More than one soundcard in my PC?

Doowah

Doowah

New member
I'm considering the purchase of a MOTU Ultralite mk3 audio interface for my home recording PC. I'll be running Windows XP SP3 as the main OS for the home recording activities, but I'll also be running Windows 7 Professional on the same machine in a dual-boot configuration. The Win 7 OS will be used for gaming and as an experimental setup for my recording activities, waiting for the "bugs" to get ironed out (and stable drivers to be made available) before I abandon XP. Like I said, I'll be using XP as my main home recording environment for a quite a while yet, I'd imagine.

I am planning on using a Creative PCI-based X-FI soundcard for my gaming activities, and using the MOTU unit for all recording and music playback applications. Will I be able to do this without any conflicts or restricting hassles? Will I be able to choose which playback device I use for any activity? In particular, will I be able to use the MOTU Ultralite mk3 for recording without any conflicts with the Creative card co-existing in the same machine?

I'll be using Sonar PE 8.5, if that makes any difference.

Thanks in advance for your help...
 
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Shouldn't be a problem.
Choose whichever card you want for your OS default.
It has no effect on the choice you make within your DAW.
 
Is there any particular reason you don't want to just use the MOTU as your only soundcard? I use my interface as my main soundcard, and it works just fine.
 
TheChikenMaster said:
I agree with The cancers. It prolly sounds better too.
Click to expand...

I'll be considering just using my audio interface as the one and only soundcard in my PC after contemplating these responses. Simpler is better, in most cases.

BTW, I have just about ruled out the MOTU Ultralite as a contender for my PC-based DAW after doing a little deeper research. Seems that MOTU has a less-than-stellar reputation for use in PC systems (but great for Macs, I see). Oh well, the search continues...

Thanks to all of you for the input, as always!
 
Really?? Do you mean just the Ultralite or MOTU in general? That's suprising to me, tons of ppl here use MOTU interfaces (not me), and the general consensus seems to be that it's more stable than the Presonus equivalents.
 
I use two...sometimes I have an 2nd audio programme running at the same time as my DAW through the PCs main soundcard, which is a pretty decent one anyway...saves shutting down one or the other when dealing with the same audio file (ie taking stems from ableton to mixing in Sonar)
 
suprstar said:
Really?? Do you mean just the Ultralite or MOTU in general? That's suprising to me, tons of ppl here use MOTU interfaces (not me), and the general consensus seems to be that it's more stable than the Presonus equivalents.
Click to expand...

I don't know whether or not MOTU is more stable than Presonus, and I'm certainly not trying to knock MOTU at all. The Ultralite seemed to be perfect for my needs until I ran across so many user complaints of incompatibilities under Windows , mostly related to the Firewire interface. It seems that MOTU products are highly regarded for use with Macs, but not so much by some Windows users.

Again, I am not speaking from personal experience, and I'm sure that there are lots of satisfied MOTU customers out there running under a Windows OS. But while doing my homework, I read enough accounts of bad experiences from Windows users to make me decide to pass on the Ultralite and to continue my search for an audio interface. As tempting as the MOTU unit is, I just don't want to take a chance on it, that's all.
 
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