Delta 44 omni or C-port?

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Swede

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Hi! I'm about to buy myself a new soundcard to replace my audigy and I've narrowed it down to either the Delta 44 with an omni front @500$ or the Hoontech C-port @450$.


Delta 44 omni

Pros:

Balanced inputs (for mic in 1+2 and line in 3+4)
2x Headphone amplifier
Monitor outs
Record mix outs (can be connected to my stereo)
Effect sends and returns, inserts on mic channels
Good, but not great preamps
I can record 4 audio channels and still be monitoring my synth trough the built in mixer.

Cons:

Only 4 simultaneous inputs (I don't think I will be using more so this isn't a big issue)
The converters are on the pci-card (worse quality?)


C-port:

Pros:

8inputs (It's better to have to many channels than to few)
2 preamps (that aren't supposed to be good, so I probably have to buy a new one soon after I buy this card)
Midi interface
The converters are in the breakout-box (better sound quality?)

Cons:
Unbalanced connections except for mic in 1+2
I've heard of people having issues with ground loops and that's something I wish to avoid. No hmmm please.



So far I'm leaning towards the Delta package because of the better preamps and the omnis flexibility, but if the sound-quality is better on the c-port I will think again. I'm a bit worried though about the unbalanced connections and the ground-loop issues.

What do you guys think? Wich card of these is the best for the money? Does anyone have anything to say about hoontech's and m-audios drivers?

//Swede
 
Hello

I have the C-port, and now that the drivers are sorted out, it's really good. One thing to bear in mind is that the two pre amps are crap, and the xlr inputs for them are a little shallow and fragile, so it's easy to break them. I use mine with a Spirit Folio SX desk and am pleased with the results and quality. if you go to www.mp3.com/origin then you can see what I have done with it. I must stress though that I know absolutely nothing about recording and mixing, so i'm sure you can get some very good results with it if you know what you are doing. I find it works solid as a rock recording 8 tracks simultaneously, although I find that I could do with more tracks now!!

Cheers

Jon
 
Hi
I also have the c-port card and can recommend it.I haven't had any of the ground-loop hummmmmmmming you mention.Here is a tune that I recorded with my c-port as an example.
 
I just bought an Omni studio and I have to say I'm happy with it so far. I should mention that you shouldn't spend $500 on one- Musician's friend has one for sale for $430 (so it's actually cheaper than the C port). Also, it comes with a Delta 66 card, which is better than the Delta 44 because it comes with SPDIF and stuff.

But I'm not an audiophile by any means, so what's good enough for me, might not be good enough for you. The major downside for me for the Omni is that it doesn't have a MIDI input (see my thread Delta 66/ Omni- more stuff? for details.)

I also haven't tried the C port, so maybe it does sound better. All I'm saying is I'm happy with Omni studio as a decent "First setup."
 
Hi! Victorvickyvic. I live in sweden. That's why my prices are different from yours. A delta 66 with omni costs 650$ here in Sweden. Since I don't think I'll be needing spdif then delta 44 with omni @500$ is a better alternative.
 
I use a C-Port. for the price over here is australia there wasn't much else to compare with it.
Yes the two pre-amps on the front panel aren't the greatest in the world, but they are more than sufficient for my home studio applications. I run mine from a TASCAM M312B mixing desk fromt he direct outs straight to the 1/4 inch inputs. even though they are unbalanced, the cable run is really short and I haven't had any issues with it.
as jonorigin said, I really wish I had more inputs some times. It really depends on how many you think you will need. I used to submix everything down to 2 and was happy enough, but now If Im recording a small band I can get everything on different tracks so I can have far more options for mixing. And its justhaving 8 simultaneous inputs is great for drum kit micing.

Dr_s.
 
True, true. Another happy C-Port owner. I run an old Yamaha mixer into mine and get very good results. Don't forget about the software routing options via the C-Port's control app - very very useful. I also have no ground loop problems with my C-Port. I do have ground loop problems with my keyboard though :)

Here's a sample (hum at the beginning and end is from the keyboard)

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/seanmorse/matters3.m3u
 
what's the latency for the C-port in sonar? I want to use softsynths and software input-monitoring in realtime. My system is a P4 1400MHz, 256 rambus-ram.
 
Latency on C-port

How fast are your hard drives? Are you running a dedicated drive all alone on your second IDE channel?

Processor and memory speed help determine the number of effects and software instruments you can use without issues. Hard drive speed and optimization help determine your latency and number of tracks you can get in real time. Other factors go into your results. this is only generall speaking.

Using the C-Port on an Athlon XP 1800+ with 512 MB PC 2100 and a dedicated ATA100/7200 RPM HDD, I was able to get 24 tracks of playback with about 6-8 effects in Logic Audio without any glithces. I haven't tried for more thatn that yet. I was running at 24bit/48KHz with about 5-7ms of latency.

Hope that helps.

-Rick
 
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The ground loop problem with the C-Port only occurs when you try to connect the unbalanced jacks to a unit that has balanced jacks. This can be overcome by using TRS cables, which leaves one side of the balanced signal floating rather than tying it to ground.


Twist
 
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