sound card which one is the best lets cut through the hype

  • Thread starter Thread starter darrin_h2000
  • Start date Start date

whats the best soundcard for a moderate price

  • whats the best 5 soundcards and why

    Votes: 8 57.1%

  • what are the 5 soundcards to aviod and why

    Votes: 1 7.1%

  • under 500

    Votes: 1 7.1%

  • over 500

    Votes: 4 28.6%
  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
darrin_h2000

darrin_h2000

Banned
i cannot belive this is the first time someone has opened this thread
why dont we all just give out our personal preferances for a recording soundcard and then after so many of us have listed thier five compile them into a list of cards to buy another list could be made for cards to avoid comments should also accompany your choices.
this has the potential to be the most ambisous new thread yet. besides we all could use the info.
 
well... the problem is...

That the vast majority of people aren't in a position to comment effectively because they haven't personally tried or heard a bunch of different soundcards. So, they end up regurgitating what they've read in reviews and heard other people say, which doesn't serve the purpose you're looking for.

FWIW, I have a Darla24 card for audio and think it is great, though I wish they had real Win2K drivers. I end up dual-booting between Win98SE and Win2K just to be able to do audio under Win98. I suppose it would be nice to have the digital input like the higher end Echo stuff, but I get by without it. I love the SBLive Platinum for MIDI, especially when teamed with some commercial soundfonts. I recently purchased the Sonido Media Orchestra Gold package, but it was backordered so I haven't received it and can't comment on it yet. The samples from their website sound darn good though. I run both of these soundcards side-by-side in my audio workstation, using the SBLive strictly for MIDI and the Darla24 strictly for WAV audio.

I couldn't tell you what other products on the market were any good or bad.

--Will--
 
For 16 bit,the Ensoniq Audio PCI is cheap ($35) and has good headroom.

Tom
 
Will got it right, I doubt there is anyone here that can give an objective opinion about what is THE best soundcard because most of us have only used a few.
 
man,

I've only heard one really good soundcard live and that's my delta 1010.

BUt on the internet, the best sounding mp3s have come from.

delta 1010
Motu 2408
Echo layla
lynx one
soundblaster live platinum
 
I must admit that my sound cards(I have two joined at the hip) are just about perfect. They do everthing you could ask of sound cards. I can see exactly where any of 32 I/O digital ADAT, 2SPDIF I/O, 4 analog I/O, 4MIDI I/O, and 2 MIDI thru signals are going. There are 8 dsp mini computers on the cards. I can insert the most amazing module sounds and process signals. I can send the signals to any software I want. I got these amazing cards for $300 ea from a sale at Guitar center. Unfortunately, they usually cost over $1000 ea. They are Pulsar 1 cards. Actually, Powersampler cards are much less expensive.
I would keep my eye on RME's new DSP cards if I didn't have these. If you you have a Pentium computer, also look at Motu 2408. It's like a combination converter, analog to digital connection center and it connects to the PC with it's own card. It will also connect to the Motu's new 24/96K processor for full DVD quality processing.
my 20 cents worth,
Chuck
 
sorry, I don't understand the poll ... what am I voting for?

I've only looked into 2track soundcards for the most part (never wanted to use my PC as a multitrack DAW, just for light mastering). But people rarely talk about just a 2track card ... so here's my opinion:

There were 2 cards that stood out from a semipro/pro standpoint.

1) Lynx One
2) Wavecenter PCI

The wavecenter is nice because it's got lightpipe I/O ... but I went with the Lynx because of the AES/EBU as well as glowing recommendations by reputable members of this BBS. I have no idea what the "best" card is ... but I do know that the Lynx is the best for me. No doubt about it.
 
I voted for "over 500" on the basis that you get what you pay for.

Did I get it right?
 
Darrin

Just like everybody else, I read the reviews and purchased on recommendation. A top selling UK music magazine gave the Sound Blaster Live Platinum a 9 out of ten.

After installing it, I've had nothing but a multitude of problems. Many of which I have posted onto this site. (thanks for those who have responded - these suggestions have given me some new ideas to try out.)

I won't write an epic about all the problems I've had with the SB Platinum card. Simply go for a card that has an optical sound input and output rather then analog or SPDIF. Optic connections are suppose to give the best achievable sound.

The Sound Blaster Platinum in short gave a loud earth leakage humming sound, which I'm still trying to resolve. Also customer support with Creative is non-existent.

Apparently the new optical connection can achieve a silence of 100db.. Pretty amazing when considering that CD's Pressed by record companies often achieve only a silence of 90-95db.

People who have responded to my SB Platinum problems have stated that a digital amplifier should help. I hope that this is the case, if not - then I will be upgrading to a card with optic connections.

Delta and Darla often have good feedback on the internet, but the best way to try it out for your self is to go into a specialised music equipment place and listen to them. I don’t know how many shops will allow you to do this, but it’s worth a try. Try to talk to people who work in recording studios. See what they have to say. Explain to them that you’re in the market for a soundcard. They might be a chance that you can go in on appointment and listen.

Good luck in your soundcard search.

Mark
 
I would reccomend a " tube" sound card to replace some of the warmth lost in digital recordings.

