pci audio cards or all in one units

[anton]

Hello,

I am kind of confused about the PCI audio input cards like the Delta 44 vs the all in units like the Firebox, etc. Is there an advantage to using either? From looking at the Delta card, it seems like you need a mic pre, as oppossed to the all in one units that have built in pres. What about AD DA conversion with these PCI cards? I read about all the fancy and expensive AD DA converters but i must admit i dont understand how they are used in conjunction with the PCI cards or something like the Firebox. Do both those units have built in converters? What if i want to upgrade converters later, do i need to get a whole new unit?

90% of the time i will be recording solo acoustic guitar, so i really dont have the need for more than two inputs. I was looking at the Firebox because it has four, which might come in handy sometime. While i am sure they are good, i doubt the pres and converters in the firebox are pro quality. In that case, is it possible to later upgrade to better pres and converters while still keeping the Firebox as a way to get audio in/out of my computer? Or is there a better way of doing this.



thanks


anton

 

[Minion]

Well there are both advantages and Disadvanteges to both PCI without preamps or Firewire with preamps....

If you allready have a Good Mixer and/or several Preamps that you like there is no real use in Buying a Unit that allready has preamps which may not be as good...Then again if you don"t have a Mixer or any preamps then it would be advantagous to have a Unit with ones built in.....

In both cases if you wanted to upgrade the Converters you would have to buy a whole new unit which in the case of a PCI card would be cheaper as you won"t have to pay for preamps that you allready own....

The down side to PCI is that in maybe 5 or 10 years there won"t be any PC"s that have PCI Slots in them but by that time there will be several PCI-E audio cards available......

I have my own Mixer and some DIY Preamps that I built in my studio so I didn"t need a Interface with Preamps so I just got a Delta 44 and when I build enough Preamps I will probably also get a Delta 1010LT and just have a Rack full of different preamps all going into there seperate channel on the Delta 44/1010 units.....If I didn"t have any Preamps though these cards would be pretty useless....

The Pre"s and the Converters in the Firebox are actually quite good and with the proper mic and recording technique you can get some Very good quality recordings, Probably close to pro quality if used correctly with the right mic....

I personally like the Idea of haveing seperate converters and Preamps so if I want to upgrade one I don"t have to upgrade everything and I can mix different preamps to get a more Variable sound as opposed to haveing to use the same Preamps for everything that all sound the same.....

Another option to look into is getting a Firewire Mixer which will usually have a number of Preamped Channels and a number of Line in channels that aren"t preamped that you can use with external preamps or use to go directly in from an amp or effects unit.....

But in your case you say you aren"t going to need more than 2 or 4 channels at once so you probably won"t need many preamps so you should be able to get by useing either method (PCI card+ preamps or Integrated unit like the Firebox) and get good results so it is basicly personal preferance and what works best for the budget you have the equipment you allready own.....


Cheers