laptop:
Coming from i5-2540M (2.60 GHz, 2 cores/4 threads, 35 W) w. 12GB RAM.
Fine for my usage but the fan is so noisy you need headphones music playing to stay sane and it limits the options for mic recordings next to it.
Sometimes borrowing a 8GB RAM i5-4200U dual-core 1.6 GHz. Runs fine, minimal fan noise.
Next laptop should be
- refurbished with warranty at around max. 350€
- long battery life, nice touch pad or screen not req.
- max 1.5kg
- preferably with USB 3 ports
- preferably with a VT-d compatible CPU to enable PCI passthrough (aka VFIO)
- (cheap) docking station available
FW can be added by express card to many older laptops like ThinkPads and HP EliteBooks and are still available.
It can also be connected by Thunderbolt adapters so there might be some older MacBooks suitable for that.
Interface
We made a 6 track demo at a band rehearsal that involved 3 interfaces with 2 inputs each (Mackie mixer and Scarlett by USB with ADIO4ALL, Zoom H4 to SD card). Afterwards we looked into the compact Behringer, Line6, Tascam etc. digital mixer boxes with SD card recording and remote control by tablet/phone app.
Behringer even made their controller app for Linux also, the Zoom LiveTrak and alike are appealing if they can be used as decent MIDI controllers when not mixing.
Then I had a look at Focusrite's Saffires after these reddit comments. Some of them have a DSP engine, the controller app for that is (of course) Win/Mac only but you can set it and forget it and connect to another host or use as a standalone thru mixer.
They're dirt cheap used now, as in around 50€ or less for the lower range, around 100€ for the 24 DSP with 2 optical inputs that can carry 10 channels alongside 4 analog inputs.
The Behringer X Air XR18 is 424€ new and the SD card/USB disk recorder is a killer feature compared to the Saffires for some gigs.
To match their channel count with a Saffire I'd need a mixer with adat / spdif output to record larger bands so that would exclude some options where they don't have or want to rent one. I'm not gonna buy a bunch of mics on top of that anyway, to upgrade that part of the chain rather a portable recorder with stereo mic like the Zoom H series or Tascams DR.
Then there's the form factor where the digital mixers are a bit bulky to drag around for smaller sessions or from one PC to another for a while. The multitrack recording doesn't have to be Linux compatible as long as I can overdub, mix and master on Linux afterwards.
What do you think....?