Hi, want to ask , does a soundcard makes change to the mix? for ex. if I use all soft synth, vsti to make music , and export them all to wave files, and mix them, export a wave file at last, all steps are internal, is that wave file's quality relate to the soundcard directly?!
but with most decent cards, there shouldn't be anything really noticable.
That said...one must realize that we are ALWAYS playing through the soundcard as that is the only way to hear our mixes.
Soooooo...the soundcard is always affecting our mix.
If you swapped only the soundcard during a mixing project...you might hear your mix differently.
IOW...you can't just hear the WAV without using a soundcard...so there is no way you can remove it from the equation.
How about "mix down"? is it the better card can do really better? and in fact Im thinking about upgrade from M-Audio delta 66 to RME fireface UC, still thinking....
Again...in order for you to *hear* your mixes, the soundcard always matters.
Also, if you are mixing down outside of the box --- like you edit in your DAW but then play out of the soundcard in order to use outboard processing, etc...and then you record your stereo mix back into the DAW...
…the soundcard matters on both counts and at that point it WILL actually affect the WAV directly, not just what you hear, since there will be two conversions done...1 going out and 1 coming back in.
Your whole monitoring chain affects the mix by its sound. Your mixes will tend to have the inverse response of the monitors. That is, if the HF is lacking in your monitors you will probably over-emphasize that range. The sound card or interface is part of the monitoring chain.
Exactly. This is my case. I mix both ITB and outside the box simultaneously on an analog console.
Yup...this has been my SOP ever since I started using a DAW.
I track to tape (occasionally direct to DAW)...dump to DAW....edit, comp and do some light pre-mixing as needed and "spot"-EQ/Processing...then I playback out of the DAW through an analog desk, and I use all outboard processing for the mixdown.
The stereo mix then goes to a 2-track tape deck and directly outputs from it's playback head back into the DAW.
I then end up with a tape stereo mix and a digital stereo mix.
I have pretty decent converters (24 A/D/A channels from 3 Layla24 boxes)...but I've been thinking of maybe getting a higher end 2 channel A/D, like a Mytek, just for capturing that final stereo mix.
... a 24-track Neve console for mixing and tracking.
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What is your console?
Do you even care....you have a friggin' Neve!
I have a TASCAM M-3500...not a Neve, but it's served me well for 20 years now.
I almost went RME converters...way back...but the Layla24 boxes were deemed almost identical quality-wise AFA the conversions go, and they were a lot less expensive.
The RME boxes are better built, very solid and sturdy, IMO...though the Laylas have never let me down in the last several years and they were a good fit for me at the time as I wanted 24 channels of A/D/A...and the price was right.