Delta 44/66 questions

[SOUND DIAGNOSIS]

I will be brief:

1) Are these cards much superior to my existing Turtle Beach Montego card?

2) Will they work in a Dell p2 333? I have read conflicting info.

3) What company has great customer support regarding post-purchasing configuration problems?

4) Is it possible that my Montego has a low level "buzz" that is inherent of soundcards of it's class and ilk?

Thanks in advance my friends out there!! ~~~Lee

 

[AlChuck]

Me too:

1) Yes.
2) I doubt it.
3) I'm not qualified to answer this one...
4) There should be no low-level buzz in the Montego, or in typical cards of its ilk. It's probably some electrical noise, from many possible causes.

 

[SOUND DIAGNOSIS]

Hey Al, nice to see you again! Thanks...thanks...thanks...and....thanks, dude! Appreciate it. I better get a new Dell and tell them to HOLD the soundcard.

Me too:

1) Yes.
2) I doubt it.
3) I'm not qualified to answer this one...
4) There should be no low-level buzz in the Montego, or in typical cards of its ilk. It's probably some electrical noise, from many possible causes.

 

[Jim Y]

M-audios tech support does not have the best reputation. These boards are aimed at a market where the user has a lot of knowledge on configuring a pc - or visits these forums for help! All the Delta range have excellent audio performance but it only comes on a well configured pc.
The Montego is pretty good but is a Windows sound card - No ASIO or GSIF drivers that many pro applications use. The more recent Santa Cruz is a better card and will give a better combination of connections - choose 4in 4out, 4in 2out + headphones, 2in 6out or 2in 4out + headphones. No digital in and the digital out is only for surround speaker sets. Still only has Windows drivers though.
As for noise, the only part of a modern Windows card that might be expected to noticably suffer this is the mic input - best to use an external mixer or pre-amp and avoid the mic in in favour of the line in. A few more causes might be A, The s/card is picking up from the video card - plug it in the bottom slot. B, The back panel screw is loose causing a bad ground. C, A midi daughterboard synth is plugged in and causing ground noise. D, An unused input is turned up in the cards mixer control.
The Delta cards don't have a midi synth or daughterboard connector and neither do most similar ones from other brands. A few exceptions I know of are STAudios Media 7:1 and the Terratec DMX 6Fire (doesn't come with a synth, but does have a daughterboard connector). It's best to fit a pro card in addition to a Windows card like your Montego unless the pc is exclusively for Music production when a Windows card would be unnecessary.
A good (free) program for testing a cards sound quality is the "RightMark Audio Analyser (RMAA")...
http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/b_e.html#rmaa
You need a stereo mini jack to mini jack cable to connect the line out to line in for the prog to work.

 

[SOUND DIAGNOSIS]

Thanks much, Jim. Lots of stuff for me to investigate. Thanks a bunch. ~~~Lee

 

[Shreadzilla]

I have an old dell from 1998, its an XPS R 400{ pentiumII 400 mghz}
the stock sound card is a T.B montego, I added a delta 44 about a year & a half ago.
Both sound cards coexist peacefully, with the montego handling the general system/ win 98/ gaming/,etc. functions & the delta for recording.
no problems so far, other than an obvious lack of horse power
peace
Shred

 

[SOUND DIAGNOSIS]

Very similar situation we have. Thanks for responding, man. All I want to do is get this old puter into my son's and wife's hands, so my home studio is free of the "clutter", if you will. I am going to purchase a new Dell and I was also wondering if I will get a break on the price if I tell them to hold off on "their" selection of soundcards, so I can put my OWN one in there. I don't want to go crazy making a dedicated audio workstation, either. Just want a better soundcard than the Montego to load in my arrangements from my Kurzweil workstation and then lay down vocal tracks and mess with Cakewalk and Cool Edit Pro for tracking, EQ, etc. Shred, do you hear a discernable difference between the audio quality and noise floor between the two different cards? Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks ~~~Lee

