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Who of you use a powerbook running Tiger and DP4.6?
PLease let us know your PB model #, screen size and ram and speed.

We are all very interested.
Also any issues you have with this setup.
dg

I've got the powerbook with 15 inch screen (1.67ghz w/ 1gig ram) and added a 20" external LCD monitor, bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse so most of the time I totally forget that I'm even using a notebook. System works great- a few CPU spikes now and then, but mixing 20 audio tracks (no MIDI or virtual stuff) with automation and plugs (including a couple of Altiverbs running) is handling just fine.

I also run a 15" 1.67ghz (not the latest one, the previous model). 1.5 gigs of ram, 10.4.2 and dp4.6, and an 828mkii. Very happy with this for a DAW. I get around 20+ tracks with many plugins going. Very portable, very stable. I just tracked drums for a demo in another rehearsal space with the drummer's Tascam 1814fw, then tracked everything else on my 828mkii. Try to do that with PT! Does everything I need it to.

I run 4.6 on a 1.5 GHz with 1.25 GB of RAM.

I usually go in via the Traveler which is a great little interface and the pre-amps are decent as well.

I have run as many as 14 tracks with plug-ins, automation, etc. without a problem.

Every once in a while, I get a strange message saying my processor could not keep up when only recording 2 16-bit tracks. Very strange...

Other than that it has been great!

Thanks,
Brian G

i got 15" 1.67ghz with 1gig ram running tiger 10.4.2 and dp 4.6. I have it linked up to my old blu and white 17 inch monitor for extra screen space.

runs fine rewired to reason. I'm sure that i could run 30+ audio tracks with plugins no worries. I hardly ever use that much.

i can run a few VI synths without having to freeze them, but its no worries if i do. I ran a test with the eVerb plugin on a hefty cathedral preset to see how many I could do. I think i got 24/25 simultaneous. When do you ever use that many?!

I think with limitations you learn to work with them and productivity doesn't decrease, you just adapt to it. At first i was throwing all manner of VIs and heavy convolution plugins at it and it choked up pretty quickly. now I can can do the same thing but in a way that i know wont stop me doing anything....

One thing: get as much RAM as you can afford. SOmetimes i wish I had more, especially when running other apps in the background..

Also, I'm sure Motu can optimize DP becasue there seems to be a bottleneck costing CPU. Particularly in the graphics redraw it gets sluggish. This is a common problem tho, even for those with dual core 2.5 g5s. I think MOTU must be on to it cuz theres enuff people citing this problem.

PB 15" 1.67 w/ 1.5 GB RAM - Metric Halo Mobile I/O 2882 - Adaptect PCMCIA FireWire card for external HDD (OWC Neptunes).

No issues - my biggest need with buying a new PB was that it had to have a PCMCIA slot for a 2nd FW bus.

HTH

Not quite a correct answer to the question, since I'm still running Panther (10.3.9), but I use DP 4.6 on a 17" Powerbook 1.33ghz with 1gb ram. I also have a PCMCIA Firewire adapter for two external hard drives, and an M-Audio Firewire 410 running off the built-in firewire bus. So far it's working well, and I have been watching for reasons to upgrade this to Tiger, but haven't yet seen enough incentive. I only wish I had the full 2gb of ram (mostly for FXpansion's BFD).

I just got a G4 Powerbook 1.5 ghz, 15-inch, and I plan to use it with my 828MKII for playing back some DP tracks in a live show. No recording, No Vi's, no third-party plug-ins. The DP files I'll be playing back are really just submixes of keyboards, drums and vocals from the larger project files which are on my G5. I'll be running 8 to 10 stereo tracks tops.

Seems that opinions are split between whether to use the powerbook's internal 5400 RPM drive or an external drive that's faster. I'd like to avoid using an external drive because I'm playing a lot of venues in L.A. where setup time for the whole band is literally about 15 minutes (4 to six bands on the bill). The less I have to throw onstage the better.

