Thinkpads Forum

Does anyone here have experience using a T60 as a multitrack recorder/midi device?

I have a ton of analogue guitar equipment and a midi keyboard with a usb adaptor. My knowledge of Cubase and setting up ASIO drivers etc is slim, but I have done it before and always ended up frustrated because of latenies etc.

I was hoping that maybe the T60 is now finally fast enough to handle it in a mobile setting even though its sound chip is probably pretty limited.

Any ideas for an easy to use setup without buying a lot more expensive hardware? Preferably, I'd like to have a Cubase like software (or even something that is less complicated) to prgramm a few midi tracks and put a few guitar tracks on top while using stuff like my old POD 2 plugged into the microphone input. Is there a way to accomplish this in near realtime? I thought that the dual core might come in handy on this.

Depends on how deep your pocket is.

If its not too deep, try this (under $100 US)

If its pretty deep, then try this (about $500 US)

smugiri wrote:Depends on how deep your pocket is.

If its not too deep, try this (under $100 US)

If its pretty deep, then try this (about $500 US)

Thanks for the ideas. The EMU device is certainly nice. The Midi card would not help since I already have Steinberger stuff that can be hooked up to the USB port. I was actually hopiing to just hook up my amp simulator's audio output to the microphone in and work wirth what I have. Given the fact that I just spend big money on a new laptop plus periphenilia and already own thousands of dollars worth music equipment, I am not willing to spend anything else right now. There must be a way unless the internal sound chip is really that awful.

I was actually thinking about experimenting with my Logitec USB headset's microphone a litte and see waht happens if I record a guitar amp with that.

Would anyone have any ideas on what I need to podcast? I got this thinkpad specifically to podcast. Is there anyhardware that will convert audio in directly to mp3/mp4?

cubensis wrote:Would anyone have any ideas on what I need to podcast? I got this thinkpad specifically to podcast. Is there anyhardware that will convert audio in directly to mp3/mp4?

Not that I am aware of. I like Sound Forge for stuff like that. Just plug in a microphone (or whatever sound source you want to record), start a software like Sound Forge and record as if it was a tape recorder. From there you can cut, paste, edit and convert to MP3 or whatever format you need. Very easy.

Another SoundForge user (I use SF, ACID Pro, Reason, and FL Studio). Yay!

Unfortuanately, I don't think you are going to be able to plug in directly to the microphone jack and record as the Microsoft handler maxes out at 16-bit; unless you have another one or BSD/Linux installed.

It isn't so much Dual cores that help, but the soundcard as it has to process the input coming in. I don't know about the absolute limits of it though but it is an Analog Devices High Definition card.

HTH

christopher_wolf wrote:Another SoundForge user (I use SF, ACID Pro, Reason, and FL Studio). Yay!

Unfortuanately, I don't think you are going to be able to plug in directly to the microphone jack and record as the Microsoft handler maxes out at 16-bit; unless you have another one or BSD/Linux installed.

It isn't so much Dual cores that help, but the soundcard as it has to process the input coming in. I don't know about the absolute limits of it though but it is an Analog Devices High Definition card.

HTH

I just installed some audio software. I'll report how it goes. This is certainly not sufficiant for pro-level recordings, but for "musical notes" and stuff that goes up on web page as MP3s, it should be ok. I mean, hey, 16-bit is CD "quality" afterall

I bought an echo indigo I/O sound card to rip my records to use my T60 with Rane Serato Scratch and produce music too w/ Fruity Loops Studio / Sound Forge / Battery 2 / VST plugins etc. Yeah Soundforge is quite nice and will do very well to record. Definitely the sound card will influence the quality of your recordings.

and it was only 420 from digitraxx and the price is current . . .

http://www.digitraxx.com/emu_1616m.html

I got it so at least I have portable 2-track capability as my HHB Portadat died. I'm really going to use it to transfer about 300 DATs to hard drive. I had to get a NIB Tascam DA-40 for 300 off of ebay so I can do it. One great thing about the E-MU is that it has a phono pre-amp in it, so for vinyl>CD transfers you can do it direct.

I use an old copy of Cool Edit 2000 to convert MP3 to WAV files and vice versa. I will be installing the E-MU tonight on my R52 PM740/7200rpm, and I'm waiting for my Z60t 2513mcu PM780 and I'll use it with that too.