Building a school's laptop DAW lab on a budget

andrewlloydwebern · Post by **andrewlloydwebern** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:02 am

Hey all,

I want to start a music production club/program/class something at the high school where I'll start teaching in the fall. As you might imagine, budget/tech is an issue, so I was hoping the smart people here could help me brainstorm.

Right now they have one computer that the music and visual arts dept share - I presume it has ProTools on it, I don't know yet.

My dream is to have 7-8 computers with headphones - the kids can come in, plug in, and get to work. (The emphasis at this point would be on "production," not recording)

I was wondering if it would be feasible to have people donate their old laptops, and then we could run some software that's old and/or CPU light, like Acid Style or Reaper, or...any suggestions? It doesn't have to be ProTools - in fact I'd prefer it isn't, just to encourage a philosophy of "work with what you got and be creative."

What are the pitfalls? Most computers will probably need better soundcards - external ones, if they're laptops?

Anything else?

Ron's Brother · Post by **Ron's Brother** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:26 am

For nice program use audacity. It is free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audacity

why are you looking for used laptops? use desktops. More power for less money and most come with soundcard already.

CurtZHP · Post by **CurtZHP** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:53 am

I'm assuming you want laptops as a space saving measure. Just about every laptop I've ever worked with had at least a headphone jack, so that shouldn't be an issue.

For software, check out www.sonicspot.com. They have a fairly extensive list of downloadable freeware, shareware, etc.

casey campbell · Post by **casey campbell** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:12 pm

i would also recommend reaper. it's a full fledged daw with some really great capabilities at a ridiculously low price.

emu makes some great little inexpensive interfaces too. i think it's the 0404 model that is usb based...this could be really nice.

also, i know that i have seen used ibm desktops at tiger direct for $150. i don't know if portability is an issue, but if not, that might be a good way to go...and if it's for a public school system, alot of times there are a large amount of crt monitors that have been put to the side after upgrades. perhaps check with your admin?

good luck.

p.s. - kvr also has a huge selection of free vst plugins (with reviews).

andrewlloydwebern · Post by **andrewlloydwebern** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:22 am

Thanks all - yeah, using laptops for space-saving. The room is weirdly shaped, but suffice to say right now there's no excess room for desktops (probably...hmm...)

Do you all think Reaper and Audacity lend themselves to "loop-based" production? I have Audacity, and I think if you made the loops in different software and then copy-pasted a bunch of times you could do it, but it strikes me more as a 'recording takes' kind of platform...

kingtoad · Post by **kingtoad** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:14 am

Could you not get some of those mini desktop towers? Like a mac mini but pc.

Regarding software, Ableton would be the most popular choice of loop based tool, but in my opinion ACID is much easier to get to grips with for kids. It depends what you want, really.

CurtZHP · Post by **CurtZHP** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:27 am

If you have to buy any software, don't forget to ask about any educational licensing discount that might be offered.

artifus · Post by **artifus** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:59 am

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=57447

http://www.puppylinux.com/about.htm

http://puppylinux.org/main/index.php?file=Overview and Getting Started.htm

*edit* dodgy link, sorry, you'll have to copy and pasta that last one.

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Building a school's laptop DAW lab on a budget

Building a school's laptop DAW lab on a budget

have you considered linux yet?

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