SZ Series for Music Application

Hello everyone,

I am planning on getting one of the SZ laptops and wondering if anybody uses it for music application. I am planning on using it performing live on stage using virtual software synths/effect (NI Kontakt 2, NI Guitar Rig, Amplitube and others). What type of external sound card do you use? I am thinking of getting Presonus Firebox (a firewire audio interface module). Also, does the SZ internal sound card use WDM or ASIO driver?

I appreciate any help!

Thanks,
=TK

 

Hey there,

I use an M-Audio Firewire card, with a 4 pin cable, since the SZ only has 4 pin in, unlike a Mac.

As long as you can keep the firewire cable firmly plugged in, you should be fine. It works well for me. 4 pin cables sometimes come out easily, so you have to be careful... you dont want that happening in the middle of a take, let along a live performance

As for WDM or ASIO, I'm not sure, I can get back to you on that.

 

Last night installed Logic Platinium 5.5.1 and the Emagic USB EMI 62 onto the SZ160 and it works fine for the moment. The EMI 62 drivers are ASIO. I haven't tried anything other than a VST instrument called Camal Phat.

 

PS. The EMI 62 works OK for playback. Thats all I've tried. Ihaven't tried anything else.

 

Thanks for the info. Glad to hear that some folks are using SZ for music. Could someone also please verify the firewire chipset on SZ? Is it a Texas instrument chipset?

Thanks,
=MX

 

Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE Host Controller on my SZ160p/c. This is all I can find.

 

Well, I have Sibelius and the Garritan Big Band stuff on the SZ at the moment, with WaveLab 6 and Cubase SL 3.0 to come soon.

 

zii - Thanks for confirming the TI chipset!

FenderP - It's great to see another musician in the forum. I will be using Sonar, Ableton Live and a bunch of VST instruments and effects. Do you use an external sound box or internal sound card for your music application? I'll be interested to see what you use?

Also, did anybody try connecting the SZ audio out to a mixer or pa? How was the sound quality? I have a Dell XPS and Inspiron laptops and they generate a lot of noise and hiss when connected to PA. This only happens when I'm using the laptop power adapter. It's dead quiet when the laptop runs on batteries.

Thanks,
=MX

 

I've been testing my new sz150 (512M RAM, just ordered 2x1G from newegg) with cubase sx 3.x for a couple of days. So far all runs great on sz sound chip. Projects play smoothly at 44khz/32 bit with 20-30 tracks playing at the same time with many cpu intensive plugins on. sx 3+ is optimized for core duo and it really does the job compared to my old desktop!!! Soon I'll be working on echo audio's audiofire 8 on 96kHz/24 bit recording 8 tracks at once, which will be real world test for the sz, especially for 5400 rpm HD....

 

My main music computer is my desktop. I do mainly composing (with Sibelius), and some MIDI (demos of the scores I do in Sibelius), as well as coming up with some sounds from my VSTs which I sampel into my Roland (hence Cubase), as well as editing of audio I record (old projects, etc. - WaveLab). I'm trying out Sibelius with the GArritan Big Band stuff right now - that's based on Kontakt player.

Since I'm on the road for the day job, the SZ is my work PC as well as my main composing tool. I do note to "paper" in Sibelus with the mouse - I don't use a MIDI keyboard.

 

I am running Cubase SX, Reaktor, and a EMU 1616.

Works great, using ASIO drivers, I am getting a latency of 5ms.

 

I have an SZ160 and run cubase sx 3.1 along with Kontakt 2 with multi-gig piano samples, groove agent, and many other plugs - this lappy flies - you're going to love it.

For a soundcard I use a Yamaha 01X with the MLAN system via firewire and it runs flawlessly at a pretty low latency.

Sinner6, did you use generic ASIO drivers with the SZ's internal soundcard and get 5ms latency?? That sounds great if its true...I'm going to try that and see how it works.

Best,
~r

 

He said he's using the E-MU 1616, which is a PCMCIA-based card with an external breakout box. I'd believe 5ms with that - I have the desktop version (1820).

 

rezloh - I'm glad to know that Kontakt2 and firewire soundcard work on SZ160. I will be ordering mine pretty soon. Does this mean that the internal soundcard uses ASIO driver?

Thanks,
-TK

 

internal sound card supports ASIO

 

Very nice! I would be very interested to see latency numbers for the internal sound card...

Thanks,
-TK

 

The Sound REality chip supports ASIO because the driver was co-developed with Steinberg to support DSD- which you can use with Sonic Stage Mastering Studio.

 

i load my winamp with ASIO drivers Aint no music maker, just a music listener

 

I have used NI's FM7 with my little Sony T250 and it performs extremely well live, however due to latency and other problems with Symphonic Orchestra Silver I am using my Powerbook 1.5 Ghz. So if the T250 can almost handle it I guess the SZ should be the least of your worries.