IS my soundcard a DIGITAL??

S

SEREOUS

New member
HEy everyone I been recently trying to record with my computer. I was wondering how you tell if your soundcard is a digital soundcard.
I recenty got a audio buddy from M -audio, BUt none of the jacks in the back of my computer "FIT" the plug that goes in to the computer from the audio buddy.
My soundcard is a Real-Tek AC97
If my soundcard is not digital would I want to hook up a mixer, or
invest in a new soundcard first?

Thanks
 
Hey mate,

You actually don't have a sound card. That AC97 is acutally onboard sound. Which basically means your audio processing unit is on the motherboard. Baaaad idea if you wish to record.

Invest in a new soundcard. But check the system requirements for the soundcard and your audio buddy first.

:) Hope that helped mate
 
SEREOUS said:
HEy everyone I been recently trying to record with my computer. I was wondering how you tell if your soundcard is a digital soundcard.
I recenty got a audio buddy from M -audio, BUt none of the jacks in the back of my computer "FIT" the plug that goes in to the computer from the audio buddy.
My soundcard is a Real-Tek AC97
If my soundcard is not digital would I want to hook up a mixer, or
invest in a new soundcard first?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you can talk about a soundcard itself as being "digital" but it may have digital components (as well as analog components).
The M-Audio Audio Buddy, however, does not have digital components, it is an all analog mic pre. The Audio Buddy's analog outputs are 1/4" (balanced/unbalanced) outputs. Bascially to hook it up to your computer, you need a Y cable of 2 Male 1/4" plugs (TS or TRS) to 1 1/8" Male TRS plug that you plug into the Line In on your sound card.

Some built in sound cards do have a S/PDif (also sometimes called Coaxial) input which is a single (well, 1 for stereo input, 1 for stereo output) RCA jack. This is a digital input/output, but cannot interface with the Audio Buddy, and your sound card may not even have that.
 
lol, you guys are funny

any soundcard can be considered digital sound card. Digital in it's simplest form means a computer. And your soundcard is part of your computer, yes? It talks in computer language, yes? Ones and zeros...It's a digital piece of gear.

And the current one you have is a soundcard. If the device plays sound out of it, we call it a sound card. Now a good one? No probably not something I'd recommend recording on.
The connections are going to be different with the preamp and the soundcard you have. Your soundcard is going to take an 1/8" jack and the preamp has 1/4"...two similar looking jacks but two different physical sizes. Kinda like two different screw sizes when you are building something. You can get a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter at any radio shack. Also, make sure you plug into the line inputs on the soundcard...NOT the microphone input.

But again, I suggest investing in a better soundcard/audio interface for a better sound.
 
bennychico11 said:
lol, you guys are funny

any soundcard can be considered digital sound card. Digital in it's simplest form means a computer. And your soundcard is part of your computer, yes? It talks in computer language, yes? Ones and zeros...It's a digital piece of gear.
Click to expand...

Lol I never said it wasn't :p

And the current one you have is a soundcard. If the device plays sound out of it, we call it a sound card. Now a good one? No probably not something I'd recommend recording on.
Click to expand...

It's actually not a soundcard. It's intergrated sound. A soundcard specifically refers to the PCI expansion sound chip.

Onboard sound would be the most horrible sound one could get from any kind of audio device.

If it plays sound out of it - it could be anything from a soundcard to onboard sound to a PC speaker or even USB headphones...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundcard

The connections are going to be different with the preamp and the soundcard you have. Your soundcard is going to take an 1/8" jack and the preamp has 1/4"...two similar looking jacks but two different physical sizes. Kinda like two different screw sizes when you are building something. You can get a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter at any radio shack. Also, make sure you plug into the line inputs on the soundcard...NOT the microphone input.
Click to expand...

Exactly :)

But again, I suggest investing in a better soundcard/audio interface for a better sound.
Click to expand...

I second that
 
bennychico11 said:
lol, you guys are funny

any soundcard can be considered digital sound card. Digital in it's simplest form means a computer. And your soundcard is part of your computer, yes? It talks in computer language, yes? Ones and zeros...It's a digital piece of gear.
Click to expand...

I guess my point was that is has both digital and analog components.

The connections are going to be different with the preamp and the soundcard you have. Your soundcard is going to take an 1/8" jack and the preamp has 1/4"...two similar looking jacks but two different physical sizes. Kinda like two different screw sizes when you are building something. You can get a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter at any radio shack. Also, make sure you plug into the line inputs on the soundcard...NOT the microphone input.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what I said?
 
RAK said:
I guess my point was that is has both digital and analog components.



Isn't that what I said?
Click to expand...

Sorry RAK, I was saying the two above us were funny...I guess I was typing at the same time you were.


It's actually not a soundcard. It's intergrated sound. A soundcard specifically refers to the PCI expansion sound chip.
Click to expand...

I getcha, I guess I just use sound card to describe any hardware device that plays back audio from the computer. Whether is be firewire, PCI, onboard, whatever. :cool:
 
bennychico11 said:
Sorry RAK, I was saying the two above us were funny...I guess I was typing at the same time you were.




