Any suggestions on a good soundcard?

  • Thread starter Thread starter goldenchild
  • Start date Start date
Regarding M-Audio Soundcards...

Have a look at www.sospubs.co.uk Click on the PC Music link and search for the thread "M-Audio's Deceitful Advertising"

Not a very good recommendation for their products :(

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BluesMeister
 
i've had no problem w/ my m-audio delta card..........it's great quality hardware, i have heard some people have trouble getting it up and running, but usually little problems after that..........if you've got the $, i would certainly skip on the SB Live card....it is probably functionable, but not a suitable recording card in a true sense
 
Re: Regarding M-Audio Soundcards...

BluesMeister said:
Have a look at www.sospubs.co.uk Click on the PC Music link and search for the thread "M-Audio's Deceitful Advertising"

Not a very good recommendation for their products :(

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BluesMeister
Click to expand...

I've had no problems whatsoever in the last 6 months with my Audiophile. I just upgraded from my PII-400 to a P4-2.26 and it works just as well in the new PC.

If you want to rant about bad customer support, talk about Creative instead. They have yet to release working WDM drivers for the SB Live series that work with Sonar in Win2k and XP. Oh lets not forget about the misleading info they publish about the Audigy - they have 24bit audio plastered all over the website and box, but when you read the fine print you discover it is for playback only and not recording.
 
After researching some, I pretty sure I'll buy the Audiophile, which is supposed to be a great card for the price, and probably the 5.1 as well, since it's compatible with Soundfonts and it's only an extra $32.

I'm not exactly "just getting started" on the recording thing, but I'm just getting started upgrading my system to something that I can truly record on. I know how to use Sonar decently well, and I love making music, but I just need to get to that level where I can feel comfortable with the quality of the audio and only have to worry about how good my music is. I'm not experienced on the truly technical aspect of studio recording, be it on a computer or otherwise. But I think a soundcard better than my Dell-given one would be helpful in the audio quality department.


I'll check out the link about false advertising, but I've read lots of good things about the whole Delta series, and the price and quality of the Audiophile is appealing.

Thanks, guys, for all your help.

Also, where can I find the Soundblaster Live 5.1 for $30-something? On the company's website, it's $70.
 
Maybe I misunderstood, are you micing the triton as well as sending a midi signal, because if you just use the stereo outs of the triton into the soundcard you will get a MUCH better sound. With your current card maybe you had to mic it, but something like one of the delta cards should be able to accept the audio outputs of the triton.

Maybe I missed something, but just incase I didnt : )
Eric
 
No, I'm not micing the Triton, sorry for the lack of clarity.

I'm only micing my voice, and using the audio output-line input connection for the Triton.

Also, for any Soundfonts experts, are there really good drum sounds for download? That would be the main reason for me getting a Soundblaster, because I'm a little disappointed with the Triton's drum samples.
 
The $32 SBLive 5.1:

mwave.com:
---sku # A14730
---price=$32.00
(it's the last card listed on the Creative soundcards page)
~
newegg.com:
---model# SB0100VP
---price=$32.00
(it's the only $32.00 creative card listed)
~
compuvest.com
---compuvest part# SC-SB3209
---price=$33
(the only $33.00 creative card listed)
~
Checking Pricewatch (which we must always do), the very cheapest SBLive 5.1's I find are $31.94.....
 
There's lots of drums.
There are lots of percussion soundfonts to download, of both acoustic and synth drums. Different drums sound different, even different brands that appear physically nearly identical. There's some variability based on what equipment was used and how it was used in the sample recording. And you can mix them down to audio and put an EQ on them and alter them even more, without making them sound wierd and fake.
There's lots of drums.
 
DougC...about the drums...

Hello, Doug...

Re: Drums via soundfonts...how does one "play" such drums? I understand how you obtain the drum sounds, but how do you produce the rhythm...some sort of midi-capable drum set?

