Sound Card Influence

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ZSteveP

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I do my track recording on a Korg D12 and then transfer the wav files to the PC to do the mixing, effects, etc. Then burn to CD on the PC. I have just the standard sound blaster currently in the PC. Since I do the recording elsewhere will a higher end sound add anything, or am I losing any quality currently using the cheaper sound card while processing the sound on the PC?

Thx,
Steve
 
hmm, good question. I wouldnt think so, if its already recorded and all your doing is transferring it onto your computer, then i couldnt think how it can lose quality.. Your sound card isnt being used whilst your processing the sound on your pc (unless of course your listening to it at the same time, but its then only playing it). So i would say that you dont. Just to be safe i think its better if someone backs me up on this :)
 
I would think yes. Someone can correct me if I'm off base, but when you're mixing on your computer you're basically using the stock converters/clock in your soundcard. This may affect the quality of your monitoring if the D/A conversion is subpar; but also if you end up doing any sample rate conversion when you're exporting out of your DAW editor to make a burnable audio file.
 
ZSteveP said:
am I losing any quality currently using the cheaper sound card while processing the sound on the PC?

Thx,
Steve
Click to expand...
When you say you transfer the .wav files from the Korg to the PC. do you do this via S/PDIF or the analog outs/analog ins on the Soundblaster?

In any case the monitoring via the sound card is going to be somewhat limited unless you have some nice digital-input monitoring system.
 
Thanks for the replies

I transfer the files to CDRW from the Korg and then move to the PC drive.

Sounds like it might be worth it to go ahead and get a better card can't hurt that's for sure.
 
Get The Cheap Proper Sound Card..

Get Hurry To Replace Ur Sound Blaster To Cheap Proper Soundcard
Like Echo Mia Or Something.. Ur Problem Will Gone :d
 
If you are bringing the files into your PC via CD and mixing in the PC then the sound card is not involved at all and is irrelevant to the quality of your mix. Except that you are monitoring your mixing results through that soundcard, but it's probably OK for that. It's on the input side that soundcards mess up your recording.
 
First of all, what speakers/amp are you monitoring through? Better playback on monitoring makes a huge difference for how your mix turns out. The question is what would help you more: a better soundcard with a better clock and D/A converters, or would a new set of monitor speakers/amp? So....whatcha' monitoring through?
 
Monitoring three ways to see how it sounds on each, through a Kenwood amp to Infinity speakers, common desktop PC speakers, and headphones. The Infinity's are not the full range monitor speakers I should have but that's all I got right now.
 
ZSteveP said:
Monitoring three ways to see how it sounds on each, through a Kenwood amp to Infinity speakers, common desktop PC speakers, and headphones. The Infinity's are not the full range monitor speakers I should have but that's all I got right now.
Click to expand...

I've got a decent pair of Jamos on the stereo that I used for mixing before I got the Event PS6s. I was very surprised how bad the Jamos were for that because I really like them on the stereo.
 
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