soundcard recommendations

prof. Evil Beat · Post by **prof. Evil Beat** » Wed May 07, 2003 4:07 pm

need a new soundcard for my comp. i'm running a p4 with an asus motherboard. 256mb 80gig hard drive. i've got an isis card right now but i can't run it on a win2000 machine. very frustrating.

pretty modest requirements. my setup is mainly used for midi sequencing and sound manipulation. not much multitracking. i just want something reliable that gets the job done. i've got a little over $200can to spend.thx.

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Wed May 07, 2003 6:07 pm

For that amount of money, sounds like you'd be a 'Soundblaster' candidate. I wouldn't recommend them though. Save and get the Aardvark Q10 for around $799. Well worth it. One of the smartest units out there. Visit their website www.aardvarkaudio.com for more information.

prof. Evil Beat · Post by **prof. Evil Beat** » Wed May 07, 2003 7:37 pm

read some good reviews for the M-Audio Audiophile 2596. sounds like a nice solid card for really good price. anyone have any experience with it?

markpar · Post by **markpar** » Wed May 07, 2003 9:05 pm

prof. Evil Beat wrote:read some good reviews for the M-Audio Audiophile 2596. sounds like a nice solid card for really good price. anyone have any experience with it?

I have an M-Audio 24/96 in my "not in the studio" computer. I used to use it in the studio, but I switched to an RME card, because I needed to clock to an external source. Other than that one feature, I really liked the 24/96. It's a good card. I found mine at a local music store for $129.

If you're running WinXP, don't get the 24/48. It doesn't have drivers that work under WinXP.

-mark

Sicily · Post by **Sicily** » Thu May 08, 2003 10:04 am

http://www.m-audio.net/products/m-audio/delta44.php

I bought it a couple years ago and noticed a vast improvement in my mixes from those that I made recording with a crappy old SoundBlaster. I'm just doing simple little bedroom recordings, acoustic and electric guitars, bass direct, keyboards direct, no acoustic drums...so this works really well for my needs. I did have a few issues getting the drivers to work with my kind of motherboard and win 98...I had to use an older version of the drivers which I downloaded from the M Audio site. It was kind of a pain figuring that out, but once I did I was all set and have had no problems since whatsoever. I'd say with the budget you're looking at, you should consider this soundcard or something similar.

eeldip · Post by **eeldip** » Thu May 08, 2003 10:49 am

i have a delta 44 as well.

actually i am just about to get rid of it to upgrade to an 8 channel... but anyway, it works. it sounds pretty good.

oh and when i say "it works" it worked like 66% with my old computer (but i dont blame the card, it was a umax mac clone with a g3 card running 8.6- a nightmare with drivers) and 99% with my new g4 733. it has a tendency to periodically freak out, and distort like mad, then you have to "reset" it by quitting the application you are in. or if it is a DAW, by routing the audio to another bus, then back again.

with the g4 that has never happened in my DAW, but every once in a while it happens when i play a game. not so bad.

anyway, they are a pretty safe investment. you can always upgrade later. and they are passable in terms of sound quality. you may never use the 4 ins but the 4 outs are pretty useful for experimental stuff. you can send out your samples or recording in the real world to do all sorts of funky things and bring them back...

and speaking of safe investment: they cost $190 new on ebay. and they sell for $160 used. is that insane or what? so worst thing you spend $30.

Sicily · Post by **Sicily** » Thu May 08, 2003 11:09 am

I've been wanting to do this lately, but I'm not quite sure how to go about it.

I've got a little Mackie 1202 that I use for it's preamps and also to monitor through. I route two of my Delta's outs back into two channels on the Mackie to achieve this.

Say for example that I want to do funky things to a guitar track after it's already in the computer. How would you route just the guitar track, not the entire mix, back into the Mackie after you mess with it? Is this even possible with out soloing the guitar track?

Sorry if this question doesn't make any sense, I realize that it's pretty much one of those things that you just have to try...just plug stuff in and see what happens, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

eeldip · Post by **eeldip** » Thu May 08, 2003 12:33 pm

couple ways to send things to the real world.

what i generally do is route the targeted track (in your case the guitar) through the "bus 2" on the 44 (at least that is how it shows up in Cubase 4.1). then i take the analog signal, do whatever needs to get done with it... and send it back into the 44 in any of the inputs. record the affected track to another track.

sometimes it takes a moment or two to set up the Bus 2 outputs... you need to activate it in the DAW program as well as make sure in the "delta control panel" everything is kosher.

is that clear... hard to say how you need to do it without knowing how your DAW program works...

Sicily · Post by **Sicily** » Thu May 08, 2003 1:05 pm

I use this program called Sawpro...

They're out of business now and I'm thinking about switching to something more current soon, but it's still a pretty powerful piece of software for what I do.

It has 32 tracks that you can record to and it also has I think 32 output tracks and I think this is where I need to assign a track for the the "trageted track."

I'm going to screw around with that tonight so I'll let you know how it goes.

I appreciate the help, my man. Thanks...

logancircle · Post by **logancircle** » Fri May 09, 2003 9:01 am

What about the Quattro MIDI/USB? Could I use this to do 2 phantom powered ins and like 3 or 4 other mic ins? I'm trying to mic drums (K, SN, OH) acoustic bass, elec guit onto seperate tracks on my PC. Any opinions on this unit?

I've used G4 with Digi-01 for recording as well as laptop with MOTU, but this is for my own PC. Thanks!

oxfist · Post by **oxfist** » Fri May 09, 2003 9:52 am

there's a new version of the echo mia (2 ins/2 outs) out there that has MIDI in/out instead of SPDIF. its under $200 in most places that you look, and if you ever move out of the MIDI world you can take advantage of its 24-bit-ness. driver issues in XP are pretty negligible, just download the newest one (6.01?) from their site. hope that helps.

Angie · Post by **Angie** » Sun May 11, 2003 6:47 am

Sicily wrote:I use this program called Sawpro...

They're out of business now and I'm thinking about switching to something more current soon, but it's still a pretty powerful piece of software for what I do.

Sicily,

Bob is back!!! And if you liked SAW Pro, You'll love SAW Studio!! Real time,live routing is possible in Studio. Think of it as a full blown Pro Tools rig with extra capabilities at a fraction of the price.

http://www.sawstudio.com
http://www.sawstudiouser.net

Add any soundcard offering from RME and be amazed.

Real time routing is possible in Studio. Think of it as a full blown Pro Tools rig at a fraction of the price.

Sicily · Post by **Sicily** » Mon May 12, 2003 7:32 am

I do really like Sawpro and to be honest I was pretty bummed out that the company went under because I think it's a great program. An old buddy of mine uses/used SawStudio and loved it as far as I know...haven't seen him in ages. Anyway, I do remember that Studio looked amazing and those real time capabilites are something I've always wished for...

Must save some dough!

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soundcard recommendations

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I use one of these

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Question about sending stuff out...

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Right on, I think I know what you're saying

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mama mia!!

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Thanks for the heads up, Angie!

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