soundblaster live value
- Thread starter choy
- Start date
gaffa
Recalcitrant Member
The Sound Blaster Live card is a consumer/home market card, so it is not designed for the home recording system.
If you are looking for a proper recording card, try something like the Wave/424 or one of the other 'prosumer' cards. These cards will cost you a lot more than Sound Blaster (starting at ~US$500), but you get a far superior sound - very low noise, the ability to have multiple full duplex inputs and outputs, support for balanced line I/O, 24-bit, >48Khz recording etc.
In the other hand, if you are more budget-concious like myself (read: poor), then you might find a SB Live card to be sufficent for your purposes. As you get a bit more experienced (and more wealthy), get a 'proper' sound card. It will make a huge difference to your recordings.
- gaffa
If you are looking for a proper recording card, try something like the Wave/424 or one of the other 'prosumer' cards. These cards will cost you a lot more than Sound Blaster (starting at ~US$500), but you get a far superior sound - very low noise, the ability to have multiple full duplex inputs and outputs, support for balanced line I/O, 24-bit, >48Khz recording etc.
In the other hand, if you are more budget-concious like myself (read: poor), then you might find a SB Live card to be sufficent for your purposes. As you get a bit more experienced (and more wealthy), get a 'proper' sound card. It will make a huge difference to your recordings.
- gaffa
Eddie N
10 Inch Member
gaffa,
thanks for the link to the raid article , that helped me out alot.
choy ,
what gaffa said about the soundblaster live being a game card is true.. although for budget minded newbies to home recording you'll be astonished at the recording quality and clarity.. and if you doubt that check out any of the recordings done by slackmaster2k , they sound great.. BUT , the prosumer cards sound even better , being that your ears are trained to hear the difference ..
ps.. lower end prosumer soundcards start at US$300 ( darla 24, gina , wave 4/24 ).. being that gaffa is from out of town his US exchange rate conversion may be a lil screwy
...
- eddie -
thanks for the link to the raid article , that helped me out alot.
choy ,
what gaffa said about the soundblaster live being a game card is true.. although for budget minded newbies to home recording you'll be astonished at the recording quality and clarity.. and if you doubt that check out any of the recordings done by slackmaster2k , they sound great.. BUT , the prosumer cards sound even better , being that your ears are trained to hear the difference ..
ps.. lower end prosumer soundcards start at US$300 ( darla 24, gina , wave 4/24 ).. being that gaffa is from out of town his US exchange rate conversion may be a lil screwy
...- eddie -
About US prices, and those in the commonwealth countries:
I don't know about the pricing here in Canada, either. The exchange rate certainly doesn't seem to be in my favour.
I think I'll have to drop down to the US to pick up some mics. Anyone know any good sources in say, montana?
I don't know about the pricing here in Canada, either. The exchange rate certainly doesn't seem to be in my favour.
I think I'll have to drop down to the US to pick up some mics. Anyone know any good sources in say, montana?
Hi!
Thank you guys for your response and advised. I thought Sound blaster live can deliver the goods, There's one huge problem for me. It's difficult for me to find prosumers sound cards like wave 4/24, echo here in Manila, Philippines . The only thing i found so far descent was the SB live value. So it's very unfortunate for me. Any way, I have an 8 track digital multi tracker to record to, my plan is just to transfer it to the pc as wave file and edit it on cool edit pro.Not to use the PC for recording. question is Do i still need prosumer cards or sb live can handle it. . Hope you can help me solve my problem
That's all Thanks u very much...
choy
Thank you guys for your response and advised. I thought Sound blaster live can deliver the goods, There's one huge problem for me. It's difficult for me to find prosumers sound cards like wave 4/24, echo here in Manila, Philippines . The only thing i found so far descent was the SB live value. So it's very unfortunate for me. Any way, I have an 8 track digital multi tracker to record to, my plan is just to transfer it to the pc as wave file and edit it on cool edit pro.Not to use the PC for recording. question is Do i still need prosumer cards or sb live can handle it. . Hope you can help me solve my problem
That's all Thanks u very much...
choy
gaffa
Recalcitrant Member
Choy,
The SB lIve will be more than adequeate for most home recording. If you can't easily get prosumer cards, well, you don't have a lot of choice.
Hell, my sound blaster works fine, the output is great to my inexperienced ear, and its 1/10th the price (but one day I'll get a 'proper' soundcard)
I don't think anybody round here will give you stick about using a Sound Blaster card - if they do, it will be to both you AND me.
