Best newbie soundcard to be used without mixer

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Bergen

Member
I've been doing the home recording thing long enough that some of my friends that want to "dabble" start asking me for equipment recommendations. They would never need more than two outputs, may never assemble the full home studio, and would like to keep the connections as simple as possible. I'd like to recommend a simple 2 channel preamp, like the audiobuddy, and a soundcard/software combo that can take care of the rest. In other words, no mixer. Why no mixer? It's not necessary and there are too many buttons and cable connections for someone just wanting to dabble at this point.

I'm leaning towards recommending the audigy 2 because it has a line out and a headphone output. The problem with cards like the audiophile 2496 and MIA with MIDI is that they require a mixer with a headphone output. If only they had a separate headphone output it would make everything so much simpler. In fact, there's a new soundcard coming out by EMU(1212M) that I believe will be a better value than any of these, but still no headphone output. I know the more expensive soundcards have headphone outputs, but they're not suitable for this situation. Anybody face this problem before and come up with a better solution?

Thanks
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm sure it's a great card, but this is for someone who only needs 2 ins/outs and would prefer not using a mixer, thus requiring a headphone output on the soundcard. Since entry level pro cards are so mixer dependent, I have to recommend a prosumer card like the audigy 2 to keep it simple. I'm looking at recommending an audiobuddy($80), cakewalk home studio 2004 XL($150), and the old plain audigy 2($80). That's a 2 channel, 24/96 system with preamp/mixer+software+soundcard for just over $300.

If I recommend an entry level pro card, I'd have to recommend a behringer mixer instead of an audiobuddy plus a separate mixer to keep costs down, but I think you get better sound with an audiobuddy. I'd be interested if anyone else has any other ideas. THanks.
 
The Audigy 2 is not truely capable of 24/96. I cannot remember the explanation why but it isn't. I'm dogging on the Audigy, I own an Audigy 2 Platinum and I love it.
 
Bergen said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm sure it's a great card, but this is for someone who only needs 2 ins/outs and would prefer not using a mixer, thus requiring a headphone output on the soundcard. Since entry level pro cards are so mixer dependent, I have to recommend a prosumer card like the audigy 2 to keep it simple. I'm looking at recommending an audiobuddy($80), cakewalk home studio 2004 XL($150), and the old plain audigy 2($80). That's a 2 channel, 24/96 system with preamp/mixer+software+soundcard for just over $300.

If I recommend an entry level pro card, I'd have to recommend a behringer mixer instead of an audiobuddy plus a separate mixer to keep costs down, but I think you get better sound with an audiobuddy. I'd be interested if anyone else has any other ideas. THanks.
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Another option is a mixer like the Yamaha MG10/2 for $99. It's got 4 preamps and headphones and is not that complicated. Hook it up to an M-Audio Delta 410 for $99 and you've got a nice semi-pro setup for only $40 more than your audigy
 
dmbpetit: i think you're talking about how the first audigy can playback at 24/96 but only record at 16/44. I believe the only dif between the plain vs. platinum audigy 2 is the front panel that offers 1/4" connections. Still unbalanced though. If you still think the audigy 2 can't record at 24/96, please let me know so I don't make the mistake of recommending this card.

Bulls Hit: Good suggestion. Do you really think it's worth twice as much as a Behringer model that does the same thing though. Balanced outs would be a plus if it had them. Mix send controls on every channel would be nice too. These might make the difference. I'll check the specs. That soundcard you mentioned has ten outs or something, right? i'll only need two, but the price is right. balanced ins would be nice though.
 
Bergen said:


Bulls Hit: Good suggestion. Do you really think it's worth twice as much as a Behringer model that does the same thing though. Balanced outs would be a plus if it had them. Mix send controls on every channel would be nice too. These might make the difference. I'll check the specs. That soundcard you mentioned has ten outs or something, right? i'll only need two, but the price is right. balanced ins would be nice though.
Click to expand...

General opinion is the Chinese-assembled Beh gear is pretty low on quality. The Yamaha stuff is definitely better & more reliable.
I'm pretty sure the 10/2 has balanced outs - I have the next model up which has them. It doesn't have sends on each channel, but it does have inserts which can achieve the same thing. The Delta 410 only has unbalanced ins - you'd need to move up to the Delta 44 for balanced ins & outs
 
Actually, I think i'm sold on that mixer. as far as soundcards go though, this EMU 1212M coming out next month seems like the bomb. It comes with cubase vst 5.1 and a huge emu sample library. Seems like the best choice for this guy without software who plays keyboard. I'm open to opinions on this too, though. You can read about it at www.emu.com.
 
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