PCI Audio Interfaces??

M

Manuwack

New member
I'm lookin into these..i plan on gettin 1 soon..jus wondering what u guys thought about these..and which 1's would be a good choice..i was currently lookin at the echo Gina3g
 
Manuwack said:
I'm lookin into these..i plan on gettin 1 soon..jus wondering what u guys thought about these..and which 1's would be a good choice..i was currently lookin at the echo Gina3g
Click to expand...

Don't know any models except the Delta 1010LT.

I do know this: whatever you do, buy one with outboard converters. The GPU in your system will produce enough electrical noise on the PCI bus power rails to raise the hair on your head. If your converters are outboard and dumping a digital stream to the card, there's no problem. If they're on the card itself, you're going to get noise.

Of course, depending on the card design, it may or may not be too bad. On my Delta 1010LT, I can only hear it on the output, not on the recorded tracks themselves. On the output, though, it's loud enough to be quite obnoxious. For other cards, though, I could easily see how it could be an issue on the recording side as well.

Read reviews, buy one with outboard converters, and if in doubt, buy Firewire. A Firewire card is only... what, about $20 these days? :D
 
Echo makes some decent interfaces but you should check out the forums for whatever DAW software you intend to use to be certain that it will function to your needs.
Bear in mind that your computer configuration will play a major part in any compatibility issues as well.
Arm yourself with as much information as you can in regard to compatibility between computer, intended software and audio interfaces prior to making any purchases. You could end up smooth sailing or, heaven forbid, you could end up being another one of the posters that have nothing but problems.
Good luck with it and research as much as you can.
 
dgatwood said:
I do know this: whatever you do, buy one with outboard converters. The GPU in your system will produce enough electrical noise on the PCI bus power rails to raise the hair on your head. If your converters are outboard and dumping a digital stream to the card, there's no problem. If they're on the card itself, you're going to get noise.
Click to expand...
True in some cases but absolutely not totally true.
Ever heard of Lynx soundcards?
 
christiaan said:
True in some cases but absolutely not totally true.
Ever heard of Lynx soundcards?
Click to expand...

The Delta 1010LT has more power filtering than I've ever seen in any electronics device in all my life---a filter cap about every quarter inch across the entire board---I think I stopped counting at forty or fifty---and it still picks up noise. It's physics, really. The card is in the middle of a giant Faraday cage and every relevant noise source is inside there with it.... :D

Short of covering the entire card surface with a large metal shield, you have the potential to get totally screwed by seemingly unrelated hardware changes like replacing a hard drive or a graphics card, shifting the position of a ribbon cable, etc. It's just the nature of the beast.
 
I'll ask again: Ever heard of Lynx soundcards? :)
(Don't compare them with the Delta cards. Totally different league)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top