Need sound card with 4 1/4" inputs

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LTG

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I have a 4 buss mixing console and wish to run each buss into a computer. Is there a card, or a card with a breakout box that has 4 1/4" inputs so that i can do this? I would like to have 24 bit A/D converters. I'm under budget, so please name inexpensive one's.
 
i used to have a midiman card w/ 4 1/4" ins and 4 1/4" outs... http://www.midiman.com

But it was only 20-bit. Maybe theyve improved it by now, though.

and yo, dont limit yourself to 1/4"... radioshack will make many things work for you...

xoxo
 
Camn has it right. The Delta 66 has 4 ea. 1/4" inputs and outputs. It is also 24 bit. They now go under the M-Audio Brand - http://www.midiman.com/m-audio.htm.

Don't know if it meets your definition of inexepensive though, I'll leave that for you to decide.

I have a Delta 1010 (8 x 8) and am quite happy with it.
 
Thanks for the help. What is wrong with 1/4"? I also heard that delta cards aren't that good? My budget is about $400. Also....I have many other outputs. Should I be using the 4 buss 1/4"'s out or should I be using the main stereo outputs?
 
Oh, nothing is wrong with 1/4"!! I was just saying that you can adapt rca or 1/8" to 1/4" pretty easy, so If you find an rca card you like, and extra 5 bucks will make it work, y'know?

Oh, and Id use the busses...

xoxo
 
I own a Delta 44. Its works just great. However i have not had the chance to compare to other cards out there. But the Delta 44 works just fine and sounds great to me.

A thing about the comment about the RCA or 1/8 to 1/4. First of all, RCA does not have a balanced input or output. and i doubt you can find a 1/8" input that is balanced either.

Also. If there are any problems about the Delta 44 that people know about that i havnt noticed, please tell me. I would like to know. Its been perfect to me with a very clear sound. But i would like to know what other people say about it.
 
thanks for the great responses. I heard the delta 44 was known for "frying" or that it also had software conflicts. So far I think I am gonna go with the delta 44. I am currently using an SB Live which I believe only records at 16 bit. Will the jump to 24 bit be noticeable? Also, the computer I record with is Pentium 200 MMX, which the specs say is ok but it will record only at 48kHz instead of 96kHz. Will this create bad sound quality?
 
Depending on how many tracks you record and how much realtime effects you use, the P-200 MMX will probably not cut it.

My group records on a PIII 766 MHz machine which works just fine. Occasionally I will take Cakewalk files home from our recording studio to work on them (on my personal P200 MMX). Usually I have all kinds of problems getting the files to play (dropouts, garbled audio, etc). I can work around these problems by isolating and playing just individual tracks - BUT if this were the only machine I had available it would be useless.

Bottom line, although the P200 may meet the minimum specs, you ain't gonna be happy doing audio on it.

Sorry :(
 
I've been happy so far with my audio results on it. I just wanted to take a step forward. I have a network where I record on the 200 mhz but send the audio to me Pentium III to edit. I can't use my Pentium III for audio because the rest of my family uses it. Any auggestions? Is it worth buying a new computer over? Or is there a stand alone multitrack that will cost less.
 
You probably wont need a 24bit 96K card at the moment, because even if you recorded at that, you would to convert it down to 44100 and 16bit for it to be on cd. the on thing that supports 24/96 is dvd.

Also, ive not had any compatibility problems my delta 44. Ive used it for about 4 months now and it has been working great. ive used it on cakewalk, cubase, logic, vegas and all of them run just fine.

As far as your system goes. the cpu is fine as long you dont run realtime effects. the only problems you may have is with the harddrive. its best to record with 2 harddrives. one with your sytem files, and your faster and bigger one to record the audio files to. if you dont use two, you have a much more better chance of drop outs from the harddrive. your system hardrive doesnt need to be as fast as the recording harddrive. the recording hard drive i suggest a UDMA 66 7200RPM or higher and at least 10 gigs.
The reason for two harddrives, is if you have the system files on the same harddrive you are trying to record to, windows will need to look for certain files to run the programs, causing the hard drive head to move, which will cause a break in the audio stream.
 
a) The jump to 24-bit is VERY noticiable. It matters not that your end product is 16-bit. Record as high as possiible..

b) RCA, 1/8" and 1/4" are ALL unbalanced equivalents... unless the 1/4" you're referring to is TRS. TRS and XLR are equivalent, balanced interconnects (and you CAN build 1/8" TRS cabling!).... now some comparies talk all this shit about having balanced/unbalanced 1/4" jackss... don't beleive the hype. And in any event... you're probably not going to have long enough cable runs to build up much of a ground loop... and the brakout boxes that SAY theyre balanced probably Aren't. BUT lets not get into that here... for anyone whos interested... start reading here http://www.rane.com/pdf/note110.pdf .

c) RECORD at 24-bit, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!! DO NOT GET A 16-bit CARD.

xoxoxo
 
Thanks for the great responses. So even though it won't be at 96kHz, 48kHz at 24 bit will be ok? And how will I dither that down to make CD's?
 
Software will alow you dither down (e.g. Wavelab 3.0).

However, there seems to be an ongoing debate on this message board about the merits of recording at 48 and dithering to 44.1, or simply recording at 44.1. I'll leave that one for you to research and decide. The technology exits to easily do it either way you choose.
 
should I be going straight from my main outpus? And i hear the delta cards aren't stereo?
 
i think it is most amusing that darnold recommends 16 bit 44.1KHZ recording. Why don't you tell sonusman that? he'll love you for it!

ah well, i haven't got much too add except that you should at least view the Hoontech site: http://www.hoontech.com
ola showed me a card with 8i/o at 24/96 for $360.
so at least look there...

greetz guhlenn
 
hey camn,

i've read the article, and what can i say. this is why i was hesistating to start a DAW in the first place.
I will put up with it but it's kinda frustrating to always here a but...

have you got more like that?

greetz guhlenn
 
ok, I assume I should be using my main outputs. There are a Right and Left 1/4" and a set of R and L xlr's. Should I use the xlr's or 1/4" to go to a sound card? Which are better?
 
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