Possible to have 2 soundcards in one computer?

C

calle

New member
I know this question is partly posted elsewhere but I figured it fits better here and I couldnt remove it from the other place.

-I use audiophile 2496 but its lagging when I play MIDI.
-I have a friend who only has Soundblaster and is not getting lag.
-I have an old Soundblaster card from my old computer lying around.

SO - Can I plug that into my new computer together with the Audiophile and use that when I want to record MIDI and still have my computer understand that when I record regular sound it goes through audiophile?

or will this create a conflict?
and will it solve the lagging?
what port should I go through? the joystick port?

please tell me what you know - thanx!!!
 
Most PCs will work happily with 2 soundcards, but not always... You can't have 2 soundblaster-cards in one machine, for instance.

But the problem is midi latency (lag). Try to adjust the latency in your sequenser. If you are using Sonar, use WDM-drivers. If you are using Cubase or Logic, use ASIO2-drivers.

Are you running any virus-scanners, etc?

And finaly: How powerful is your PC?
 
Thanx for answering!

Im using ACID and Fruity loops, what drivers should I use then? I dont quite get this thing about drivers that everybody talks about ..

I hear WDM and ASIO drivers - but what are people talking about? :)
is it drivers for the soundcard or drivers for the musicprogram? and where would I get them?

I have 1.6 mhz, 512 ram so that isnt the problem. All other types of recording works like a charm..

..I dont have any virus program running.
 
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Are you using external midi synths or soft synths? If you are using soft synths there is usually going to be a little more noticeable latency then hardware.
 
I'm using an Echo Mia and an SBLive in my PC and plan to keep 2 cards in the next computer I build, too.

You don't need any special drivers, calle. In the preferences of each program you tell it what audio and MIDI interface to use. I point the audio to my 24-bit Mia and point the MIDI to my SBLive and everything works great.

You WILL need to route the audio output of the SBLive back into the computer where you can hear it (you'll be listening from the outputs of your 24-bit card!) I take a cable from the line-out of the SBLive and plug it into a channel of my mixer, which goes into the input of my Mia.

Think of the SBLive as an onboard synth/sampler/instrument and you'll never go back to using just one card again.
 
You WILL need to route the audio output of the SBLive back into the computer where you can hear it (you'll be listening from the outputs of your 24-bit card!) I take a cable from the line-out of the SBLive and plug it into a channel of my mixer, which goes into the input of my Mia.
Click to expand...

That works, but it seems pointless to me. If it's routed to a mixer why route it back to the Mia just to hear it? Or is the Mia connected to your speakers rather than the mixer? I guess ther's no law that says you can't do this but it's not the standard approach; the mixer in a recording studio usually collects the inputs and outputs together and you listen to it from there.

If it's for the purpose of recording the MIDI output to audio tracks -- to send the analog output from the SB back in to be re-digitized and recorded by the Mia's analog-to-digital converters -- you can more easily just record it to the SB Live's internal WAV device. Then it doesn't have to pass through the Live's digital-to-analog converters and back into the Mia's analog-to-digital converters. Sure, it'll be a 16-bit recording, but it seems easier to do this and resample it to 24-bit if you are recording with 24 bits. You don't gain any fidelity by recording the output of the SB Live's 16-bit wavetable sounds out through its inferior converters back into the Mia. I don't know, maybe it's simpler the way you have it, you can just route it through the mixer and you're set.
 
Moskus,

What is the deal or potential conflict with using two sound cards and a virus scanner?

I am having problems with my ECHO Darla 24 and have an old Soundblaster 64PCI that I want to keep for midi.

I also run Norton Anti Virus software.

Could this be causing a problem for me?
 
Depending on the brand, you can max out your pci slots with sound cards.

With Sound Blaster Live 5.1, for example, you can have more than 2. With Audigy, They say only 2, but I'm running 3, and trying to get the 4th.

You'll get some errors, just check your IO/IRQ and hope that your BIOS will allow you to specify to each pci slot. If so, your doin good.

I'm running an XP1800 on an AK35GT with 1G DDR2700. So I could run 6 PCI Live cards, but I'm goin for the better sound of Audigy. Potentialy, with the built in sound card, I could record 14 tracks at the same time. I've done 6 with no lag, but haven't gotten to try higher.

If anyone has any links on installing multiple cards, it would be helpful.
 
Thanks for the update,

I found a link to a magazine review of my soundcard/break out box (Echo Darla 24) where the reviewer used his Sound Blaster card to input MIDI so I know it is possible. According to some people it is much preferable to input midi to a seperate card anyway.

My system completely locked up except for "Windows safe mode" so I have had to clear/reformat the hard drive and start over. There may have been a problem with my system before hand or it may be this card but I will find out later today/

This is why I do not want to use a PC for my primary recording interface....they are way too problematic for me and prone to crashing.
 
An external recording device is always prefered. Sending one input mix to a computer would be good to go. However, we do multi track recording in various places, live recordings, and sell the CD's minutes after the event.

So, we need a computer, or a second mixer and direct out everything, to provide a second mix for CD. Cause anyone who has done a live mix knows a CD of that mix sux unless you can mix it diferently.

My system also locks up on the 4th audigy. Get the infamus<sp> BSOD. I've just built this system this week, and have installed XP 6 times! I'm getting as good with it as Slackware!

At any rate, a twelve hundred dollar recording computer is still cheaper than a standalone sound system with multi a CD burner stack, eh?
 
On a similar theme, does anyone know if you can route the line out of an audiophile throught the line in of a SB Live jsut to use the headphone amps in the SB? If windows considers the Phile the wavout main device, I'm guessing the line in on the SB won't send anything to the SB headphone jack, or will it?
 
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