Audiophile 2496...

[King Soda]

Hi!

I bought me a POD and for the first time im gettin decent guitar sounds when recording direct. The only problem seems to be the recording distorted tones,they still sound pretty weak when i go thru the POD to the SB Live.

Now with Christmas coming i thought Santa COULD bring me a REAL soundcard. I've been hearing good thing 'bout M-Audio Audiophile 2496 but there are some questions id like to ask you before i buy the card.

1. Can i have 2 cards in my comp without any problems,id like to keep the SB Live ?

2.Comparing the Live and the 'Phile can a non-professional guitar player really HEAR the difference ?

3.Will the distortions sound better..its really important.

4.Im still gonna need a preamp when recoding vocals,any cheap preamp recommendations ?

If someone would be kind enough to record a lick or two with a SB LIVE and then a Real sound card that would propably end all these "will i sound better with a new card" questions. This is a subject that has been discussed over and over again but i though id ask you guys. I know that Satan...i mean...SANTA doesnt know a thing about audio...

Later
King Soda

 

[Gargamel]

I remember someone saying, 'when recording a guitar with distortion, less is more'

- try lower the drive a bit. it should clear things up.

-yes you can have 2 sound cards.

-you can use the POD set on it's TubePreamp setting in the meantime for recording vocals (no flames) -- it's a start. I'm sure the pre's in your new soundcard will help as well.

 

[Gidge]

Yo SodaPop

, if nobody gets to it before me, Ill record a clip with my J-Station and Audiophile and then with a cheapo soundcard.....i can tell you now that the difference wont blow you over....

Dragon did a clip a while back comparing a cheap Yamaha soundcard and a 20bit Aardvark card, but it was with a mic'ed amp....

https://homerecording.com/digital_results.html

you will notice a tad bit more noise, but not night and day sound difference...thats one track...the problem REALLY comes when you have 16-24 tracks of that same noise...before long you have a mess.....

like Smurf Killer said, less is more....when you have your sound set the way you want, back off one notch on the distortion and record it....then back off another and record it....and another...and remember each time to get as hot a signal as you can, as close to 0db as you can...with a cheaper sound card, that is really important.....now listen to the clips...you may be surprised which one you are more pleased with......

then double one of the tracks and delay it about 30ms and pan them left and right....

what im saying is make the bestof what you have now..take that SB to its potential and then move on to the Audiophile....

yes you can use both in the same system...

yes you can use it as a mic pre for a dynamic mic, but not a condenser......one cheap preamp Id recommend is the Midiman Audio Buddy - 2 channels for $79 and you can use condenser mics.....