I'm not into soundfonts yet, but I'm probably going to be. I currently record using a BR-8, and I use the DR-5 for drums/rhythm/percussion. What I've been looking to do is to build myself a new computer, into which I'll probably install a Soundblaster Live! 5.1 (currently using the AWE64 Gold), so that I can then download a wide variety (I hope) of soundfonts, and then use my midi-capable keyboard to play orchestral arrangements I write. I'm hoping to find soundfonts capable of producing really good string and sax sounds in particular, but I found the mention of drum soundfonts intriguing enough to inquire.

You seem very knowledgable about this route...hope you don't my mind poking my head in here and asking a few questions.

Thanks in advance...

Julia
 
--I have sequencing/mixing software that supports soundfonts (Cakewalk Home Studio 2002, Sonar does too, others may I don't know...). You "attach" a soundfont to a MIDI bank #, and then access the bank#/instrument# just the same as with a regular MIDI bank. I don't know what you do otherwise- I've not tried using anything else.....
--I have a "piano"-style MIDI controller (Evolution MK149) that can be used for drums reasonably so. It's definitely better than point&click on the piano roll --which works, but is painfully slow, and you can't ever get complicated timing right that way for anything-, but it's not nearly as convenient as having a drum pad-style controller. I've borrowed one before, but can't afford to buy one right now....
~
 
Regarding M-Audio Cards

Powderfinger & Brzilian,

I have no axe to grind regarding the M-Audio cards. My own audio card is a Terratec EWX 24/96. Far from perfect, but adequate in most respects. It's main negative point for me is that it isn't possible to connect my CD's digital audio AND use the optical input at the same time. It's not a huge problem, just a minor irritation.

Selecting a decent, well performing, well-spec'd audio card is like waltzing backwards through a minefield.

Somewhere out there is the perfect audio card that balances features with price.

It's just that every manufacturere claims that it's their card :)

Check the thread on www.sospubs.co.uk regarding the Echo Mia audio card's clicks and pops. None other than Martin Walker, the highly respected contributer to the magazine Sound On Sound has had untold problems with his Mia. Many readers bought the card on his recommendation only to be faced with the same problems and seeming lack of response from Echo Audio.

It all comes down to price vs features. Asking on a BB like this is really the best way to get unbiased, factual information.

The fact that your M-Audio cards have given you no problems is only to be commended.

I guess the burning question is: Given the opportunity, would we buy the same audio card again? In my case I'd have to seriously think about that. ;) Although I hasten to add I've had no problems whatsoever with the Terratec. It set up and installed perfectly from the word go. But a front break-out box, now THAT would be useful!

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BlueMeister
 
I've decided that I'll most likely buy the Audiophile, because of the price and quality of it. The fact that it has a MIDI interface in it already helps as well. But I've read a number of great reviews of it, and it's by far the most impressively-priced card I've seen.

I don't think I'll get a Soundblaster, for now, because I've got Sonar and can get the Soundfont DXi, so extra hardware is more of a hassle than a necessity.


My new question is: for the Audiophile owners out there, are there enough inputs/outputs for me to make my connections? I was looking at the specs and at the online manual, and I'm not sure.

I have a keyboard to connect, which would go through the MIDI I/O and one of the analog I/O (I guess). Then I need to connect my speakers, which is actually my sound system. That would take another set of I/O, leaving none if I'm not mistaken. Then how am I supposed to connect a preamp for my mic?

I might e-mail M-audio with this question, but I definitely want to know the answer before I buy the card.
 
I feel more and more that it's fairly pointless to openly ask what problems any given product has- it's much more useful to simply assume that every product has some problems, and then go to the support forums and newsgroups catering to that product and (lurk and) see for yourself what kinds of problems people are posting. Oftentimes it's a combination of particular items (hardware/software) that you can avoid if you know about it in advance.

For any product (hardware or software) you can always find some people it worked 100% correctly for and other people it never worked right for, and both groups will insist their opinion is correct because "-they owned one, and that's what happened".
~
 
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