too good to be true??

G

gambetta

New member
Here's what I'd like to do: I've been making some songs with cakewalk using a rather old pentium II desktop attached to my E-mu E4K. Now I finally want to record and make some mp3's. Maybe all I'd like to do on top of that is to add to my songs is maybe some vocals, that's it! No live audio recordings, no live drums, thus I don't need a billion inputs on my soundcard.

Last year I bought myself a PIII notebook for work, and now want to use that one for making and recording my music. Obviously, I found out that the basic soundcard in my notebook is a no go. After some serarching I came across the Sound Blaster EXTIGY, which seems like the way to go. Plus, it has a S/PDIF I/O which could be great since my E4K has that too.

Now I am missing something or is this sound blaster for a only !!$150 :-) really the way to go for my specific goals? Any good/bad experiences, tips, alternatives, or BIG WARNINGS???

Go crazy guys, I can use some input here!!
 
WHat is the highest sample rate that card can handle? That is probably the biggest issue if you are going to only ever record in stereo at most. I would probably at least look at something with four inputs, but as you say, you don't need bells and whistles. So, sample rate is key, possibly type of I/O connection, XLR, 1/4" TRS, 1/8"??

--MIKE
 
The Extigy will get okay results but it is at the bottom of the food chain. Check out cards by Maudio or Aardvark for cheap USB cards. They will give you higher bit rates and have better Analog to digital convertors and a lower noise floor.
 
Thanks guys,

but what about the S/PDIF possibility I have? because of it, I shouldn't have to use digital/analog converters, and deal with their limitations in terms of bit rates!! Doesn't the inclusion of S/PDIF on the Extigy increase its value on the food chain? Again i'm fairly new here, don't put me on the bottom of the food chain ;)!

By the way Maudio USB and Aardvark USB modules for around $300 did not have S/PDIF I/O!!
 
What if all you need is soundcard output?
In my case, I have a dell 8000 with a crappy soundcard.
I'm looking for a way to export Acid songs to my VS880. I need s/pdif coaxial, the 880 has rca jacks, I noticed the Extigy has 1/8" jack. (using an rca to 1/8" adapter, I would lose 5.1 but still have digital stereo right?)

For this purpose, isn't the Extigy a viable solution? usb out of the laptop into the soundcard MIDI, s/pdif... and into the VS?

Thanks...
 
The only caveat I'd give you is that SoundBlaster cards are *notorious* for being poor choices for serious audio work (i.e. doing more than listening to mp3's or gaming).

Their drivers are poorly written and infrequently updated, their cards are resource hogs that don't like sharing.

Check out the Computer Music magazine forum at forum.midiaddict.com - these are guys who for the most part are using -nothing but- computers to do audio (unlike me who uses guitar, acoustic drums, etc...)

The constant litany I hear is "avoid Soundblaster products".

And as for myself, I have had several problems with dropouts and noise disappear when I switched away from SoundBlaster cards.

bottom line - watch out.

good luck.

- housepig
 
I have been using the SBLive (extigy/audigy is next generation of SBLive) and I have to say, while my end results have been good, the hellish nightmare of making the damn card work right has made it impractical to use. If you want great midi, OK audio, and can deal with Creative's crap, get it. If you just wanna plug it in and go, you might wanna think about something else.
 
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