"Midiot" searches for right sound card

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PaulB

New member
I was perfectly happy with the soundcard I bought seven years
ago, the Turtle Beach Monterey, long discontinued. But I wanted to get a 40 gig hard drive and Windows 95 wouldn't let me. So I finally upgraded to Windows 98 which wouldn't recognize the
Monterey. So I looked for a new soundcard. But I want one that
both records audio and has midi sounds onboard.

I would like a 24 bit card. First I bought the Echo Mia for $200
which sounds great but I thought the midi connector that came
with it (Midiman Midsport) had midi sounds on it when it didn't.
So I took the Mia back to Guitar Center. I "settled" (and I'm not
very happy about it) on a Soundblaster Live Platinum which is
not what I need. It's got all sorts of stuff I don't want/need and
may be good for a gamer but I basically do scratch vocals over
tracks created in Band In A Box/Jammer. But the Soundblaster
midi sounds don't sound as good as my old Turtle Beach.

Is there a soundcard in the $200-300 range that is 24 bit and
also has midi sounds on the card itself? Any suggestions would
be much appreciated.
 
I think the Mia might still be a good choice for a low-cost high-quality "digital audio" soundcard. Echo makes good stuff. So does M-audio (Midiman), and they also have a nice digital audio card in the $200 price range.

Then go buy yourself a Soundblaster Live! Value for "MIDI" (about $50). This is the setup many people, myself included, use. I use my M-Audio card for recording digital audio, and the Live! for MIDI tracks.

The Live! Value card has the same sampler as the $700 EMU APS. Think about that.

It also has an on-board General MIDI set (including drums). The strings and woodwinds are quite good actually.

In addition, the Live! has soundfont capability, so you can buy or download soundfonts and play them via your MIDI sequencer.

Included, also--or available for free download--is Vienna Soundfont Studio, to help you edit, tweak, and make your own soundfonts.

So there you have it, for around $250 you can have both worlds.

Read this review at ProRec:

http://prorec.com/prorec/articles.nsf/files/E5F90F70241EFF6D862566B20024C532
 
Tdukex,

You may be right about the Soundblaster. I think the problem
is I feel I got about an $85 soundcard with the other $115 going for....at least for me....crap....fancy packaging. CD's full of
games and gimmicks.

The last game I played, I put a quarter in the machine. The midi sounds are still below the Turtle Beach Monterey to my ears.

Now I'm the first to say beauty is in the eyes of the bolder.....
and for some the Soundblaster Live Platinum might be great.
Heck, it comes with a remote control, something I will NEVER
use. It also has a panel that goes in the front of the computer.

I should have done a better job of researching this in the first
place.

Thanks for your reply.

PaulB
 
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