GRRRR! soundcards

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guitar_thingy

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Hey, well, i feel stupid

(skip this paragraph if your not in the mood for a short story)
I was looking forward to getting my Echo Mia/MIDI soundcard and new Dell PC, although quickly realised when they both arrived that the Dell tower was a 'compact' model and of course the PCI card didnt fit, its too tall to fit in the case. :(

So, im looking for alternatives, there are not many half-height soundcards, so i might as well go for a USB box as i have no firewire conenction and all i need is two channels so USB will do fine. I am looking for something nice to record my guitar with (electric and maybe acoustic) I already have a SM57 and a cheap behringer mixer (we've all been there!) although dont mind using the preamps on my external interface if they are any better, ill also want to upgrade in the future so i need line-ins if i want to add a better quality pre-amp like the RNP.

Start thinking now.....

oh yeah buget is about £100 ($190)
 
get a firewire card for your PC, put it in. Sell or return the device that won't fit and get a firewire interface. Most of the cards are nice and small and come with a lot of firewire ports.
 
there's about a hundred threads talking about different firewire or USB interfaces on this board. You should check one of them. I've used a MOTU 828 but they are old school now.
 
yup i was perhaps looking for something better than the firbox or similar, then i relaised they are round £200!, i though they were more like £100, hmm thats been abit of a set back, i want good sound quality..... but dont want to spend that much only to upgrade later...

any thoughts on the TAPCO Link USB (http://www.tapcoworld.com/products/linkusb/index.html), never heard of it myself although maybe worth a look only £99?
 
MOTU 828mkII...the best all in one solution under $1000.
 
studiomaster said:
MOTU 828mkII...the best all in one solution under $1000.
Click to expand...

Hahahahahahahahahah

Good one! Funniest thing I've read all week.
 
haha......

either of you two got any good recommendations? Or what kind of sound quality i can expect from something like the TAPCO Link USB or a firebox (although its surprisingly expensive :()

And the motu may be nice but there are better and $1000 is well out of my price range, we're talking much lower, any ideas?
 
tnjazz said:
Hahahahahahahahahah

Good one! Funniest thing I've read all week.
Click to expand...

I mean there's also Pro Tools TDM setup...costs around $10000 maybe :rolleyes:
 
For USB, your best bet in all honesty is probably a used M-box. Unfortunately that means you're stuck with crap Digidesign converters and preamps.

If you can fit a firewire card in your PC, your possibilities expand tremendously.

USB is sketchy at best for audio, due to sending packets more in "burst" mode rather than the sustained transfer mode of firewire. It will work, but in the long run as you add more tracks simultaneously, firewire is probably your best bet.

Other interesting toys in the sub-$400 range:

Mackie Satellite (I'd rate this top of the list)
Presonus Firebox
tc Konnect 8 (coming in about a month)
Focusrite Saffire (might as well get an M-box instead of this though)

If you can stretch your budget a little farther, ($500, you'll have a LOT more options)
 
Mr. Thingy:

Which Dell did you purchase? I'm thinking of getting a Dell desktop and I want to use my Delta 1010LT. I'd like to avoid the problem that you had.

Thanks.
 
^ hey

i got the Dimension 3100c I later find out the c stands for compact and of course cant fit standard cards, i think you need half hight cards although many audio manufacturers dont make them, you would have thought it was obvious now looking at the box although it is only slightly too tall.

I also posted on the dell forums and learnt abit about different types of PCI card, Here
 
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