Which soundcard/interface for me?

S

solo.guitar

New member
I'll be recording just acoustic guitar, only up to 2 tracks at one time.

I'll be getting dedicated preamps for each.

I'd like the card/interface to have built in A/D converters, but I'd also like Digital I/O incase I get a dedicated A/D converter in the future.

I will need some way of hooking up studio monitors and headphones to the interface for monitoring/tracking.

I was thinking of a budget around $300, but I'm willing to save more if I have to.

What would you suggest?
 
I'll be using it with a destkop computer. I'm building a new PC cause my old one is outdated.

I'm not sure wether to go the firewire route or PCI. I'd rather go the PCI route
 
This is the computer I've picked out for recording. I'm going to put it together myself. Since I'm only going to be recording 2 tracks at a time, it should be fast enough. It also only totals about $500, probably around $600 with shipping and everything. This gives me some more money to spend on other things.

Motherboard ($140):
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

Case ($45):
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower

CPU ($80):
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

RAM ($100):
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory

Hard drive (x2) ($70):
Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YD 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Video card ($60):
ASUS EN7300LE/HTD/128M Geforce 7300LE 128MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

Soundcard/interface:
[unknown]
 
An M Audio Audiophile or Delta 66 would do what you need.

They both have analog and s/pdif inputs. The 66 is a step up with 4 analog ins on balanced jacks. The drivers are stable and reliable. The a/d/a is pretty decent on both cards too
 
Hi,

Good advise already and I'd like to help if I can. $300 is not a lot though. It would be helpful if you could say what your aspirations were: just for fun? demo standard? doing a CD for family and friends? Commercial CD release? The advice I would give, particularly where spending money is concerned, would 100% depend on what your ambitions and expectations were.

Anyway, before we get into brands and models, you probably know that the following is the recording chain, in order of importance, quality wise:

1. Player
2. Guitar
3. Room acoustics
4. Microphone(s)
5. Mic preamp
6. Soundcard

(5 and 6 can be combined in a one-box solution.)

We'll assume 1 and 2 are top notch. Can't do that with number 3, though, but there are neat (read "cheap") solutions to this often ignored, but crucial variable. 4, 5, and 6, is where the fun with credit cards begins. :)

That's it. For the signal going in, that's it. We can think about playback/monitoring later. A pair of earpods will do, if necessary. Get the input chain right, first.

So, what are your aspirations??

[edit: I forgot to say, the recording sofware will hardly affect the quality of the recorded signal, if at all. Audacity, which is free, is as good in that respect as others costing hundreds of dollars.]

Cheers!
 
solo.guitar said:
This is the computer I've picked out for recording. I'm going to put it together myself. Since I'm only going to be recording 2 tracks at a time, it should be fast enough. It also only totals about $500, probably around $600 with shipping and everything. This gives me some more money to spend on other things.

Motherboard ($140):
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

Case ($45):
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower

CPU ($80):
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

RAM ($100):
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory

Hard drive (x2) ($70):
Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YD 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Video card ($60):
ASUS EN7300LE/HTD/128M Geforce 7300LE 128MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

Soundcard/interface:
[unknown]
Click to expand...

thats amazing, that is pretty much 100% the exact system i just purchased.
 
I'd go for the M Audio audiophile 2496 ($99) combined with a small mixer such as the Yamaha MG10/2 (also $99):

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Audiophile2496/

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MG10-2/

The 2496 will give you your 2 analogue ins plus digital in/out and 2 analogue outs which you can send to the mixer (as 1 stereo out). The mixer will then give you a stereo out to the monitor speakers and headphone monitoring.

Even though you'll have change I don't believe there's anything out there which is going to be a major step up in quality for the extra $100.
 
I was thinking of the Delta 44 or 24/96. I don't see the need for a mixer since I'll just be recording 2 tracks at once, I could just get 2 preamps, or a dual-channel preamp and a card (44 or 24/96) with 2 inputs.

I was thinking the DMP3. I've heard people here say they've used it and never even wanted to upgrade because it's pretty good. I also heard it's real good for acoustic guitar.

Iain - I want the CD to sound good, but I'm not going for a 'commercial' sound.

I'll just be giving the CD to family, friends, and probably about 20 other people who are waiting for me to record a CD.

So what do you think of:

DMP3 -> Delta 44?

What kind of results can I expect with this, assuming my room is treated, etc.
 
For the money that would be two very respectable channels.

My only question would be how do you monitor with headphones as mentioned in your OP?

That's why I mentioned the mixer, it's a good way of splitting a signal and getting a headphone out or two.

If you have another way of hooking up headphones (such as an amp being used to power your monitors) then yeah, the mixer would be overkill.
 
Thanks Kevin & Bull for clearing that up for me.

I'll definately need Digital I/O so I'm going to look at the delta 66.

I figured the soundcard/interface would have places for me to hook up monitors/headphones.

If it doesn't, is it possible to hook up monitors and headphones at the same time with a splitter like you said? I've never used real monitors before, so I'm completely clueless as to how to do this.
 
The soundcards you're talking about just have regular line outs, monitors and headphones need amps to drive them as well.

What monitors do you have? If they're 'active' (ie. they contain their own amps) then you can just go from card to speakers however the headphones still need an amp.

The reason I suggested the 2496+mixer solution is because you can take just one stereo out and from the mixer send one stereo signal to monitors (or an amp powering monitors) and you'll also have a headphone out with an adjustable level.

If you get the Delta 66 you'll have two seprate stereo outs so you can send one to monitors and a seperate stereo out to headphones but you'll have to buy a seperate headphone amp anyway.

I assumed the 2496 and a small mixer ($200 in total) would be cheaper than the Delta 66 ($190 alone) and a headphone amp but I guess if you shop around you could find a headphone amp pretty cheap and you wouldn't be spending much more money, it would still be well within your stated budget anyway.

The Delta 66 does also have balanced ins/outs and you never know when those extra inputs might come in handy.
 
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