Composing on a Laptop - Internal Soundcard or External Audio Interface?

[Emanuel Fróes]

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I'm interested in getting a mobile setup for composition and music production, but am not yet sure how it's best done.
What I'm curious about is the soundcard and ASIO drivers for laptops.
How do you guys do it?

Are the internal soundcards resonably usable in quality and latency with ASIO4ALL?
Do you always use an external audio interface that you have to lug around?

I'll probably get a Windows laptop like a Dell XPS, but MacBooks seem to be great for audio production. Can you get away with the internal soundcard on a Mac, but not on a Windows laptop?

Since you are going from zero, I would research if you need apps made exclusively for PC or if you want to use them on mac. Otherwise i would go to MAc and Logic Pro at any cost. WIth a good used iphone/ipad and a good used Mac you can already have the feeling of competence from start on... I can´t discriminate PC´s totally, but i guess PC´s require that the user knows all about computer parts and does his own work as a nerd. But i don´t have time for this, and the first impressions are my criteria in this issue, unless money start to call for an urgent alternative.

Imagine that "one day" you have all the money to buy a super computer, and now you know it will be very probably a MAC, so it is better to start with the Mac environment, no? Cubase there is also on MAc as a possibility , but Logic Pro is never on PC (sofar I know)

Meanwhile, do not understimate the power of paper, network with musicians, and good caligraphy




www.emanuelmagalhaesfroes.com

 

[aeliron]

I think the answer depends a lot on speakers versus headphones. If you are willing to lug powered speakers around with you, you are less likely to want an audio interface. If you use headphones, you are more likely to want an interface. The audio outputs on laptops aren't really designed for anything more than earbuds.

A bus-powered interface for decent headphones can be as small and light as (just one example) this one:

IK Multimedia - iRig Pro I/O

Universal ultra-compact audio/MIDI interface for iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac/PC

www.ikmultimedia.com

The answer also depends on your

Note, though, that the MacBooks can drive high impedance headphones. Maybe even more than an audio interface, depending which one.

 

[colony nofi]

New 16MBP is the first laptop I've been comfy with using headphones without an interface - when needed. I know a couple name composers who have been doing it since even 2018... I would have tried but my 2018 MBP came with something broken INSIDE the headphone port, and apple couldn't fix it fast enough, and I never got round to getting it sorted... so I couldn't try.

It works remarkably well. Yes to planes (hey, I even use noise cancellation on planes... wouldn't MIX that way, but its great for sketching ideas). Yes to trains and even in a hotel room when unpacking gear is just that little bit much. I travel with RME baby-faces (except when needing to work on dante projectes) and I still prefer it. I use AKG 271 (I know!) a lot, but more recently OLLO open backs. For a while I carried Audeze LCD-X's, but they took up too much luggage space - and now I only would take them if i needed to do critical mixing. I also often bring 8110's (had them for years and trashed them but they're still going strong) and more recently Neumann KH80's when on the road. Small enough / not too heavy - super great for composing / basic mix decisions.

Another option are some of the hifi USB-C headphone DACS. I normally shy away from hifi gear as its often priced much higher than what I need - and I don't need stuff to look "cool" - but there's a couple adaptors running round the place for not too many Benjamins which really do an incredible job of driving cans.

 

[marius_dm]

In my experience, you can get away without an interface on a Mac laptop but not on Windows laptops. Again, just my experience.

 

[hlecedre]

Desktop and external D/A converter all the way. Exception is only if traveling or performing live will I use my laptop rig. But I always (studio and live performing) use an external D/A converter.

Also, this all depends on you and your goals. Are you a hobbyist? Or a professional in music? If you're just a hobbyist then a laptop with 32GB of RAM and a $100-$500 D/A converter would be fine. However, if you're a pro, then you probably wouldn't be happy with less than something such as a Lynx D/A converter paired up with a 12 core Xeon server with 192 GB of RAM and 3 or more monitors.

Personally, I wouldn't rely on any internal D/A converters. Being an electrical engineer myself, I know that D/A converters are not designed nor made equally...especially built in ones. And, especially when using a great pair of headphones, you can noticeably hear the difference between a great external D/A converter and a built in D/A. I believe the issue with some regarding this matter is they haven't really ever A/B'd this comparison to provide real life input on this.

 

[Trash Panda]

I use the internal sound on my Dell laptop all the time and it's perfectly fine. I don't use ASIO4All, just the generic ASIO driver, and it runs at 20 ms. That's on the high side but it's perfectly workable.

Do you mean the generic sound driver, like Windows Audio/WASAPI or is there a generic ASIO driver for laptops running RealTek audio chips?

 

[Dracarys]

I think the answer depends a lot on speakers versus headphones. If you are willing to lug powered speakers around with you, you are less likely to want an audio interface. If you use headphones, you are more likely to want an interface. The audio outputs on laptops aren't really designed for anything more than earbuds.

A bus-powered interface for decent headphones can be as small and light as (just one example) this one:

IK Multimedia - iRig Pro I/O

Universal ultra-compact audio/MIDI interface for iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac/PC

www.ikmultimedia.com

The answer also depends on your desire for audio fidelity. Aside from the power and impedance requirements of headphones, the most important benefit of an external interface is moving the digital-to-audio conversion away from all of the interference bouncing around inside your laptop; the converter chip itself isn't necessarily a lot better. Unless you are recording live, I think audio quality is more important than latency.

Thank you! I forgot the name IRIG

 

[vitocorleone123]

The absolute best, low-clutter, mobile production studio is called an "iPad".