Audiophile 2496 compatibility question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bamera
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Bamera

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Should have found this Board a few months ago before wasting money on an SB Audigy. I'm going to buy an Audiophile 2496, but two quick questions. Will I be able to use soundfonts with the 2496? Product specs don't say. Also, can both the Audigy and 2496 work together on the same computer? I only want the SB for the speaker and Headphone jacks so I don't have to buy monitors for the 2496.

Thanks Bamera.
 
The Audiophile does not have hardware Sound Font support like the SB Live family. But there are software DXi or VSTi samplers that can be loaded up with Sound Fonts, and with a modern fast computer, plenty of RAM, and a soundcard with good WDM and/or ASIO drivers, you can dispense with the Audigy.

Or, you can leave it in the box and add the Audiophile, and continue to use the Audigy as a Sound Font sample playback synth -- if you're willing to accept the potential headache involved with getting the two devices to co-exist.
 
and when it comes to the monitors.....you can still use your multimedia speakers with the 2496...just stop by radio shack and get 2 male rca to 1/8 female connectors. problem solved
 
no problem....but i figure we'll hear from you pretty quick if you decide to use the the sb and the 2496 on the same system.
 
distortedrumble said:
no problem....but i figure we'll hear from you pretty quick if you decide to use the the sb and the 2496 on the same system.
Click to expand...

I've researched this issue as well (Audigy & 2496 in same box) and learned that it CAN be done, with good success. The issue is knowing how to resolve IRQ conflicts with your PCI cards (found under your Win XP control panel -> device properties area).

The boat I'm now in is: get a 2496 or spend the extra $50 on the E-Mu 1212M to augment my Audigy 2 (which I want to keep for gaming-- EAX3 rocks).

Any reason I should choose a card with balanced 1/4" input vs the 2496's RCA connections? My mixer has both RCA and 1/4" outputs, so I'm not sure what I'd gain with the 1212m other than potentially better A/D converters and 192khz sample rate.

Any thoughts?
 
I like your confidence Hoodoo.
However, most XP machines will have an IRQ system which cannot be managed manually - the ACPI system. As far as I know, switching back to the old system requires re-installing XP "over the top" and forcing it to use "Standard PC".
You can read about this in PC FAQ here...
http://sound-on-sound2.infopop.net/

Your motherboard manual or a bios screen might show you which pci slots are sharing with what. On a modern board with everything included (3 USB controllers, Firewire etc) you might discover there isn't one slot not sharing with something else!

With ACPI, XP allocates individual "virtual" IRQ numbers and does not reveal what is actually sharing "real" IRQs.
That said, XP ACPI works pretty well, it's just that there are some cards that don't like sharing. I don't have an Audigy, but the earlier Live! card didn't behave well with sharing.
 
Jim Y and Hoodoo,

I have been using an Audiophile alongside another SB card for years and in two systems running XP. I have never had IRQ conflicts or had to install XP in Standard mode rather than ACPI.

It is not that big of an issue.
 
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