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Laptops and LANs
It seems that we are at a crossroads
these days. More and more people, musicians and
others, are deciding to replace their desktop computers
not with new desktops -but with laptops instead.
In the words of Steve Jobs, Apples’ CEO, "2003
is the year of the Laptop" -and it shows. Every
manufacturer has seen comparative increases in their
laptop sales as users learn that both power and
portability are simultaneously possible. We've talked
before about some general issues with laptops, the
hardware to connect to it, as well as the software
to run on it. In this issue of the Cutting Edge
we'll talk about some new computer technologies
that are on the verge of extending the capabilities
of musicians and anyone else who works with audio,
on a laptop or desktop for that matter.
Directing Data
This probably isn't the most
interesting subject but data transmission to and
from your computer/hard drive and audio devices
is crucial both for tracking and mixing. Most people
are familiar with both Firewire and USB for audio
devices and storage, but there have been some recent
developments with both specs.
USB 2.0
USB 2.0 has surpassed Firewire
400 with respect to transmission rate coming in
at a possible 480MBPS. The new spec increase should
help open the doors for USB audio devices to reliably
record more than two channels at a time. This is
great news for owners of newer PC laptops that may
not have support for Firewire. Many laptops on the
PC side still do not come standard with Firewire
ports, or may only have the 4 pin “iLink” Firewire
connectors which do not carry a power and ground
like the six pin connectors standard on Macs.
Firewire 800
Not to be outdone by USB 2.0
-Firewire, or IEEE 1394 (also known as iLink to
Sony), has come out with a new spec -Firewire 800.
With its 800 MBPS transmission rate Firewire 800
effectively doubles the previous Firewire’s
specs. Also, the new Oxford 922 Firewire chipset
will utilize OS X's built-in support for 7.1 surround
sound. Firewire 800 will use a 9 pin configuration
rather than the more traditional 6 pin found on
Firewire 400. Yet, it is still backward compatible
with “old” Firewire 400 as long as you
get an adapter cable.
This is all fine and dandy but
what does it mean to us musicians and audio slicers.
The basic translation: Higher data transmission
means greater multichannel recording abilities for
audio devices as well as increased track counts
when it comes to mixing our digital audio that lives
on Firewire or USB based hard drives. This is also
great news for laptop musicians who don’t
have the choice of throwing a PCI based soundcard
into their system.
Chips –No Dips
Please
Chips/CPU’s are always
increasing in speed, but on the Macintosh side the
G4 chip manufactured by Motorola is approaching
its maximum speed. There hasn’t been any major
processor speed leap for some time, but that could
be changing soon. The next generation chip (PPC
970) is designed and made by IBM and should allow
for processor speeds of 1.8Ghz almost right out
of the gate. Another big leap in this chip design
is that it is based on 64bit processing. This will
work nicely with Apple’s new OS 10.3 (code
named Panther) which will also run native at 64bit
processing. Of course, all this 64bit processing
will be backwards compatible with applications still
coded in 32bits –but once some native 64bit
applications come out, Macintosh musicians should
see some major gains in speed and overall system
performance. OS 10.3 should come out sometime this
summer and everyone is hoping that the new IBM chips
will soon follow.
PC users won’t have to
wait that long for a new chipset as Intel has recently
brought out the Centrino. The Centrino chipset is
a combination of a P4–M (Mobile) chip with
integrated wireless (802.11b) and a new chipset.
What does all this mean to for the PC laptop musician?
Well, probably the biggest advantage is in the area
of battery life. For instance, the new Centrino
based Z1 from Sony has an estimated battery life
of 6 hrs (13 hrs is possible with the double capacity
battery) versus a regular P4 based laptop that might
give you an hour and a half of use. Overall portability
also increases by allowing slimmer and lighter laptop
design. For example, the Z1 is less than an inch
thick on its front side and comes in at just over
4 pounds. Another potential boon for laptop musicians
is the integrated wireless technology…..
Wireless -Who Needs Cables?
Well, as of now every musician
needs some type of cable (either for their microphones,
or their keyboards) but wireless technology can
still enter into the equation for transmitting MIDI
files, templates, sequences, and even audio itself,
with no cables needed.
Wireless networking for computers
works in a similar way as cordless phones. The cradle,
or phone holder, would be the Access Point (AP)
and the computer would be the phone itself –allowing
you to roam around and still transfer files or even
stream audio to other computers and LAN’s
(Local Area Networks). In fact, the most popular
form of wireless, 802.11b, works on the same frequency
of your cordless phone -2.4GHz. Sadly, 802.11b only
allows for an 11-15 MBPS transfer rate (not something
you’d want to send audio files over). However,
802.11g ups the ante with a theoretical transfer
rate of 54 MBPS as well as being backward compatible
with 802.11b. One of the biggest problems facing
802.11b and g is the fact that it runs at 2.4GHz,
just like your cordless phone and microwave which
means interference can come into play. On the flip
side, 802.11a utilizes the 5GHz band and is less
susceptible to interference as well as supporting
54 MBPS, but unfortunately it is also much more
directional and can have problems with its range. Additionally, 802.11a
is not backwards compatible with the almost universal 811.2b. While wireless
still might not be ready for beaming around ultichannel audio it’s getting
closer and is something to keep in the back of your head.
In Conclusion
Hopefully the above info will
bring you up to speed
on some of the latest technology that will allow
musicians and artist on the go to fit their entire
DAW into a powerful and portable laptop system.
One thing to remember though is that it is simply
technology -it will always be changing, and the
people actually making music out there are usually
doing so in spite of technology –finding
creative inspiration
in the limitations of their systems. So Make More
Music!
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