Question about soundcards..
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MessianicDreams
New member
bit depth refers to the total dynamic range achievable. Basically, you want 24-bit.
What do you want to do with your soundcard? Play music? watch films in surround? record a whole drum kit?
Good basic guide and suggestions here:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
A $100 Emu0404, M-Audio Audiophile or Echo Mia is a good low-end starter but high-quality-sound purchase.
http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
A $100 Emu0404, M-Audio Audiophile or Echo Mia is a good low-end starter but high-quality-sound purchase.
Treeline
New member
I echo Tim's advice. Either of those should do the trick. Stay away from gamer cards for this - i.e., what you find for a hundred bucks at Staples won't approach the same quality and sooner or later that will become a problem. With these cards, you'll want to upgrade at some time to get more features, not because you have funky sound. Good luck!
Ok. But now I'm also buying a mixer and 2 mic's, so I don't have enough money
for the moment for a new one.. And I can get the joystick-port-to-midi cable for free (just like a my other cables..
) So I'll have to wait.. And in the meantime, I'll just have to use my old card..And btw.. Thanks for the replys you guys
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The thing about cards for gamers is that they are all about fancy DSP effects for the games rather than about basic sound quality.
There are a couple of options to think about....
1. The Mixer route. The mixer you get will probably have mic-pre amps in it already and these are bound to be better than the mic-pre on a normal PC sound card - just how good depends on the mixer. So you run the line out of your mixer into the PC sound card and you can record probably two channels at once. If you normally do one track at a time that is probably enough anyway, otherwise you are forced to mix prior to recording.
2. The other route. You get a sound card designed for recording with as many channels as you will want to record at once. Many of these come with mic-pres too so you don't need the mixer. When you want to do any of the things you would normally do on the mixer you do it on the computer instead inside your recording/editing program.
There are a couple of options to think about....
1. The Mixer route. The mixer you get will probably have mic-pre amps in it already and these are bound to be better than the mic-pre on a normal PC sound card - just how good depends on the mixer. So you run the line out of your mixer into the PC sound card and you can record probably two channels at once. If you normally do one track at a time that is probably enough anyway, otherwise you are forced to mix prior to recording.
2. The other route. You get a sound card designed for recording with as many channels as you will want to record at once. Many of these come with mic-pres too so you don't need the mixer. When you want to do any of the things you would normally do on the mixer you do it on the computer instead inside your recording/editing program.
Treeline
New member
Very good advice here!
If you go the mixer route, as I did when I got started, it should be pretty good for a while until you get restless for more. Be sure to use the line in jack on your computer's soundcard and never, never use the mic jack. The line in jack skips the computer's onboard preamp, which is where most of the problems are found.
Are those preamps that bad? Because everywhere I go the first thing everyone says is: Don't use the mic in!!!.. Btw Thanks for the Advice.. My first song is almost finish.. Now I'm using my neighbour's mixer.. Because he's to france for 2 weeks.. So I'm using his (a Behringer xenyx 1832FX), And I'm going to buy a Behringer xenyx 802.. So thanks for the replies guys
D
danny.guitar
Guest
Another reason being their drivers suck. In recording, you want to use ASIO drivers, and the few gamer cards that come equipped with ASIO drivers don't perform well.
My friend has an Audigy 2 card, and a computer easily 3 times as fast as mine. He gets latency when monitoring and other problems that a computer like his shouldn't have. He tried using the asio4all drivers but that didn't help much.
Using a card like the M-Audio 24/96 or other cards with ASIO drivers will make a huge difference, not only in quality but in performance.
So the cause of the latency when monitoring is my soundcard?
Hmm.. Better start saving some money for a new soundcard...
D
danny.guitar
Guest
Not always. But it's one of the first things I would consider.
Note that, when trying to figure out the cause of latency, it's important to know when you get the latency. On recording? On playback? When monitoring what you're recording in real-time? Monitoring in real-time with effects?
My friend can record raw tracks pretty well. But when monitoring through headphones, while he is recording, that's when he gets latency. And that is when (good) ASIO drivers are really important. Especially with effects on the track.
So, in summary, just get a good sound card that has ASIO drivers. Most cards that are meant for recording will have them (M-Audio 24/96, the ones listed in this thread, M-Audio Delta 66, etc.).
And avoid USB interfaces if you can. FireWire is a much better option. PCI is the best. PCI-Express is even better since it's newer and will replace PCI soon.
I'm kind of rambling here, but just thought I'd throw some useful information out there for if/when you consider a new sound card.
If you get latency while monitoring, then get a good sound card with ASIO drivers should take care of it. Although, if your CPU is a total piece of crap then that could be the problem as well. Note that mine is only an AMD 1.2GHz and I get no latency. So if it's better than that then I will bet it's an issue with your drivers.
I've got a pc with an CPU with 700 MHz..
But I'm getting a laptop with 3.2GHz from my parents,
so I've got 120 EUR left..
( I live in europe, but 120 EUR = 165.384 USD = 81.3 GBP)
What soundcard can I buy for that? I searching for
a soundcard/audio interface with at least 2 line-in's and 1 MIDI in and out..
Do you know some soundcards / audio interfaces?
But I'm getting a laptop with 3.2GHz from my parents,
so I've got 120 EUR left..
( I live in europe, but 120 EUR = 165.384 USD = 81.3 GBP)
What soundcard can I buy for that? I searching for
a soundcard/audio interface with at least 2 line-in's and 1 MIDI in and out..
Do you know some soundcards / audio interfaces?
D
danny.guitar
Guest
M-Audio Audiophile 24/96. About $100 new. 2 analog inputs. 1 MIDI port. This is the card I use and I have zero latency.