I getcha, I guess I just use sound card to describe any hardware device that plays back audio from the computer. Whether is be firewire, PCI, onboard, whatever. :cool:
Click to expand...


Hey, no worries. That's one of the problems with this board, people sneak stuff in ahead of you. There were no responses when I started typing my original response, but then I was #2 by the time I submitted. haha :)

I also think of soundcard in the same way you described, but I see the actual destinction sowpunk made.
 
bennychico11 said:
Digital in it's simplest form means a computer.
Click to expand...

No,that's digital in it's more complex form. Digital in it's simplest form would be a circuit that performs the most elementary of Boolean logic functions, like an AND or an OR operation.

bennychico11 said:
And the current one you have is a soundcard. If the device plays sound out of it, we call it a sound card.
Click to expand...

Technically, no it's not a soundcard, it's an audio interface. The word soundcard describes a particular physical form of an audio interface, one that comprises a PC board which is inserted into a buss slot on the motherboard of a computer. ;) The generic term you were eluding to is "audio interface".
 
I getcha, I guess I just use sound card to describe any hardware device that plays back audio from the computer. Whether is be firewire, PCI, onboard, whatever
Click to expand...

Fair call :)

For example in the recording environment saying "soundcard" is alot more generalised that sound "soundcard" in the computer world lol.
 
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more help

Thanks again for all the help.
Umm what about these USB connected mixers - They seem good like the
alesis multi mix 8 /
I hear they hook usb and dont use ur soundcard.. what that be good for me.. Oh i must ask any soundcards you reccomend?
Would i still need a new soundcard if i got a mixer with an interface built in?

APpreciate all this help
 
any soundcard/interface you look at buying will replace your onboard one.

someone might need to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the USB Alesis ones only transfer the stereo outs of the mixer. In other words, you wouldn't be able to have all 8 channels sent to the computer simultaneously. I think their firewire versions offer this though.

take a look at the interfaces/cards from M-Audio. I personally suggest staying away from mixers unless you have the money to purchase a decent one. Spend the money on a decent soundcard that might have a couple more connections for more mics (in addition to the ones on your Audio Buddy)
 
Yes, Your right Benny, Most USB interfaces only sent a Stereo mix of all inputs summed together in a stereo signal or 2 Mono signals....This is basicly because USB sucks for audio interfaces....

Firewire is the way to go if you want a Mixer that connected to your PC and will send individual tracks to your PC...The Alesis Multimix FW 8/16 units are Fairly good from what I hear and will let you record multiple tracks at once and are probably the most affordable units for what they do ....The Alesis Multimix FW 16 is only about $600 and offers up to 16 tracks of simutainius recording were an unit like the Firepod only offers 8 tracks for the same price.....

Cheers
 
I do only need this USB mixer for recording Vocals, no instruments or anything. SO i think i would only need 1-2 channels at a time.
You guys are scaring me on the usb mixers, i want something that will hook to my computer. What regular mixer under 200 dollars would u reccomend ? I just want something that plugs in to back of my computer from the mixer. It seems that is too hard now days- and u need all these additions.
Do they have mixer w/ interfaces - that connect straight to ur computer?? for under 200 - with everything u need? I just want it to cancel out my soundcard.

Thanks a MIllion For All this Advice
 
SEREOUS said:
I do only need this USB mixer for recording Vocals, no instruments or anything. SO i think i would only need 1-2 channels at a time.
You guys are scaring me on the usb mixers, i want something that will hook to my computer. What regular mixer under 200 dollars would u reccomend ? I just want something that plugs in to back of my computer from the mixer. It seems that is too hard now days- and u need all these additions.
Do they have mixer w/ interfaces - that connect straight to ur computer?? for under 200 - with everything u need? I just want it to cancel out my soundcard.

Thanks a MIllion For All this Advice
Click to expand...

yeah, man there are tons of products out there to do this.
http://m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.list&ID=mobileinterfaces to start you off. All those are USB or PCI. They're not mixers in that you don't have faders and the unit doesn't mix your sound to stereo...but one of those is exactly what you need. Simple and effective.
Or PCI: http://m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.list&ID=pciinterfaces
 
The Bandwidth of USB is much less than FW (not counting USB 2.0). If you need anything more than 4 simultaneous tracks, then you need to go FW. USB can handle 4 IN/4 Out simultaneously. Or is it 4 total at a time (2 IN/2 Out) , I forget.
Anyway USB should be just fine for what you're doing. Just make sure whatever you get has direct hardware monitoring (usually marketed with some combination of words like: "zero latency," "no-latency," "direct," "hardware" "monitoring")
 
RAK said:
The Bandwidth of USB is much less than FW (not counting USB 2.0). If you need anything more than 4 simultaneous tracks, then you need to go FW. USB can handle 4 IN/4 Out simultaneously. Or is it 4 total at a time (2 IN/2 Out) , I forget.
QUOTE]

Most usb devices only do 2 in 2 out, with a few exceptions. (Lexicon Omega does 4 in, and some of the Edirol stuff will do more than 2.) I use an aardvark usb device myself. Works fine for what I do.
Click to expand...
 
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