How much I/O can I get on a laptop with PT9?

[mtung]

I'm looking to put together a mobil rig for live recordings. Is there a way/interface to get 24 tracks of I/O on a mac laptop??

thanks

Mike

[fakir_cz]

Sure, there are many possibilities. What about two daisy-chained Audiofire 12 units? Or if you want preamps, three Octopre units connected via ADAT to let's say ProFire Lightbridge. There are, of course, some higher-end alternatives too.

Tom

[getz76]

Originally Posted by mtung

Is there a way/interface to get 24 tracks of I/O on a mac laptop??

Yes..

[HD2]

You can get up to 32 I/O.

[mblanton66]

Yeah 32 is the max with PT9. So you simply need to shop for an interface with 24 inputs.

The RME UFX is a 30 in, 30 out top-notch interface with a unique feature, in that it can record directly to a usb thumbdrive (or external disk). If I did a lot of live recording, I would sell my HD24, 003R+ and replace both with this.

[mtung]

thanks for the tips! Is USB 2.0 and Firewire pretty much the same when it comes to performance? One better than the other?

thanks

[Dism]

Originally Posted by mtung

thanks for the tips! Is USB 2.0 and Firewire pretty much the same when it comes to performance? One better than the other?

thanks

Are there even any USB 2.0 devices that can do 24 I/O?

Generally the main difference is I/O count and other features like DSP. You just can't cram as much down a USB pipe as consistantly as FW.

[Craig F]

you can get 64 I/O if your laptop has an express port for a chassis to hold a HD Native card,
but that is a bit unwieldy

[Obsidian Dragon]

The software (PT9) and hardware (your selcted interface) can handle the number of I/O up to the maximum available. Firewire is generally able to handle more I/O than USB2.0.

One limiting factor not mentioned is your computer. You indicated you are using a mac laptop. Which one? I'll assume since you are talking about PT9 that it is an Intel processor. A Core2Duo will get you only so far while an i5 or i7 will definitely get you to be able to run more simultneous inputs and ouputs.

Your hard drive is another factor. The internal drive is normally only a 5400 RPM drive. It is recommended to us a physically separate drive (7200 RPM minimul) for your session data.

What sample rate are you planning on using? You will get more I/O capabilities at 44.1KHz or 48 KHZ than at 88.2KHz or 96KHz. You get even less at 192Khz.

Will you use mono tracks or stereo tracks?

How much of your processing is being used for pugins? What plugins are you using when tracking, mixing, etc.? Is the amount of RAM a constraint?

What is your mix of inputs vs. outputs? For tracking a band, you might want more inputs but only need 2 outputs. After tracking, you might not need as many inputs but more outputs for mixing and external routing, etc. By carefully planning your workflow, you can achieve a better effective I/O capacity than simply the total count. Also wise use of overdubbing techniques when tracking can yield much more input sources than trying to track everything at the same time.

[getz76]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

A Core2Duo will get you only so far while an i5 or i7 will definitely get you to be able to run more simultaneous inputs and outputs.

For tracking audio, a Core 2 Duo should be fine for even 32 tracks. We were tracking 32 tracks natively on Pentium 4's which have between 25- to 30-percent of the processing power of the lower end Core 2 Duos. I was tracking 20 tracks natively on a low-end Pentium 4 with 1gB of RAM on an old Toshiba Satellite laptop on Windows XP with Cubase SX 2 back in 2004 through a brandy-new MOTU 828mkII. That system dealt with tracking audio without any hiccups, even to the system drive. Put a reverb and some compression to mix, and the whole thing went to hell, though.

The likely limiting factor for tracking audio, though, will be disk access and interface bandwidth at that point as you state.