Home recording studio (member, memory, band, youtube, Computer)

[unphantomable phenomena]

So I want to buy a laptop so i can start recording some stuff ive writen ...I would be using both acoustic and electric instruments as well as midi ...but not sure What program to use as well Cubase or proTools ....Afriend of mine suggestd the new macbook for 984 and upgrade the ram for 200 ....I dont want to spend that much on one either ....any suggestions?

[The Wild Man]

Cubase is your best bet for the money.

[ikvat]

+1
Cubase Essential 4

[littleknowitall]

I'm quite familiar with the cubase software, don't listen to them, get the apple mac 'garage band' software, best software package I've ever used. I swear, It'll be the best decision you ever made, far more exessable than cubase, much more user friendly, great great software, great samples and sounds, features. It has everything, and always gives good results.
And it only comes with Mac pc's and laptops.

[cardboard adolescent]

I would get Adobe Audition and Reason, I use the two in tandem and it works pretty well. I wouldn't buy them though, that's a rip-off.

[Ace]

I'd say either, but I use Cubase myself.
It can be a bit of a pain to figure out how to get set up in Cubase at first, but it's worth it in the end.
You can also create a recording template so you're settings can be re-used next session.

[unphantomable phenomena]

what do you guys think about laptops though ...would a man book 2.1GHz w 4 GB 667 MHz memory upgrade be good enough??

[Ace]

The most important thing to remember when choosing any kind of recording equipment, is to make sure your recording devices are going to be compatible with your computer AND your computer's chipset. The good thing about Mac's, is the fact that problems are A LOT less likely to happen than they would on Windows. More than likely, you'll be recording through a usb, or ideally, a firewire connection. Make certain that the mixer will work with your firewire card or whatever you use to record through. When we bought our PreSonus FP10 mixers, it was 6 or 7 months before we could actually use them reliably. My laptop did not have the proper chipset, and recording had extreme problems...resulting in the mixers not even wanting to work most of the time. I also tried on 3 other laptops with no luck. In the end, we just purchased a firewire card that was compatible, (one of the VERY few), and installed it on a server (Big desktop).

It's rare that you will be able to replace the chipset on a laptop, as most of the chips are integrated.
It would be a huge waste of money to buy an entire motherboard just to replace a card.
To answer your question, see what the normal requirements are for your equipment and then aim a little higher.

There's nothing wrong with using a laptop to record, just make sure it's going to work before you spend the bucks.
Same applies with desktop computers.

Check your specs.

[littleknowitall]

YouTube - Making Music In Garageband

[Yukon Cornelius]

macs are hard to upgrade..... i would stay away from them...