Usb Midi And Audio Interfaces On Ibook Options

[dvc78]

I have a MOTU fastlane USB midi interface that i currently use on a B&W G3 with cubase 4.1 and a Korg 1212. I think the timing is pretty bad for the midi and the 1212card and the G3 seem to conflict so I don't use this setup much beacause of this.

I am looking to purcahse an iBook and upgrade to Cubase SX and use an egosys USB audio interface. Will i get problems with midi timing again using both a USB audio interface and a midi interface at the same time? Has USB midi improved for OSX? Any assistance with this would be most appreciated.

[rickenbacker]

3 things occur to me

1. A G4 Mac is the recommended minimum spec for Cubase SX. I have used it on a 600MHz iBook and got a respectable number of audio tracks out of it, but a G4 runs it much better.

2. Yes, Midi generally has been much improved in OS X, particularly now we're at 10.2.5. No more OMS! Woo-hoo!

3. I haven't noticed any problems using a USB audio interface with a USB Midi interface at the same time, but USB audio interfaces generally have a problem with the miniscule bandwidth of the protocol. FireWire is better for audio.

Hope this hasn't been too disappointing. Generally, OS X + music = good times.

[lawlerm]

I have an iBook 600. I run audio software on OS X with plug-ins and use the EdiroL UA-1A for 2 channels of USB audio. I also use an Oxygen USB Midi keyboard at the same time. There are no problems with 2 channels of USB audio and a USB midi interface at the same time on OS X on an iBook 600 at least.

The only thing you might run into is that an iBook 600 is not that good for Cubase plus lots of plugins.

A G4 will definiteky allow you to do more. Plus a laptop usually has a slow harddrive. A laptop is a compromise. But for electronic music generation, laptops are fine. For heavy multitrack effects, maybe not optimal.

[dvc78]

Thanks for the feedback about your systems. I thought an iBook would be too slow but read a few times on these forums about people getting enough out of them.

I've just learnt that my USB sound card won't work with Cubase SX for the next while anyway so that has put a hold on things.

Sorry to say but I'm getting closer to XP everyday. Thanks again.

[rickenbacker]

Well, there are many reasons why I wouldn't come within a million miles of a Windows machine, but it's your choice. However, the problem of the USB bandwidth being too narrow for audio multitracking will remain whatever platform you go with.

Yes, the faster USB2 is a feature on new Windows machines, but it's not really any faster than FireWire and there aren't a whole lot of USB2 audio devices on the market yet anyway. I don't think switching to Windows will help.

The iBooks are powerful enough to do a decent amount of audio and Midi recording, but if you actually want to put out professional release-quality audio multitrack recordings, it probably won't be powerful enough.