need a few additional parts.

I've got that in a 16U SKB shock rack with a MOTU 828mkII and Behringer ADA8000 as the front end.

[AnalogElectric]

Oh yeah, I'll need headphones. I know nothing about them, as far as what's good.

Oh man... I had a chance to demo the new BOSE Noise Canceling headphones (retail $299.00) and holy-whoo-ha! They sounded awesome. It was like wearing ear-plugs at a concert when trying to listen to someone talking to you outside the headphones yet everything playing thru the headphones came in clear as a freakin' bell. I've owned many many many headphones over the years before I settled with AT's but the BOSE I got to have for a month blew me away! I'm getting 2 pairs next month just for the control room (my own personal pair and another for my other headphone mix at the console for others to listen).

Headphones are a subjective thing much like monitors but these new BOSE headphones are AWESOME for live/remote recordings.... even tho they're on the high-end. The trick for me was to find a nice relationship between my monitors and headphones. SERIOUSLY... if these BOSE headphones were around at the time I had mucho bucks to throw down, I'd be totally set up with them fully. For now I can do with a two pair. One for myself and one for a bitchy musician, hehe. As long as I tell them they're wearing a $300 (or tell them more) headphone, they'll be more careful.

-- Adam Lazlo

[Milkmansound]

if this is any help: here is my mobile rig which I just used in the field for the first time tonight - its very powerful and the price point is fairly low:

iBook G3 900 - paid $850 (refurb)
Max Memory - paid $150 (for the high speed stuff - not Apple)
Motu 896 - $800 used
Presonus Digimax LT - $600 used
EZ Quest "Pro Audio" Firewire drive 120gig - Paid $189, price has since lowered

Total = $2589 - and like I said I can do 16 tracks at once on this thing. One of the 3 sets I messed up tonight and accidentaly recorded onto the internal drive! It was still performing so well, I could not believe it when I realized that it was not going onto the firewire drive!

You can really get a lot of bang for the buck these days! I can carry this entire rig at once and it takes me like 15 minutes to get it up and going. I ran out of the direct outs on the clubs mixer - it was almost too easy. Mobile recording rules!

[spankenstein]

One remote date the soundman keept gettign feedback, really freaking bad feedback.

Then next one, their snake from stage to board had a myriad of bad channels. Needless to say all those pops and clicks and cutouts made on my directout recordings as well.

[Milkmansound]

Luckily I am the FOH engineer at this club. But there is always going to be some problem. Luckily there was absolutely no feedback during either performance last night. However, the amps at the club are kinda weak so I really have to push the gain to get DI's and Vox over the top - so there were a few clipped samples along the way. Next time I do it I will take direct outs from certain things that I know are not going to clip, and use the busses for the other things because I can lower the gain enough to prevent the occasional clip.

The real thing to do is have either a split snake or 16 Y cables. Direct outs are entirely unpredictable - and the DAW can not handle anything in the + like the amps and PA can.

I have to run to the club and pick up my stuff this morning, we'll see how it turned out.