- gaffa
The SB lIve will be more than adequeate for most home recording. If you can't easily get prosumer cards, well, you don't have a lot of choice.
Hell, my sound blaster works fine, the output is great to my inexperienced ear, and its 1/10th the price (but one day I'll get a 'proper' soundcard)
I don't think anybody round here will give you stick about using a Sound Blaster card - if they do, it will be to both you AND me.
- gaffa
Gaffa,
I've asked customs about importing stuff and they told me that a 3% customs excise and 22% sales applies. However, when the GST comes in the guy told me you have to pay GST on the cost of the item, the customs duty, the shipping costs and any insurance on the item. That sucks!!!
I haven't done the sums on importing stuff because I don't know the sales tax put on in the US. If this is substantially larger than our our sales tax, and cos we don't have to pay US sales tax it may work out cheaper... I don't know. You'd have to get all the numbers to work it out properly.
I've asked customs about importing stuff and they told me that a 3% customs excise and 22% sales applies. However, when the GST comes in the guy told me you have to pay GST on the cost of the item, the customs duty, the shipping costs and any insurance on the item. That sucks!!!
I haven't done the sums on importing stuff because I don't know the sales tax put on in the US. If this is substantially larger than our our sales tax, and cos we don't have to pay US sales tax it may work out cheaper... I don't know. You'd have to get all the numbers to work it out properly.
I've imported a lot of stuff (for my own use) from the US to Australia. Mainly software, but hardware as well.
Here's the scoop - it is very worthwhile importing software from the US. Even with shipping charges (which you can reduce to less than $US10 is you ship via US Post, and it still only takes a few days), I can get software for about 70% of the price I'd pay for it in Australia. I'm all for supporting local industry, but if *I* can get it that much cheaper, then surely local distributors can so there's no excuse for what it costs over here (there is no sales tax or duty on software).
Hardware is another story - as has been mentioned, you pay a total of 25% sales tax and duty on hardware. I find when you take the price something is available for in the US (prices quoted online don't include sales tax as that is a state specific thing in the US), add the 25% (yes, that 25% is added to the retail cost of the product) then add shipping, you typically end up with a price very close to what you pay in Australia (and, when the Aussie dollar is low like it is at the moment, you may well be paying a bit more).
BTW Does anyone know of any good online music stores in Australia that sell sound cards (at the level you might call "prosumer" cards)?
Here's the scoop - it is very worthwhile importing software from the US. Even with shipping charges (which you can reduce to less than $US10 is you ship via US Post, and it still only takes a few days), I can get software for about 70% of the price I'd pay for it in Australia. I'm all for supporting local industry, but if *I* can get it that much cheaper, then surely local distributors can so there's no excuse for what it costs over here (there is no sales tax or duty on software).
Hardware is another story - as has been mentioned, you pay a total of 25% sales tax and duty on hardware. I find when you take the price something is available for in the US (prices quoted online don't include sales tax as that is a state specific thing in the US), add the 25% (yes, that 25% is added to the retail cost of the product) then add shipping, you typically end up with a price very close to what you pay in Australia (and, when the Aussie dollar is low like it is at the moment, you may well be paying a bit more).
BTW Does anyone know of any good online music stores in Australia that sell sound cards (at the level you might call "prosumer" cards)?
gaffa
Recalcitrant Member
Dingo
There's a crew in Melbourne called Multimedia'n'Music @ http://www.multimedia-music.com.au that sell gadgetlabs, aark and lynx cards, and I've been told that Music Junction is about to launch a full online store in the next month or so that should have a pretty complete range of stuff.
- gaffa
There's a crew in Melbourne called Multimedia'n'Music @ http://www.multimedia-music.com.au that sell gadgetlabs, aark and lynx cards, and I've been told that Music Junction is about to launch a full online store in the next month or so that should have a pretty complete range of stuff.
- gaffa
TAE
All you have is now
This is an off topic question for all you Aussies out there. I had a friend 20 years back that moved to Australia to work for "Rose" music. I lost contact with him but heard a rumor that he ended up being the Paul Schaeffer(David Lettermans keyboardist) of Australian TV for a talk show that Paul Hogan
hosted his name was David Kimber and was a good player. His claim to fame here in the U.S. was the tune Woodsy Owl sings "Give a Hoot don't Pollute" Any of ya heard of him?
hosted his name was David Kimber and was a good player. His claim to fame here in the U.S. was the tune Woodsy Owl sings "Give a Hoot don't Pollute" Any of ya heard of him?
