Newbie question about interfaces

[the_man]

Yo,

Currently, I'm recording into the line in of my soundcard. It's not a fancy card, its whatever came with my computer. It's only 16 bit.

If I wanted to record at 24 bit, I know I could get a better soundcard, but I was wondering about the interface itself. If I got one of those USB interfaces, would my signal still pass through the soundcard on the way to the hard drive? Obviously, anything I hear out the spreakers has been processed by the soundcard, but when recording, can I bypass the soundcard entirely by using an outboard interface?

THanks,

Kevin

 

[brzilian]

Yo,

Currently, I'm recording into the line in of my soundcard. It's not a fancy card, its whatever came with my computer. It's only 16 bit.

If I wanted to record at 24 bit, I know I could get a better soundcard, but I was wondering about the interface itself. If I got one of those USB interfaces, would my signal still pass through the soundcard on the way to the hard drive? Obviously, anything I hear out the spreakers has been processed by the soundcard, but when recording, can I bypass the soundcard entirely by using an outboard interface?

THanks,

Kevin

The soundcard is what converts the analog audio into digital information. USB audio interfaces are still sound cards...

 

[the_man]

Re: Re: Newbie question about interfaces

The soundcard is what converts the analog audio into digital information. USB audio interfaces are still sound cards...

Hmmm, so interfaces *are* soundcards? Why are they called "interfaces" instead of...wait for it..."soundcards".

That would have saved me a lot of confusion.

I won't have any trouble recording from a USB or PCI port with n-track, will I?

Kevin

 

[AlChuck]

If I got one of those USB interfaces, would my signal still pass through the soundcard on the way to the hard drive?

No. It would be an independent audio data stream.

Obviously, anything I hear out the spreakers has been processed by the soundcard...

Well, you could connect the speakers to a USB audio device just as well, and route the output of your software to it instead of your exiting sound card.

...but when recording, can I bypass the soundcard entirely by using an outboard interface?

You can bypass both recording and playing through it in favor of the USB device.

 

[the_man]

You can bypass both recording and playing through it in favor of the USB device.

Sweet!! That's what I wanted to hear. Final question: the bandwidth issues associated with USB shouldn't affect me if I'm only recording from one channel at a time, right?

 

[brzilian]

Sweet!! That's what I wanted to hear. Final question: the bandwidth issues associated with USB shouldn't affect me if I'm only recording from one channel at a time, right?

It depends on how many tracks you plan to record at a time. USB can barely handle 4 tracks of 24bit audio at a time.

The bigger issue is that USB soundcards are notorious for incompatability problems.

What it really comes down to is $$. You are paying a premium for a USB device over a PCI card and getting inferior performance. If you don't absolutely need a USB audio interface (i.e. working on a laptop), you would be better off getting a PCI card.

Example:

Audiophile - $149
USB Audiophile - $199