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I am now FINALLY in a position to set up my DEDICATED Home Studio. The laptop I will use needs a ffull re-installation from scratch (damn that will take DAYS). Question is: dual boot or standard? The laptop will obviously need to be able to access the internet for updates etc but to maximise its usage as a DAW, it should not be using up CPU time looking for the internet, running anti-virus or firewalls, should it? I am wondering whether this shouldn't be a dual installation and how to go about it. I will be sticking with XP Pro.
Any and all advice, as usual, much appreciated. Thanks
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Hi Sam,
Wouldn't it be just as simple to pull the plug and use your DAW offline.?
P.S.
Occasionally, we get a glimse of your city on the Home and Garden HGTV channel, that's based in Canada.
Beautiful place. Trust that you are doing well.
Don S.
Last edited by Curmudgeon; 02/27/13 03:20 PM.
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Hi Don. The laptop is WiFi. There is an option to turn off the WiFi and even the Bluetooth but I am not sure if this would stop the antivirus, firewall and internet searching. Seeing as I have to re-install from scratch in any case, I might as well do it properly. How do YOU deal with it? Yes, Vienna IS a very beautiful city. Thanks 
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Sam, create another log in persona for daw work only, and use the original one for other things, like internet and email.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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the dual boot sounds like a great option if you have some experience with that sort of thing. for me I always assume I'll spend more time messing with getting that to work properly and then waiting around for reboots as I switch from one to the other. let me know if it is easier than I think! currently I have a pretty powerful desktop so I never noticed any slowdown using Reaper for my DAW along with lots of other programs running as well.
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 02/27/13 03:41 PM.
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Quote:
How do YOU deal with it?
I'm not doing that much anymore, so I really haven't worried about it.
Take care,
Don s.
Last edited by Curmudgeon; 02/27/13 04:23 PM.
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I haven't experienced much problem with just leaving everything running since installing XP SP3 here. Of course, that doesn't take into account some of the bloated antivirus programs out there. I use Avast! here, there are at least two others that I've heard to be not all that intrusive in DAW work. I wouldn't recommend Norton or McAfee antivirus for anybody trying to do anything *grin*.
I leave my network connected. Sometimes that's because I want to be able to retrieve files from other puters on my network that are needed for the project, or trade projects from another machine, or even have to go online to download audio files from others, etc. I've never encountered the network itself causing audio problems. This is when using XP laptop with 2g ram. The ramcount you have - or rather, don't have - seems to be the real culprit. Put 2g in any laptop running XP where you want to do audio work, also upgrade the XP to SP3. That's been my observation and it generally works well.
I think your biggest problem when using a laptop will be the fact that most laptops have only one internal hard drive bay and slower rotation speeds. That said, you can still get quite a lot done, but it may not keep up with what can be done with same OS on a desktop with at least two separate 7200rpm or faster hard drives in it.
--Mac
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Welcome back, Simon! You've been missed!
I, too, use Avast free AV. One caution that I've learned the Oyrish way...silence the audio warnings or else your masterpiece composition will include: "Avast has just updated your virus database!" in a sweet female voice. Now, how would I know that?
Best wishes on setting up your recording studio. You will find it to be like a hole in the Donau that you keep trying to fill with Euros. Fun though, chuckle. I just bought a 40" flat screen monitor and Berringer MS40 Near-Field Monitor Speakers. I can now hear nuances in music that I had been totally unaware of, both highs and lows.
Edit: BTW, my mixes have vastly improved now that I can hear the full audio spectrum.
Last edited by Don Gaynor; 02/27/13 04:56 PM.
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Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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OBTW, calm down!  FWIW, I now have a Music Director (fancy title, yes, but he delivers, I hope) so now I have moved into a 'Mick and Keef' situation: Sam and Waz... He is a fucking ACE guitarist (excuse my French). Man! It is FINALLY coming together 
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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Quote:
OBTW, calm down! FWIW, I now have a Music Director (fancy title, yes, but he delivers, I hope) so now I have moved into a 'Mick and Keef' situation: Sam and Waz... He is a fucking ACE guitarist (excuse my French). Man! It is FINALLY coming together
Good to see you againm Sam, by any chance is he a Hell's angel as you have been known to mix with that lot
all the best with the studio.
Musiclover
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Nope. Waz is NOT a Hell's Angel. I don't think he would be worried by them though. More of a ska guitarist with a pudding basin hat - think Oasis. He's 36 and, as such, 16 years my junior. Bit of a Noel Gallagher (from Manchester too). Same age. Same generation. Lived two streets apart
Follow That Dream Sam Karaoke King -------------------- Turning that corner again - I have to keep following that dream, no matter what
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