Consumer sound cards?

T

tf5_bassist

The LouDogg
I'm looking at buying a new "consumer" soundcard for my computer, a general purpose card for normal PC stuff, like games, movies, music, etc etc. I'm looking at the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum right now, it seems to be the cream of the crop in the field today, and it's also touted to be the best recording card in the consumer PC card market. Of course I know that it won't get me great sound, I just want something that's "decent" for messing around on CubaseVST with low latency. that's about it. I'll build my recording rig sometime in the future, so that's not where i'm going with this machine.

Any ideas, opinions, etc?
 
tf5_bassist said:
I'm looking at buying a new "consumer" soundcard for my computer, a general purpose card for normal PC stuff, like games, movies, music, etc etc. I'm looking at the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum right now, it seems to be the cream of the crop in the field today, and it's also touted to be the best recording card in the consumer PC card market. Of course I know that it won't get me great sound, I just want something that's "decent" for messing around on CubaseVST with low latency. that's about it. I'll build my recording rig sometime in the future, so that's not where i'm going with this machine.

Any ideas, opinions, etc?
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If I were in the market for one of those, I'd probably pick up a M-Audio Revolution 7.1
 
so far, the only real advantage the Revolution has over the Audigy 2 Platinum is it's ASIO resolution. and that's it, really. It doesn't have any digital in, either.
 
tf5_bassist said:
so far, the only real advantage the Revolution has over the Audigy 2 Platinum is it's ASIO resolution. and that's it, really. It doesn't have any digital in, either.
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You forgot about support. I think M-Audio supports its products better and much longer than Creative does. Creative is all about throwing new product in the market every so often to keep sales up which really isn't much better than an older one.
 
brzilian said:
You forgot about support. I think M-Audio supports its products better and much longer than Creative does. Creative is all about throwing new product in the market every so often to keep sales up which really isn't much better than an older one.
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No. I *DEFINITELY* think not. I bought a Midiman DMAN 2044 off of a user here, and they support that card so nicely that there weren't any drivers for anything past Windows 98. Great support there. you can STILL get an oldschool SB16 to work on WinXP and Win2k.

After the DMAN issue, i'm not going to go with M-Audio/Midiman based on "support" anymore.
 
I guess you weren't one of the people waiting for Creative to release working WDM drivers for 2000/XP that allowed Sonar to work in stereo.

FYI, the DMAN issue is a little more complicated than you describe and you cannot blame M-Audio for not having a crystal ball to see what Microsoft was planning for future OS's:

The DMAN 2044 was originally designed to be used with Windows 95/98/98SE. Subsquently this driver will work with ME. M-Audio currently offers no driver support for the DMAN under Windows XP/2000. This is due to closed source code but also to limitations on the board itself.

The DMAN 2044 uses Crystal Driver technology, which M-Audio did not develop. The developers of this Crystral driver have since closed their source code.
 
brzilian said:
I guess you weren't one of the people waiting for Creative to release working WDM drivers for 2000/XP that allowed Sonar to work in stereo.

FYI, the DMAN issue is a little more complicated than you describe and you cannot blame M-Audio for not having a crystal ball to see what Microsoft was planning for future OS's:

The DMAN 2044 was originally designed to be used with Windows 95/98/98SE. Subsquently this driver will work with ME. M-Audio currently offers no driver support for the DMAN under Windows XP/2000. This is due to closed source code but also to limitations on the board itself.

The DMAN 2044 uses Crystal Driver technology, which M-Audio did not develop. The developers of this Crystral driver have since closed their source code.
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No, i wasn't waiting for WDM drivers because for one, i don't have an SB card currently (shitty onboard AC97-powered setup. gag me with a wooden spoon). That, and I don't use Sonar. :P

and from what I'd heard, the DMAN issue wasn't hardware-based, but instead revolved around the guy who coded the DMAN drivers leaving/being terminated from Midiman. And is this Crystal Driver tech. the same that's being currently used in SB cards and others on the market right now?

Either way... I was pretty pissed about getting a card that wouldn't work with my OS. haha... I've since sold it to my guitarist, who's running win98, so i guess it works out in the end.

Anyways... back on topic... Anyone actually used these Audigy cards or something similar in the consumer card market for recording in a "professional" manner? As in, you know what you're doing, using the right hardware/software, but just using the inexpensive consumer card because it's what you had, or as a demo machine?
 
The only audigys that supports ASIO at 24 bits are the Platinum eX and the Platinum Pro. But those set you back so much that it's cheaper to get an audiophile or something like that. Remember that you do want ASIO when you want to play with CubaseVST.
 
Yeah, I know that the ASIO support is only in the higher-end sb cards, but i'd rather get a consumer card for my personal rig than an audiophile or prosumer gear simply because a lot of my personal use is for gaming, mp3s, movies, and other oddball personal use.

But i *AM* going to be buying a laptop and a GOOD piece of recording gear for that so I can start up my live recording outfit. :D But, that's a topic for another thread. ^_^
 
tf5_bassist said:
Yeah, I know that the ASIO support is only in the higher-end sb cards, but i'd rather get a consumer card for my personal rig than an audiophile or prosumer gear simply because a lot of my personal use is for gaming, mp3s, movies, and other oddball personal use.
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I hardly play games so I can't really comment on that but the mp3s, movies, etc. sound just fine coming out of my m-audio delta 410.
 
christiaan said:
I hardly play games so I can't really comment on that but the mp3s, movies, etc. sound just fine coming out of my m-audio delta 410.
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I know that *some* games work with the prosumer shit, but i'd rather not deal with the hassles. I'd just rather have a consumer card in my personal rig, and have a recording rig without ANY personal software shit on it, and leave it for recording only. seems the smarter way to go in the long run of it.
 
Absolutely. It's not always practical for everybody, but if you have the luxury of keeping a separate rig for recording only, it's the best way to go in my book.
 
Dude, my Echo Mia just cranks the saber crackles in Jedi Outcast :D Playing with headphones can scare the crap out of you when a Dark Jedi sneaks up on you from the side or something.

Why bother with another card?
 
There's nothing wrong with 2 cards in a single system either. I've had a SB Live! alongside an Audiophile for quite some time now.
 
sb audigy 2

one thing the audigy 2 does have going for it that the others do not is DVD-Audio support...so I wouldn't say it is not an "audiophile" car to appease the masses :P

dlv
 
sb audigy 2

one thing the audigy 2 does have going for it that the others do not is DVD-Audio support...so I wouldn't say it is not an "audiophile" card to appease the masses :P

dlv
 
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