From deke@dekethegeek.com Wed Dec 25 12:19:05 2002
Subject:RE: Native Instuments B4 - We have questions

OK... here is the run down.

1. You will need B4 (DUH!).

2. You will need a laptop (DUH! Again). The reason I mention this is that most people think it takes a brand new 1.5 GHz laptop to make this work. This is decidedly not the case. I use a Dell Latitude Cpi 266 (that's Pentium II 266 MHz!) for my rig, and I am actually able to run B4 and emagic's EVP73 for Rhodes sounds simultaneously without the laptop having a heart attack (more about this setup in a later post). I have 256 MB of RAM (memory), but Chuck ran his for a couple of gigs with only 64 MB of RAM, and although it took a while to get rolling it worked flawlessly once it was up and running.

3. The sound card on a laptop is not sufficient. Period. You will have to get either an outboard USB audio device (Like the M-Audio Quattro I use, the Edirol UA-20, or others), or a PCMCIA card that does the same thing (Chuck Hasley uses the Echo Indigo with stellar results, and it's only $99). This enables you to use ASIO, the low latency standard for pro audio (low latency means touch a key-hear a note... instead of touch a key-----------------hear a note).

4. You will need a MIDI interface to use your keyboard of choice as a MIDI controller for the software. This is the only drawback to using the Echo Indigo, as it doesn't include MIDI inputs, whereas the external devices generally do. If there is a power sag on the stage, your external device won't run off the laptop's battery (I have had this problem and Chuck has seen it... it generally requires the software to be restarted, definitely a drag. For this reason alone I would recommend the Echo Indigo and a USB MIDI adapter).

5. This is at your discretion, but I use a small mixer to tweak my signal. These usually have a 3 band EQ section, and can help you tailor your sound to the mix, to the room, etc. This item is optional.

I'm getting ready to go have a family get together, so this is all for now, but tune in a little later to hear about my two new pieces of software that you can't live without... MIDIOX and Audio Mulch.

Deke The Geek