Which one is the best external soundcard?

[Jose_Man]

Hey guys, I'm starting a new band and we are making all of our demos in my laptop.

I just wanted to know which one is the best external soundcard out there.

I checked out one in SamAsh, the Audiophile USB Audio...It looks good but I need your oppinios too. ( It looks very simple to me)...I mean I need something simple, but I dont know if it gonna be a good inverstment or not. So if you know anything about it, plz oppy about it.

The other one I cheked out was the (Creative AUdigy 2 Platinum eX) it looks amazing! but I dont know if its gonna be to much for me... I know shit about Technical aspects of Recording and soundcards. I just plug my mic to the computer and Start recording.

Well Let me tell you that what I've been doing is recording all the tracks (guitars/vocals/bass and drums) through my 1/8" mic input on my laptop....but the sound quality is soooooo bad that i don't like to listen to my songs more than twice.

I guess if I get a soundcard specially for recording it would be better right?...i need something Good and simple though.

So any comments are greatfully appreciated...thanx.

Peace
Jose

 

[punkin]

I don't know about the Audigy2 Platinum external but, I too tried the laptop route with an external interface...I did the Audigy Extingy...this was a USB type interface. What a piece of crap and, the support was an exersize...the way it works, Audigy had me running in every direction except in the possibility that the problem was with their product. I'll never buy a Sound Blaster product for music or multi-media again.

I had poor audio playback, pops, cracks and seizures with the system. In my final email exchange, I told them that the Extingy was in trash can in the front of my house waiting for the trash collector to take it away. Their response was "we appreciate your business and thank you for choosing their product"!

That sure felt good to get off my chest.

If you're committed to the external/laptop approach, find someone who has had first hand experience and success...duplicate their set-up. Good luck.