Sound card help?

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money

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I'm a begining Cu-base user trying to get my home studio running. I decieded to go with a makie 1202 for mixing but I'm unsure about sound cards. My PC came with a sound card that is full duplex and, I think, it has 32 or at least 24 bits. I was thinking of upgrading to a better card is this nessacary? What are the advangatages of having a better card besides better sound? (I am a one man band so I don't need that many inputs.)What sould I look for in a better sound card? Any help would be great. Also how do I know if my computer is SCSI? and if it's not how important is this to have? Thanks!
 
First of all...your soundcard is probably not 24bit if it "came with the computer." If it is...great! If it's a generic crapoid then there is a good chance that you'll have to replace it. Decent replacement cards would be the Soundblaster PCI128 and the Creative/Ensoniq AudioPCI for about $30. They're both consumer-grade audio cards, but they do a better job than most. Otherwise, check out www.gadgetlabs.com for affordable 24bit/96khz multiple in/out cards.

How to determine if your computer uses SCSI... It probably doesn't unless your machine was sold as a "business workstation" or something. Most PC's do not come with SCSI hardware, requiring that you add a SCSI controller and devices seperately. No, you don't need it. You do, however, need a decent 7200RPM UDMA/33 or ATA/66 EIDE drive which will run you from 100 to 200 dollars. Right click on "my computer" and select properties. Get into device manager and look at your drives...if they're on an IDE controller...you don't have SCSI.

Why don't you post the specifics of your system so we can help a little more. It's hard to say what you need when we don't know what you have.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Thanks Slackmaster, It says my computer has an AMD-K6 400MHz processor, 128 MB Ram, and 6 GB EIDE. Is (AMD-K6) something that will effect recording performance? I don't know much computer jargon yet. But I've heard that Pentium III's are better. Will I really matter while I'm learning the software? What do you think of the "echo darla 24", or the "wave 424" for middle of the road sound quality? I would like to also try "n-track" before I jump into Cu-base. Will one of these sound cards, my mackie 1202 and n-tracks produce a decent recording with my computer set-up? thanks again!

[This message has been edited by money (edited 02-28-2000).]
 
Slackmaster, The problem is I already have the AMD K-6. It came with my PC before I even new what a processor was. Sound I invest in a new Pentium. Or can I live with the AMD K-6 while I am learning my music software? Thanks
 
Ok, then why don't you just give it a try? As I said earlier...the K6-2 processor should WORK for you. If you find your system lagging too much for what you do, then upgrade.

Sorry about the miscommunication.

Slackmaster 2000
 
What is the difference between Pentium and AMD K-6 will this affect they way my sound card runs?
 
If you can find ONE reason to go with a cheap K6-2 processor over a cheap Celeron processor...I'll be your best friend :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
Slack master I got this info from the online tech support at 8th street. com.
Sir G. thanks for the help
 
Hey slack master. One more question I heard that not many soundcards run well with the AMD K-6. Can you recomend one that does?(Under $300. I need it to be able to record 6 tracks, but not at the same time. I also like to use a few effects but not many.) Thanks.
 
Hmm...I've never heard of a soundcard not working with a K6. Doesn't really make sense actually.

I suppose that it's probably a matter of certain soundcards being heavy on CPU usage either in hardware or device driver design...and they work BETTER with an intel processor. This is usually the type of thing you see when you talk about "incompatibility". Try running a TNT video card on a K6 processor some time. Horrible performance when compared to the same card on a Celeron.

Anyway, I'm not the guy to ask about 300 dollar soundcards. I would suspect that the will all work with your K6 processor. Where did you "hear" this information anyway?

Slackmaster 2000
 
i got a k6-2 450mhz pc with 128megs of ram and a maxi isis soundcard with 8 inputs and two outs..any soundcard will work with amd..it's just applying directx effects plug-in..it slows downs the system..so the best way is to use a real effects processor(hardware)..like lexicon mx500..digitech etc...the real stuff not software plug-in.my pc is just for recording no games no modem for internet hook-up it's a dedicated daw.as for editing wave files my amd just works fine.so go with a real soundcard not the on-board soundcard.i agree with slack on the ensoniq audiopci card not bad for a thirty dollar card i got two of this card if this thing can record multiple tracks i'll pick this one.low noise,works well with windows.gadgetlabs soundcard too are good i played around with their 424 not bad for $269(direct)but no break-out box and also try to invest on a real monitor(speaker)the studio quality.i invested on a event ps5 this is a good monitor.because it doesn't makes sense running a $300 soundcard thru a small pc speaker that came with your pc.you really need a good monitor when you are mixing down your music.
 
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