So, opinions on whether it's 7200 RPM external or nothing?

12'' 1.33gHz 1.25Ram (sometimes external usb2 hard drive)... ah uh, a traveler.
regards, Lorenzo

Powerbook 15" 1.67GHZ, 2GB RAM, Panther 10.3.9, Mobile IO ULN2+DSP, Novation X-Station 49, MOTU DP 4.6, Ableton Live 4.14, DSP Quattro 2.11, Altiverb 4.2.2, Absynth 2.05, Kontakt 1.5.3, Reaktor 4.1.3, Waves 5.0 (Mastering, Restoration, Renaissance)

I mostly use this for live performance using Live and soft synths, and classical concert recording using DP. Works so well I am quite sure I will never get another desktop again! My studio mac is a dual 800 but I only use that when I want to use my outboard equipment.

TiBook 500MHz 15" fitted with Hitachi 7200 HD.
These days I just use it for live gig 24 trk recording.

PB 1.5GHz, 1.5GBytes RAM. Mostly home demo stuff with a Traveler. Using Sample Tank 2XL. Works pretty well, but I don't push it too hard. Biggest noticeable upgrade was putting a 7200 rpm Hitachi drive inside the Powerbook (this model came with a 4200 rpm drive). Huge improvement in entire system performance. A bit of a hassle, but highly recommended. (New PB 1.67 models can be ordered with a 100 GByte 7200 rpm drive, which would be well worth the upgrade price if you're going to do a lot of location audio). I also built a second external Hitachi 2.5" FW 7200 rpm drive which can be bus powered. I suspect battery life would be pretty short if it was all powered from the PB battery, but I haven't had a need to try it yet.

If you are planning heavy mixing projects, I'd recommend the fastest G5 you can afford, but for a compact system the PB works fine.

Bob

PS-I use an external Dell 20" monitor at home with external keyboard and trackball, so it really doesn't feel like a Powerbook most of the time. And, it's quiet!

Hey there, I'm using a 1GHz PB with 828mkII, 7200 rpm ext. FW HD,recording my band with 10 tracks for 4 hour gigs. Usually save at the end of the set and set up a new sequence. Oh yeah, still on 10.3.9, but it all rocks.

Just to update, I queried all the Mac experts I know and got the same answer - a 7200 RPM external FireWire drive is a must for Powerbooks and audio (just as having dual drives in a desktop is necessary for audio). My favorite local Mac repair shop told me that replacing the 5400 RPM internal drive on a G4 powerbook with a 7200 RTPM internal drive was not a good idea due to incerased heat and increased drain on the battery, and most of all it wouldn't solve my audio recording situation.

Powerbook dude checking in.

My computer is almost three years old at this point. It is a 17" G4 Powerbook. 1ghz CPU with 1gb RAM. I run OS 10.3.7. I'm fairly certain that the stock drive is 5400rpm.

I use a pair of 896HD interfaces most of the time. I work at 44.1khz sample rate, sometimes at 16 bit, sometimes at 24bit.

I can play back 32 track mixes with a healthy number of effects. I use MOTU plug-ins of course. I also use Waves plug-ins extensively and a few other third party plugs.

Over the last week I have been remixing a major label release in 5.1 surround. In the surround mix I'm running six Waves Ren Comps, a Waves X-Noise, MOTU Masterworks EQ, MOTU 5.1 eVerb, MOTU 5.1 Autopan, MOTU 5.1 MW Limiter, MOTU 5.1 Flanger, and two Waves stereo multitap delays.

Because I run up to 20 live inputs, I find that recording to an external drive is less reliable than using the stock internal drive. If I am mixing to stereo output, I can then use an external Firewire drive for playback.

I can run 6-8 simultaneous instruments with a buffer of 256. I prefer to print instruments as I work, so typically I'll avoid having more than two live instruments at a time.

Work Priority is set to Medium. This is a critical setting.
Play and record buffers set to 250 each.

Magic Dave