Need New Soundcard, Choices?

[Miseria_Cantare]

Ok, I want a good soundcard, but a few questions:

I was thinking of getting the M-Audio Delta1010 LT, is it worth the extra money over getting the Audiophile 192?

What is SCMS copy protection 'control'?

The Delta1010LT has 8 'analog' inputs and outputs, are these just normal line in/out's?

Firstly, are they stereo or mono, and secondly,
Why would anyone need 8 outputs? :S I can understand needing so many inputs, but outputs?

Now if I was using a program like Sonar, or even just Cakewalk Guitar Tracks, would I be able to select a different input on each track in Cakewalk, and record from all 8 simultaneously, retaining each tracks individual-ness, then being able to edit each one separately?

Any help appreciated

 

[mitosis]

I was thinking of getting the M-Audio Delta1010 LT, is it worth the extra money over getting the Audiophile 192?

Well, that depends on what your needs are. The Delta1010 LT has more inputs and uses RCA connections among other various connections as well. The 192 uses 1/4 jacks and not as many inputs. Also, the 192 has a sample rate of 192Khz instead of 96Khz (hence its name). 96Khz is sufficient and many people get excellent results at this. So it ultimately boils down to what your needs are. For the extra 20 dollars, I think it is worth the extra inputs.

The Delta1010LT has 8 'analog' inputs and outputs, are these just normal line in/out's?

Basically, yes.

Firstly, are they stereo or mono, and secondly,
Why would anyone need 8 outputs? :S I can understand needing so many inputs, but outputs?

The inputs/outputs I believe are not stereo. On many PCI cards and external audio interfaces, the inputs are marked 1, 2, 3 and so on. In many cases, the 1 represents the left and the 2 represents the right channel. You can normally select whether to record them as a right and left track or as a stereo track on your recording software.

Now if I was using a program like Sonar, or even just Cakewalk Guitar Tracks, would I be able to select a different input on each track in Cakewalk, and record from all 8 simultaneously, retaining each tracks individual-ness, then being able to edit each one separately?

In a word, yes. In more words, if you were doing stereo recording, you could not get 8 fully editable stereo tracks. I assume you are asking this because you currently mix all you tracks together at a desktop mixer and then send them as one track to your recording software. Both cards you listed will give you more flexibily but if you want to record 8 editable track simultaneously, these cards will get you closer but will not get you entirely there.

Those cards are ultimately very nice cards to record from. There might be better alternative out there to better fulfill your goals such as a firewire or USB mixer. Hope this helps.

 

[dgatwood]

What is SCMS copy protection 'control'?

You don't want it.

No, seriously, it's this wanker thing that the music industry forced upon electronics manufacturers to prevent doing direct digital copying of one digital source to another.

As I understand it, you can set a bit in a stream that says that a digital source medium is protected. If a device supports SCMS, it will allow you to make a copy from that source, but that copy will contain another bit that says that it is a copy of the protected content. That copy, in turn, cannot be copied by any device that supports SCMS.

Of course, it's pure comedy because as soon as you transcode to an AIFF file or any other similar medium, that bit is likely gone anyway. If it isn't, that's incredibly easy to fix.

The Delta1010LT has 8 'analog' inputs and outputs, are these just normal line in/out's?

Except the first two, which have XLR connectors and can be either line inputs or (bad) mic inputs.

Firstly, are they stereo or mono, and secondly,
Why would anyone need 8 outputs? :S I can understand needing so many inputs, but outputs?

8 mono. The reason for 8 outputs is so that you can use it in channel inserts. When you do that, you are basically hooking the interface into your mixer after the preamp and before the fader (usually). The output of the channel is dumped back out into the mixer at the same point.

That said, you're right. Having eight outputs is pretty silly in a day when most mixing is in the box. Bear in mind that the 1010LT dates way back to 1999 when nonlinear audio was still a novelty in a lot of ways, and was more likely to be used in a studio than in a home studio.

Things have changed a lot in six years. For one thing, the 1010LT was $500 retail when I bought one four years ago. Now, you can get one for $170 new or probably $120-ish used. It has gone from being something that few people can afford to being relatively cheap....

Now if I was using a program like Sonar, or even just Cakewalk Guitar Tracks, would I be able to select a different input on each track in Cakewalk, and record from all 8 simultaneously, retaining each tracks individual-ness, then being able to edit each one separately?

Yes.

 

[Miseria_Cantare]

Thanks for the help. I guess I'll get the 1010LT.

One more thing, why would the XLR inputs be (bad) mic inputs?
It says it has built in pre-amps.....

 

[dgatwood]

Well, that depends on what your needs are. The Delta1010 LT has more inputs and uses RCA connections among other various connections as well. The 192 uses 1/4 jacks and not as many inputs. Also, the 192 has a sample rate of 192Khz instead of 96Khz (hence its name). 96Khz is sufficient and many people get excellent results at this. So it ultimately boils down to what your needs are. For the extra 20 dollars, I think it is worth the extra inputs.

I would pick the 1010LT over the 192 in a heartbeat, but not for that reason. The 192 has RCA jacks on the back of the unit. I'm not sure what they're used for, but jacks on the back of a card would make me worry. The 1010LT has every jack on breakout cables, which are attached with two solid D connectors.

An RCA connector built into a piece of gear can easily break if you jerk a cable sideways. When the cables are behind a machine, that's really easy to do accidentally.

By contrast, the Delta's D connectors almost certainly aren't going to break no matter what you do to them... and the connectors on the ends of the cables aren't going to break because if you yank on the cord, the direction of motion is parallel to the disconnect direction, so the cable just disconnects naturally.

That's one of my biggest hardware rants: I wish more manufacturers included safety cables---three inch extension cables with no latches---for all their inputs/outputs. That way gear wouldn't break as easily.

Those cards are ultimately very nice cards to record from. There might be better alternative out there to better fulfill your goals such as a firewire or USB mixer. Hope this helps.

Agreed. Unless you buy one used, IMHO, you'd be better off getting a FireWire interface. For more information, see my usual rants about PCI being phased out.

 

[dgatwood]

Thanks for the help. I guess I'll get the 1010LT.

One more thing, why would the XLR inputs be (bad) mic inputs?
It says it has built in pre-amps.....

I never tried the preamps in all the time I own my 1010LT, but based on the comments I've read about it, the general consensus is that the preamps suck. They also don't have phantom power.

In short, they might be okay if you absolutely had to use them, but you'd probably be better off with just about any $50+ pre.

 

[mitosis]

The 192 has RCA jacks on the back of the unit. I'm not sure what they're used for, but jacks on the back of a card would make me worry.

The jacks on the back are S/PDIF jacks (digital audio jacks). You probably wouldn't be using those when recording from a analog mixer.

But anyways, the 1010 is worth it.