M-Audio, Audigy 4, or other?

[ScareCrow]

Looking to set up just a simple home system. Got a new 3 gig pentium machine with 4 gig ram that I'm going to use exclusively for music recording, with Cakewalk Sonar 6. I plan to use EZDrummer for most of my drums, and Line6 GearBox for a lot of the guitars/basses, so most recording will be onboard. I'm looking for advice on a decent, mid- to sub-priced soundcard to get started with. Heard good things about the M-Audio 2496, but I also like the specs and the modular aspect of the Creative Labs Audigy 4 pro (although there almost seems like something sinful about using the name Creative Labs in a serious recording conversation, and I'll probably regret it!). Any advice on these (or any other comparable pc cards) would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[carlosguardia]

STAY AWAY From Creative if you plan to record with it. If you're on a budget try the M-Audio Fast Track Pro or the Firewire Audiophile

 

[ScareCrow]

Thanks. My gut feeling was to stay away from Creative, but I was wondering if someone would convince me otherwise. I'll check into your suggestions. I do have firewire ports already installed, so was thinking about that route as well.

 

[punkin]

Just say no to the mainstream media cards. They're made for playback and gaming experience. They're not purpose built for recording.

M-audio makes some nicely priced and nicely performing PCI cards. Firewire is gaining ground and worth a look if your budget can go there and arguably a little easier to transfer from one computer to another.