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Sager for Music Applications

post #1 of 10
1/17/03 at 9:13am
Thread Starter 
Hi to everyone on the board,

I'm planning on getting a Sager 5660 to use for music software. I will be running Ableton Live, a program for playing loops of audio samples, and Propellerhead Reason, a sofware synthesizer. I will also be running other DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software on it such as Cubase SX for recording guitar and vocals.

Does anyone have any experience using Sager laptops, and the 5660 in particular, for music applications? Music software is not only extremely processor intensive, it is also notoriously finicky with respect to hardware. I know what motherboards etc. on desktop PCs are known for reliability in audio applications but I have no idea about those used in laptops. I've been reading the posts on this board and don't seem to have found anything relevant to my questions but in case this topic has been covered before, I apologize for wasting your time.

The configuration I'm interested in is:
-P4 2.4Ghz
-1 Gig of RAM
-40 Gig/5400rpm HD

I own several macs and this will be my first PC in quite a few years, so I really need to make sure--as far as possible--that I'm making the right decision. Thanks in advance for any insights.
____
Chris
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post #2 of 10
1/17/03 at 12:56pm
I have used my laptop a good bit for video editing and it has worked VERY well. I know it is not the same thing that you would use yours for, but like audio processing it is very processor intensive. I can render transitions and effects live without skipping singe frame. Please understand that I am not a professional artist by any means. I just edit and burn my home videos to VCD.

Sager 8886
512 Meg RAM
2.66 GHz Processor
40 Gig 5200 RPM HD
etc..etc..


I hope this helps

Michael
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post #3 of 10
1/17/03 at 5:47pm
Hey Muser, I am using Sonar 2.0XL right now and its running great on my 8886. I'm not sure how it works with the 5660. When recording vocals and guitars like you said, how do you plan to input them? External sound card? USB Audio device?
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post #4 of 10
1/17/03 at 8:25pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the insights guys! It's definitely good to know that Sager's work well for video-editing. Of course, my concern isn't with processing power, which I know will be adequate, but rather with compatibility and stability issues. Both of you use 8886s, I wonder if there'd be much difference on a 5660.

Quote:
Originally posted by Wisefish
Hey Muser, I am using Sonar 2.0XL right now and its running great on my 8886. I'm not sure how it works with the 5660. When recording vocals and guitars like you said, how do you plan to input them? External sound card? USB Audio device?
It's great to hear from someone using DAW software. Have you had any stability issues? What kind of setup do you have? I intend to use either a RME Hammerfall/Multiface PC Card-based audio interface or a MOTU 828 firewire interface. I'm wary of USB audio interfaces since I've heard of issues with crackling and stuttering, both on PCs and Macs. I also own a Waveterminal U2A USB audio interface and find that it uses considerably more CPU power on my Mac than my old MOTU 828 (which I've sold) did. I'm not sure if I'd dare to keep it to try the XP drivers on a 5660.

Again, my issue isn't with speed, but with reliability and hardware conflicts.
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post #5 of 10
1/17/03 at 8:30pm
perhaps this will be of some use to you:
http://sagerforums.com/forums/showth...=&threadid=634
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post #6 of 10
1/17/03 at 11:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by denkc
perhaps this will be of some use to you:
http://sagerforums.com/forums/showth...=&threadid=634
Thanks for the link, I really appreciate it! This thread answered all my questions. Sorrie for asking a question that's been answered before.
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post #7 of 10
1/20/03 at 2:47am
Muser, I use the MAudio Duo. I have had no problems with it. IT runs, and sounds absolutley perfectly, much better than many professional analog studio sounds. The DUO is about $250. It has an A/D converter, two mic input channels. There is also the quattro for the same price with 4 inputs but no A/D converter. I hope this helps, I do recommend getting at least 5400 rpm hard drive for audio recording.

hope this helps
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post #8 of 10
1/20/03 at 3:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Wisefish
Muser, I use the MAudio Duo. I have had no
Thanks for the report, it's reassuring to know you've been using it without any problems. Reports of good stability with PCs running audio hardware and software are like gold to me!

I'm still obssessing over whether or not to switch from a Mac to a PC. Reports of Longhorn and Palladium on the horizon give me second thoughts. Truth be told, the ONLY reason I want a PC is because Ableton Live runs incomparably better on a PC than a Mac.
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post #9 of 10
1/20/03 at 3:51am
I've never used Ableton Live, but as for media production in general, macs tend to have an advantage. In audio specifically I think Pro Tools on a MAC is the best, that is if you have the money. The only reason I use PC's for recording is I dont like the idea of my computer being stuck with the incompatability of macs.

I am pretty new with audio recording so I might be totally wrong, if so I apologize in advance
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post #10 of 10
1/20/03 at 4:22am
Thread Starter 
The problem with using Macs is that unless an application is written to take advantage of the Altivec portion of the G4 CPU (which is responsible for speeding up calcuations immensely), performance will lag ridiculously behind PCs several generations old.

All my applications are optimized for Altivec except Ableton Live, but Live is such a phenomenal program that I can't do without it.

FYI, Ableton Live users report that PCs with 800Mhz Athlons out-perform 1Ghz Apple Powerbooks by significant margins--a result which has no parrallel that I know of in any other program. All other audio programs seem to run pretty much equivalently on both platforms.

I was hoping to see if anyone was using Ableton Live on a Sager and whether or not they've run into any stability problems.
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