Sound card question

[BrianB]

I'm putting together a computer-based project studio and I just brought my computer home last night (PIII 450mhz, 256mb ram, cd r/w). I had them deliberately not install a sound card because I told them I would be putting my own in. (I'm leaning towards the Pulsar by Creamware.) Anyway, my questions is, does a sound card like this really take the place of the cheaper type that normally come with a computer? For example, do all those silly little Windows wav files just get sent to one of the outputs on the Pulsar (or any other high-end sound card)?

One quick thing about this web site/bulletin board: I can't say enough good about how much all of this has helped me in getting back in to making music. Thanks!

 

[drstawl]

The only difference you'll notice is that higher end soundcards don't have a MIDI synth built in, so when your system attempts to play .mid files (as in some games or at some websites) there will be no sound unless you have some sort of soft-synth installed. These synths take .mid files and create audio which is sent to the same place where .wav file output goes. But there are always exceptions with oddball soundcards. Another pointer: turn off your windows sounds entirely while doing .wav recordings or some of those noises may end up as part of your recordings. Boink. Ding. Etc.