soundcard advice

hashy · Post by **hashy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:50 pm

Im about to purchase my first music making pc (DELL dual core/4GBram)

would anyone reccomend a good analog sounding card? I wish to use 5 arturia programs in a real time situation...Im not a fan of latency either - 0% if poss

I cant play if aint on the button

I will aslo be using a couple ogf 'real' synths too.

thanks
#e

Post by **THM** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:33 pm

You'd have a look at the MOTU site; the MOTU cards are used by a major part of the professional home producers. MOTU has a big serie of HQ soundcards; check the specifications and choose the one you think it will most suit with your setup. I mean check power, if it is compatible with your OS and programs, if it has analog in- and outputs (and how many; depending on your wishes). Enjoy !!!

PS: If you don't find your card there, maybe you should consider a whole Digidesign ProTools setup - like in most "big" studio's - but that will be way more expensive if you want an entire setup. I'd definitely have a look at the MOTU homepage first...

hashy · Post by **hashy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:34 pm

THM wrote:You'd have a look at the MOTU site; the MOTU cards are used by a major part of the professional home producers. MOTU has a big serie of HQ soundcards; check the specifications and choose the one you think it will most suit with your setup. I mean check power, if it is compatible with your OS and programs, if it has analog in- and outputs (and how many; depending on your wishes). Enjoy !!!

PS: If you don't find your card there, maybe you should consider a whole Digidesign ProTools setup - like in most "big" studio's - but that will be way more expensive if you want an entire setup. I'd definitely have a look at the MOTU homepage first...

cheers man

valdiorn · Post by **valdiorn** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:38 pm

M-Audio makes some cheaper (yet very good and reliable) alternatives as well...

fingerbib2000 · Post by **fingerbib2000** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:40 pm

hashy wrote:Im about to purchase my first music making pc (DELL dual core/4GBram)

would anyone reccomend a good analog sounding card? I wish to use 5 arturia programs in a real time situation...Im not a fan of latency either - 0% if poss I cant play if aint on the button

I will aslo be using a couple ogf 'real' synths too.

thanks
#e

you can't go wrong with creamware DSP cards, plus, they're compatible with all the creamware VA synths, which are the most analogue sounding synths i've heard. best piece of gear i ever bought.
www.creamware.com

ambientlive · Post by **ambientlive** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:05 pm

hi there hashy

konvert · Post by **konvert** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:00 pm

And yet another suggestion: E-MU. I use E-mu 1820 and I'm very happy with it.

Also I've had M-Audio card.. Delta 44. I reckon they don't make them anymore but I was satisfied with it when I got it.
So I can recommend M-Audio also.

Both E-Mu and M-Audio are on the cheap side of audio-music-making-cards but they work.
I suggest do not go overkill and pay yourself sick because it's not necessarily very cost-wise. You can always upgrade later.
Just make sure whatever you get, you get one with enough inputs/outputs.

hashy · Post by **hashy** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:39 am

ambientlive wrote:hi there hashy

Hello Mr S

a small world

jasedee · Post by **jasedee** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:27 am

hashy wrote:Im about to purchase my first music making pc (DELL dual core/4GBram)

would anyone reccomend a good analog sounding card? I wish to use 5 arturia programs in a real time situation...Im not a fan of latency either - 0% if poss I cant play if aint on the button

I will aslo be using a couple ogf 'real' synths too.

thanks
#e

*The MOTU drivers are more optimized for Macs than PC's...

*M-Audio make shite

*Depending on your needs, digidesign may have an LE interface that will suit you

*RME would be your best bet, but they can get pricey...

Good luck!

MrHope · Post by **MrHope** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:51 pm

I have an M-Audio 2496 Audiophile. I bought it used for 90 dollars including shipping. It's a 24bit 96kHz stereo soundcard with digital I/O and MIDI. It has clear sound and is very easy to use. It has low-latency ASIO drivers.

My only complaint about it is that I had to download the drivers from the M-Audio website because the installer didn't work at first. However, the downloaded installer worked just fine.

I would recommend this card. It doesn't sound analog; it doesn't sound digital. I just sounds clean. It doesn't add or subtract from the sound you put through it. It just does what it's supposed to do--record and play high resolution sounds.

If you want a so-called warmer sound, record through an EQ or a low pass filter to take the upper end off.
Something that could also yield interesing results is occasionally recording through a compressor/limiter to
get a hotter sound without such steep peaks.

rdemon · Post by **rdemon** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:02 pm

I have the M Audio 2496 as well and it sounds clean and i'm happy with it. I'm going to be getting a new sound card with more in/outs (probably the Delta 1010LT) because I use a lot of external analog effects with sounds generated from the computer.

I was looking at getting a more expensive MOTU interface ($800) but I did not feel i'm getting more for my money ($200 for 1010LT).

I'm not sure about the quality of the A/D, D/A converters. I haven't found anything that says the higher priced sound cards have better quality converters (ie. better enough so that it makes a signficant difference in sound).

Ronald

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:26 pm

jasedee wrote:*The MOTU drivers are more optimized for Macs than PC's...

*M-Audio make shite

*Depending on your needs, digidesign may have an LE interface that will suit you

*RME would be your best bet, but they can get pricey...

Good luck!

Second everything here.

konvert · Post by **konvert** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:28 am

I want to hear facts why M-Audio makes shite.

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:49 am

Maybe no hard and fast facts, but compared to Motu and RME products, and even Digidesign, their hardware is poorly made. They use a lot of plastic instead of metal, the connectors are cheap and often unbalanced. Add to that the fact that their drivers are shocking and you've got enough problems to say M-Audio products are shite.

konvert · Post by **konvert** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:44 am

Stab Frenzy wrote:Maybe no hard and fast facts, but compared to Motu and RME products, and even Digidesign, their hardware is poorly made. They use a lot of plastic instead of metal, the connectors are cheap and often unbalanced. Add to that the fact that their drivers are shocking and you've got enough problems to say M-Audio products are shite.

True.
But those products you mentioned are waaaay more expensive than M-audio so they really can't be compared.
I don't want to argue here, I agree with you (though I don't have experience of said cards) but one must think is it relevant to buy the most expensive card(s) there is. Maybe it is, I don't know.

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