I have an old dell from 1998, its an XPS R 400{ pentiumII 400 mghz}
the stock sound card is a T.B montego, I added a delta 44 about a year & a half ago.
Both sound cards coexist peacefully, with the montego handling the general system/ win 98/ gaming/,etc. functions & the delta for recording.
no problems so far, other than an obvious lack of horse power
peace
Shred

 

[Shreadzilla]

Sorry so late to reply, Yes the delta card is quieter/better sounding than the montego, but I did get some good out of the montego though I never really noticed a "Hum" or much noise coming from it.
Do a search of the forums, somewhere there is a thread were alot of the people here posted their noise floor specs, the delta card is very quiet.
If youre getting a brand spankin new machine you should consider a delta 10/10, I know I am
peace,
Shred

 

[SOUND DIAGNOSIS]

Delta 1010? Mucho dinero. No can do, LOL. The noise (buzz, not 60hz hum) mentioned that I hear is only at big-time amplification and may be related to many sources, although I tried the ole' unplug this and unplug that routine....even whilst recording....to no avail. In light of your advice, I will search the forums further in regards to noise floor specs for further data. Thanks for giving me a shout back, Shreadster. Cya ~~~Lee

Sorry so late to reply, Yes the delta card is quieter/better sounding than the montego, but I did get some good out of the montego though I never really noticed a "Hum" or much noise coming from it.
Do a search of the forums, somewhere there is a thread were alot of the people here posted their noise floor specs, the delta card is very quiet.
If youre getting a brand spankin new machine you should consider a delta 10/10, I know I am
peace,
Shred

 

[A1A2]

I will be brief:

1) Are these cards much superior to my existing Turtle Beach Montego card?

2) Will they work in a Dell p2 333? I have read conflicting info.

3) What company has great customer support regarding post-purchasing configuration problems?

4) Is it possible that my Montego has a low level "buzz" that is inherent of soundcards of it's class and ilk?

Thanks in advance my friends out there!! ~~~Lee

3) MOTU. They always reply my emails within 1 business day with lots helpful information regarding to my question. MAudio...I don't even know who to contact them!

AL

 

[pratt]

...I am going to purchase a new Dell and I was also wondering if I will get a break on the price if I tell them to hold off on "their" selection of soundcards, so I can put my OWN one in there. ...

just choose the non-premium audio 'onboard' sound option when configuring your 'puter and they'll (dell) give you a break on the price...then when you get the machine, disable onboard audio and install yer own!

by the way, thee delta 44 will BLOW that monteego card out of the water in regards to noise, recording quality, etc...!!

 

[SOUND DIAGNOSIS]

Hi Pratt. That sounds pretty reasonable, but the lack of good tech support with the Delta cards, ex. phone support, makes me feel uneasy. Dell sure as hell will not help me with installation, which is understandable. MOTU is way out of my price league as well, Al. Any other excellent soundcard companies out there with stellar customer support come to mind? Thanks ~~~Lee

just choose the non-premium audio 'onboard' sound option when configuring your 'puter and they'll (dell) give you a break on the price...then when you get the machine, disable onboard audio and install yer own!

by the way, thee delta 44 will BLOW that monteego card out of the water in regards to noise, recording quality, etc...!!

 

[kpnutz52]

I have an old dell from 1998, its an XPS R 400{ pentiumII 400 mghz}
the stock sound card is a T.B montego, I added a delta 44 about a year & a half ago.
Both sound cards coexist peacefully, with the montego handling the general system/ win 98/ gaming/,etc. functions & the delta for recording.
no problems so far, other than an obvious lack of horse power
peace
Shred

Hi, Im having problems using 2 soundcards in my pc. i have a Delta 44 which i just instaleld and works.. but when i did that my other sound card (SiS 7018) seemed to not want to work and i cant use it for normal things that i used to like voice convo's in netmeeting etc. ive check the IRQ on the delta and it says their is no conflict... i had a look at the SiS and it says 'the device cannot start'and 'code 10' does anyone know how i can fix this so i can use both soundcards for the different purposes delta 44 for instrument/band recording and my regular SiS for everyday use....