How Many Tracks Can You Comfortably Record Simultaneously?

Hi,

Even though I've been using sonar on my laptop for recording for a number of years now, I still don't know what to expect from computer performance. I know there are many variables, but I was hoping that you could give me some clues as to what to expect from our hardware. I also know that processor, ram, bit depth, sample rate are all important factors.

My laptop has 1.73GHz Intel Processor
Ram 1.5gb
OS SP 1 Vista 32bit
Record in 16bit
Sample Rate 44.1

Can record two chammels simulatneously (Edirol UA-25) without dropout. However usually drops out in 24bit.

Could I squeeze more out of my laptop if I changed my audio input device?

My Q6600 is happy with 24 bit 44.1KHz whilst recording from all 8 of my UA-101s analogue inputs via USB.

I don't think you'll improve on the UA-25 performance wise. I agree with The Beagle and think you should look at investing in a more powerful laptop with a little more RAM too.

On the other hand you might find a useful performance improvement by ditching Vista and installing any available flavour of XP you can get your hands on.

Phil

Hello Again,

Beagle, It says your system is 2.4Ghz, 4gb Ram DDR (2 or 3)

How many tracks can you comfortably record simutanaeously and at what bit and sample rate.

Cheers

Rod

And technically your original question was "Could I squeeze more out of my laptop if I changed my audio input device?"

My answer was "NO, becase the Edirol is not the problem - your computer specs are the problem"

The processor is actually the biggest problem tho, yes, RAM will help but not as much as a faster processor. if you increase your RAM to 4G you still might not be able to record 2 simultaneous tracks.

do you need low latency during recording? have you tried increasing your latency buffers?

I would of course use a USB stick to boost my ram up to 4gb.

Don't confuse Random Access Memory (RAM) with long term storage devices such as hard disks and USB sticks.

ORIGINAL: Beagle

The processor is actually the biggest problem tho, yes, RAM will help but not as much as a faster processor. if you increase your RAM to 4G you still might not be able to record 2 simultaneous tracks.

do you need low latency during recording? have you tried increasing your latency buffers?

Hey Beagle,

Im more concerned about the thread title being the original question, sorry if I've confused things by adding in extra questions.

My own computer performance was just really a reference as to what I wanted to know about other peoples systems.

I doesn't really take a genius to work out bigger processor more tracks or more Ram more tracks etc.

I just want to know how these hardware firgures relate (from users actual experiences) in terms of ...........see thread title !

Thanks

Rodders