Music Production PC

mwtb

mwtb

mwtb

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Joined
21 Jul 2004
Posts
248
I've recently bought myself a midi controller keyboard (CME UF7) in order to learn keyboard and to use for messing about with a bit of music creation. I was hoping that I could use my laptop and some headphones for casual noodling, but it turns out to have massive latency from the MIDI inputs.

I have two other PCs, one of which is a server and runs Linux, and one is a gaming desktop running XP. I don't really want to tie up the gaming desktop for basic keyboard practice (for a start, I'd like to be able to practice a few scales during WOW downtime), so I have a few questions for you guys:

* Does anyone use Linux for music? If so, what software and hardware are you using?

* Is there any way of rescuing my laptop for this purpose, or is there some way I can assess laptops for use as MIDI sound generators if I were to buy a new one?

* Am I better off just coughing up for a separate sound module and/or building a new PC for use as a music production machine? Perhaps a quiet mini-pc?

I'm pretty clueless about this whole area, so any advice is welcome.
 
The laptop is running XP and I'll probably be sticking with Microsoft for a laptop OS the forseeable future. I haven't yet settled on a software package, although I've got a copy of some version of Cakewalk floating around here somewhere that came free with something or other.

I hadn't considered an external soundcard, but now you mention it, it makes a lot of sense. Do the Edirol's actually have sound generating hardware though, as they seem to be purely about recording? As I'm really just in the "mucking about and learning" phase, I'm not that concerned about building a mini-studio, for now I just want something that makes decent sounds and that I can use with some sequencer software. Is there a reasonably priced external soundcard that would suit?
 
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