Question about sound cards

[joshb86]

Hi everyone. New here. Me and a bug recently bought a 22ch mixer. I have a mic on my marshall half-stack, and for sound tuning just have headphones coming directly out of the board. I have the sound perfect to what i want when listening through the headphone. Of course when transferring through my factory sound card the recording on my computer is not near the quality.

My question is will a M-Audio Delta 1010 give me the recording quality i need, or is there something else i'll also need to get.


Thanks

[DonF]

The 1010 will definitely be a big step up from your factory sound card. If you're not stuck on using a PCI-based interface, you could go with something like a Firepod (firewire-based) for about the same amount of money.

I use a 1010LT, which uses many of the same parts internally as the 1010, but which lacks the 1010's rackmount breakout box and most of its balanced analog I/O capability. I'm very happy with it.

edit: See http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=253516 for more specific information regarding the differences between the 1010 and the 1010LT.

Don

[joshb86]

The 1010 i was looking at... it may be the same as what you have.


MAudio-Delta-1010-LT-PCI-Digital-Audio-System

-- can't post url's yet since i'm new... sorry --


anything else you would suggest other then that card if any?

[DonF]

Yes, that's the one.

I don't think you can do any better in that price range.

Cheers,
Don

[joshb86]

Great. Thanks! I know what to get now.

[dickiefunk]

Originally Posted by DonF

I don't think you can do any better in that price range.

Cheers,
Don

The M-Audio is an excellent soundcard. I had the 1010 and got great results with it. I replaced mine when it went wrong with an Echo Layla 3G and have to admit that it sounds slightly better and is more stable.

From my experience Echo is the way to go in this price range!

[joshb86]

Cool. I'll look into the echo. Any of you guys use any cards with linux?


My main OS is linux and so far i haven't found a soundcard that didn't work, but never can tell. I work with a guy who has done studio work. He is also a linux guy and has custom built his own linux kernel making the operating system run off real-time. The difference in quality is very noticeable. Once i get the card and learn the software better i'll be using this same setup. Now days they are actually making linux distributions strictly for studio recording. Ubuntu Studio is one, you guys might like to check that out.

[MOFO Pro]

You might want to move the jack from the line input to the mic input on your existing card before you consider another...

[joshb86]

Yeah, I've done just that. Helped a bit but the card is still poor. It's the factory card that came with the machine.

The mixer is a behringer Xenyx 2222FX. It came with a USB dongle that will transfer the audio to the computer, but it's not much better quality. It's limited plus only can handle transfers from no more then 4channels.

[DonF]

Originally Posted by joshb86

Any of you guys use any cards with linux?

*raises hand*

The 1010LT is a very popular choice among Linux audio users, as is the 1010.

Be sure to check http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main before making a purchase.

Or, if you decide to go the FireWire route, look at http://www.ffado.org/?q=devicesupport/list.

Don

[talontsiawd]

I have a 1010lt and i can say that you will hear a big difference from any factory card i have used. Will it sound exactly like you are hearing through the mixer, no, it will be a bit flat and a touch more dry. But it does a great job for the money, i have no complaints.