TAXI.com

I just recently (aka finally) bought Cubase 5 and gave the system requirements to the computer sales staff. They hooked me up with a Toshiba with Windows Vista Pro. I don't see where the info is on the compter itself for the display resolution it is using. The advertisement for the computer says 16" but that isn't information about the resolution which should be 1280x800 according to the system requirements. Also, there is supposed to be 4 GB of free HD space. The system of the Toshiba says HDD is 320Gb. Not sure if that means a heck of a lot more or if thats the wrong thing. Enough about if my new computer will run Cubase 5.

My next question is about the kind of Midi Interface I should buy and the pro audio card I should get. I see the requirements are that it should be stereo, 16 bit, 44.1Hz sampling rate with ASIO Drive or Direct X compatible driver. What should I ask for at the store?

Thanks,

Greg

I found the display resolution on the computer they gave me and it doesn't match up. The system requirements are 1280x800 but what they sold me is 1366x768. Should I take the computer back?

First, 320G is more than 4G, so you're good, there. Second, the screen resolution is a setting that you can change to what's appropriate for Cubase. (but it's probably close enough, as is) Thirdly, your interface choices will depend on whether your Toshiba is a laptop or a desktop.

Really thank you for the timely reply. They only gave us two days in which to return it. (Indonesia)In any case I have a laptop.

The reason I asked about the hard drive was that I didn't know if HD and HDD were refering to the same thing.

Thanks again...

Also, I remembered so wanted to mention that even though the display resolution can be adjusted, I already saw that its at the maximum. But if that's not critical then I'll stop worrying about it. It's just that the info says the display resolution listed was the MINIMUM requirement and I'm scared the software won't work on it if we don't meet or exceed that.

Cubase should still run, you might be able to view fewer tracks at once, maybe a couple less than otherwise; shouldn't be a deal-breaker.

In Windows Vista, if you can find your display settings in Start > Settings > Control Panel then see if you can find the screen resolution detail in there. If it's a relatively new laptop top you'll likely be OK.

Regarding soundcards, depending on what physical port connections your machine has, you have the choice of either a USB external sound card or a firewire soundcard such as the Firebox by Presonus. For both USB and Firewire be aware that they both have different size connections.

You can download free Windows ASIO drivers if required - search Google or Bing

I would speak to a technical audio dealer with details of what you're trying to achieve and they'll hopefully advise you with what your sound card options are.

Good luck!

I'm totally bummed. I thought I'd be able to get an onboard pro audio soundcard for my laptop. Did I just buy the wrong one or are they all like that? It seems to me my friend Dell in Korea was playing back his tracks on a laptop. Nothing was connected to it. Outboard soundcards have latency issues that I really don't friggin' want. Thats just another big headache none of us need.

There's no reason you can't play back audio through your internal soundcard, but when you play back and record simultaneously, latency will have to be dealt with, regardless of whether you use an internal soundcard or an external interface. If you don't need to do sound on sound, (overdub) it's less of an issue, but I wouldn't want to be constrained in that fashion, heh. In fact, the main reason you want an external interface is so that you can monitor audio coming into the computer, so as to eliminate latency. (you'll want to make sure you purchase an interface with zero-latency monitoring) Your DAW can compensate for processing delays from plugins and whatnot when dealing with audio being played back; it's really pretty transparent, once you figure out how to mute the playback of the incoming track or tracks. (so you don't hear the annoying doubling effect) I know the lag time can be a real drag, when recording without a zero-latency option; it's not so terrible for guitarists that are used to using wireless systems, but can be beyond annoying for drummers, bassists, or anyone with a really well-developed sense of rhythm.

Thanks for all the feedback Mojo. You are being a real friend. The best kind I could hope to have.

I've begun looking at the Line 6 POD Studio UX2 because I plan to use sequencing for everything except guitar and vocals and the POD has most of the kinds of guitar effects I'll want to use and amp modelling etc... It didn't say specifically zero latency but not many of them do after looking at your Sweetwater link. I'll be sequencing the bass, drums and synth sounds for playback and then record guitar and vocals over the top on separate tracks. I noticed that only some of the Audio interfaces come with a DSP mixer and wondering if thats already in my Cubase 5. If not then I'll have to get that and it seemed to me there was another piece of software needed to map samples to the keys. I'll need that too if its not already integrated into Cubase 5.