Will this help ??

[littletaek]

Hi there. I have Mbox 2, and my laptop is an old one (ibook G4 1.33Ghz with 1.5GB Ram), running PT LE 7.1. I have no problem recording many tracks with the system but recently i got some fancy plug ins which eats quite a lot of CPU, so i try not to those plugs them much.

Im wondering.. getting an external firewire HD instead of using USB HD, is gonna speed up the laptop little more and gives more power to use these plug ins, as Mbox will be the only thing connected to laptop via USB?

at the moment, i have 2 USB ports and i connect my Mbox 2 and USB storage.


any advice appriciated... thanks !!!

[flommer]

You shouldn't be using a USB HD in the first place. You're lucky that you haven't been having more problems..

It's hard to say exactly what performance gain you might get out of using a FW drive..

What plugins are you talking about?

How many tracks?

You can potentially get more mileage from your ibook by committing/rendering your tracks with CPU consuming plugins to a new audio track. Or if the plugins have audiosuite equivalents, then apply the audiosuite plugs to your original track.. This all just depends if you are able to commit to the processed sound.

[Keybeeetsss]

Thatz not gonna help u with computer/plug in power.. So short candid answer is NOPE...




HEY FLOMMER...

[littletaek]

Originally Posted by flommer

You shouldn't be using a USB HD in the first place. You're lucky that you haven't been having more problems..

It's hard to say exactly what performance gain you might get out of using a FW drive..

What plugins are you talking about?
.

hi, thanks for replying. I never had any problems at all using USB HD for over 3 years now. Its been the most stable thing, sessions never crashed even i use Pro Tools almost everyday. (Except BFD, which gives me a headache sometimes. i run it in a separate session and bounce indivisual parts. and it works fine.)

Plugins i wana use are IK Multimedia mastering ones.. Vintage Comp, Brick Wall Limiter, Phase EQ, Classic Clipper etc.. My laptop manages fine with 3 of them on the master fader plus compressor and some EQ for almost each instrument (15-20 tracks minimum). So its not too bad for an old laptop.

I guess I will use Mastering Plugins in a separate session after mixing in one session, so it has lots of CPU ! Then i can use 4 of them at least.

Thanks for taking time for reply.

[albee1952]

FWIW, I always leave the mastering to a separate session. I usually master in WaveLab(PC only) but Bias looks to be a great Mac choice. Of course it can be done in PT but its not quite as fast(real time bounce).

[Keybeeetsss]

Originally Posted by littletaek

I guess I will use Mastering Plugins in a separate session after mixing in one session, so it has lots of CPU ! Then i can use 4 of them at least.

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