laptop recording

[mfc51]

im goin to college and such next year so im getting a laptop.

i need help deciding what kind of recording equipment i should use.

i use a casio keyboard controller, a roland xv3080 sampler, a behringer amp, and cakewalk software.

could someone help me in deciding what to use for good sound and recording. what are the pros and cons of firewire, usb, and type II cards. will i need the amp if i get one? what about the software? which has the best quality sound?

thank you.
mfc51

[TimOBrien]

Dont want to type a 5,000 word thesis....

But I'm using a Gateway 7320 (widescreen) P4 2.8Ghz with DVD burner, combined with a Motu828mkII interface and a Glyph 80Gb silent firewire drive (whole package set me back, oh, $2300).

Using Cubase, NTrack, SoundForge, Kompakt, SampletankXL and a ton of other software. Zero problems.

[samplidude]

I think it depends on what you want to record and how much money you want to spend. It sounds like you have a nice midi studio. If you like cakewalk great. i think it does almost anything. But didn't cakewalk turn into Sonar a few years back? You probably should get the latest software.

Do you want to record audio? That means real sounds like singing or guitar playing. In that case you'll need microphone(s), a mixer or pre-amp, and a A/D coverter.
An AKG 2000 is a nice condenser mic and cost about ($200.) (not for elec. guitar)
A mackie mixer is nice and has 4 pre-amps. (about $300)
A midiman coverter is nice and good for the money (about $400)

I haven't tried it but the new Motu 828mk2 is a combination mixer, pre-amp and D/A coverter. That might be nice for a college student.

These days I don't think the computer is so important. Just make sure it has firewire or ilink and can burn cd's. and An external hard drive is important. Unless money is no object then get one with a 7200 rpm hard drive built in and you can probably do without the external.

Heck, if money's no object get a newman mic (about $3000), a mellenia mic pre (about $2500) and apogee converters ($2500).

[mfc51]

i really only need 1 or 2 inputs for 1/4'
i record track by track each instument.

do i need my behringer 72 lb amp if i get a preamp?