The sblive value is worth it for the money.
If you don't have much cash to spend, and you're not aiming for pro-quality recordings, the sblive value is great.
The audio sound is decent enough for low-budget non-pro recordings and the SoundFont sample format that the sblive uses is satisfactory for demos.
You can check out a song I did using the sblive from this link in the mp3 mixing forum:
https://homerecording.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000270.html
I'm VERY satisfied for the money I spent.
But if you're looking for higher quality demos it's probably better to spend the extra money for a 24-bit recording card such as the ones mention in the other replies.
If you don't have much cash to spend, and you're not aiming for pro-quality recordings, the sblive value is great.
The audio sound is decent enough for low-budget non-pro recordings and the SoundFont sample format that the sblive uses is satisfactory for demos.
You can check out a song I did using the sblive from this link in the mp3 mixing forum:
https://homerecording.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000270.html
I'm VERY satisfied for the money I spent.
But if you're looking for higher quality demos it's probably better to spend the extra money for a 24-bit recording card such as the ones mention in the other replies.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by choy:
Hi! Just want to know if sound blaster live value is fit and good for recording. Thanks guys any inputs will be greatly appreciated.
choy<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Choy,
I believe I can relate to your, unable to find a good hardware, predicament for I grew up in the Philippines. Just use what you have right now. SB Live Value is a good consumer sound card. I've used the older model, sb16, before and I made a pretty descent cd out of it. Of course, like what everybody is saying, a prosumer card (layla, wave, lexicon, etc.) is what you will need for a nice pro quality recording.
stratman
Hi! Just want to know if sound blaster live value is fit and good for recording. Thanks guys any inputs will be greatly appreciated.
choy<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Choy,
I believe I can relate to your, unable to find a good hardware, predicament for I grew up in the Philippines. Just use what you have right now. SB Live Value is a good consumer sound card. I've used the older model, sb16, before and I made a pretty descent cd out of it. Of course, like what everybody is saying, a prosumer card (layla, wave, lexicon, etc.) is what you will need for a nice pro quality recording.
stratman
I think the guys are coming down a little hard on this card. I'm old enough to remember albums I played on that were recorded with equipment that would seem stone-age compared with the sound quality on the Sb Live. And, those old records still sound pretty good to me
I used an old SB 16 for a couple of years and just upgraded to the SB Live. I can't really say that there's any difference in the soundfloor or headroom at this point, but I just started using the new card. I only use the computer for doing mixdowns...not multi-tracking. For mixdowns, I'd have to say that the SB Live is just fine. The little difference you'd hear in the noise department of a much more expensive card doesn't really justify the higher price tag if you're just doing mixdowns.
Of course, if you want to do multi-tracking, then you'll really need a card with lots of inputs and outputs, so it just depends on what your wanting to do really.
I used an old SB 16 for a couple of years and just upgraded to the SB Live. I can't really say that there's any difference in the soundfloor or headroom at this point, but I just started using the new card. I only use the computer for doing mixdowns...not multi-tracking. For mixdowns, I'd have to say that the SB Live is just fine. The little difference you'd hear in the noise department of a much more expensive card doesn't really justify the higher price tag if you're just doing mixdowns.
Of course, if you want to do multi-tracking, then you'll really need a card with lots of inputs and outputs, so it just depends on what your wanting to do really.
Eurythmic
majordomo plasticomo
MrLip:
Just thought I'd let you know that I tried to download your song, and got a 404 error. Although I'm already set on the SBLive (Platinum, actually) being the replacement for my AWE64Gold (Which I spent WAY more money on - my, how prices have dropped!), I'd love to hear an example of what somebody else has done with the same equipment.
Just thought I'd let you know that I tried to download your song, and got a 404 error. Although I'm already set on the SBLive (Platinum, actually) being the replacement for my AWE64Gold (Which I spent WAY more money on - my, how prices have dropped!), I'd love to hear an example of what somebody else has done with the same equipment.
he only thing with the SB-Live is the multi-tracking part. From what I can see, it's not designed for multitracking or mutiple instruments being on the iput side simutaneaously. Like, if you were to mic drums, you;d need to mix it down into one channel before you go into the card. I've read that if you use a breakout box/patch bay type setup on the SB-Live, you're audio qulity is impaired...not sure if it is true though. I have the SB-Live now and I like the card. But, for the sake of true studio-quality, I'm getting the gadgetlabs wave/824.