Twist
 
Soundcards...Hmmmm

I can tell you I've used many from Audio Media, Ensoniq Paris, Pro-Tools Digi 001, Pulsar but I chose for my own home studio, the Gina 24/96. It doesn't have midi ports but that's a small detail considering all that you get with the Gina for just a little over $500 including tax. Internally, there are OMS drivers for Gina. I can tell you that after recording on the Paris system that Gina or (Layla) for that matter sounds as good if not better. The converters are solid. With the Gina you can record 4 tracks at a time right out of the box...that's 2analog and spdf or lightpipe. The plus side: you can actually record a total of 10 tracks at a time if you have and ADAT or Digital mixer such as the Tascam-D1000 using a TDIF to ADAT converter. The light pipe can be switched from ADAT or stereo spdf optical. That means you could inport/export audio from a DAT or an ADAT. The only draw back is you cannot record Lightpipe and standard spdf at the same time. So what! So, what you have is this:

2 analog in, spdf in, light pipe or 8 in or out ADAT plus 8 analog outs at 24bit and up to 96k providing your software can record at that sampling rate. The other big plus is that the Gina is cross compatible between Mac and PC platforms. When I first purchased Gina I stuck it in my Pentium. I use both PC and MAC platforms. After I bought my G4 I threw it in there and downloaded the MAC drivers. It works great. Yes, it's also ASIO compatible for both.
 
"I can tell you that after recording on the Paris system that Gina or (Layla) for that matter sounds as good if not better. "



"I can tell you that after driving a Benz around town the ride in a KIA sportage is just as smooth if not better"

Does that sound like a dumbass comment?

Your engineer must have really sucked to even think that could sound close. The AD/DA converters on PARIS are among the best I have heard and to say that Darla/Layla whatever are even close is an absolute joke. On Billboard right now there are several songs that have been done Tracked/Mixed/Edited all in PARIS not only is the sound PHAT and almost analog but its the only digital system that I have seen that I can drive hard and clip and like tape get a nice more full sound.. There is a trick that Brian Tankersley calls the "Bass trick" that is unreal when tracking Bass guitar. You would have to see it to believe it.


P.S. Not all that long ago I had a Layla at home to mess with for scratch stuff and though it sounded good for its price was by no means even close to PARIS.
 
Paris

Well...you are a proud user of Paris. Perhaps I made a bit of an overstatement but I've tested tested my Gina within the same controlled environment as the paris and the converters were nearly negligible by comparison. Sure there are mult-platinum albums recorded on paris but the reason for that is not necessarily for sound alone. Paris is a non propriatory system and very cost effective. It's modular so you can expand at leisure and needless to say, it's thousands less than Pro-Tools 24 or Mix systems. It's an extremely effecient platform. The problem I had with Paris was not the sound quality, it was that it lacked sufficient and reliable Midi, Sync, wave editing, VST compatibility, ASIO support, and the OMF file transfer to Pro-Tools is a pain. Additionally, there's no Quicktime support for syncing to video or film. However, Paris was deffinitely one of the easiest most user friendly platforms I've ever worked on. Are there any competitive choices...most certainly but none that equate to the expandability that Paris has. To me, Paris is a platform most suitable for the less eccentric, for those that just want to get the job done and done quick producing some of the most sonically viable cuts out there. However, it's editing features are not the only eye and ear poppers out there anymore. Sure Ensoniq's DSP has more than most would facilitate but it lacks a little luster. I'm not sure what platform you're using but I noticed when rolling out 16 tracks of audio off a single card, the realtime editing and DSP was not so real time anymore. Still sounded great so I can't complain. To equate paris to a Mercedes...nah. For the money you get what you pay for no matter what. You want the Bentley, then you record with ProTools, hands down....then again Steinberg's Nuendo just might give them a run for their money as well. You want the board, use Fairlight, AMEK, Focusrite or Neve. We can go at this till the end of time. Anway, to me, the Gina 24/96 works and sounds awesome for what I do and I need the 96k for commercial and film work standards. I need extensive midi applications, I need the plethora of plug-ins to help in creating new music...I need cross compatibility with other platforms and software. I like being able to convert my masters into any format I deem necessary. (Although, Peak Audio with Paris works great.) Paris is simply not an open platform. It wasn't intended to be...I know this...it was to be the answer to all...zero latency, etc. At present, there are new technolgies being developed to work straight off your RAM as RAM get's cheaper it makes the technolgy will be more appealing and more viable. Can't get any faster and more realtime access than that. Who knows where Paris would be today if Creative Labs had not fumbled for so long in re-administrating and redesigning it's future and management. The conglomerate Creative labs/EMU/Ensoniq is a monster now. In the mean time, however, everone else has caught up. I don't have 48 inputs but then I don't need them for what I do. I can still put up the recording quality that paris has...I gaurantee it.
 
Another misinformed soul, ,

"it was that it lacked sufficient and reliable Midi, Sync, wave editing, VST compatibility, ASIO support" (What friggin version are you using? And 3.0 supports MIDI and has great quantizing. And as far as editing its has some of the most powerful editing I have used and I am a former Logic, Nuendo user. I can now totally skip wavelab for many things and do all my editing with the Waveform editer build right into PARIS bet you didn't know that was there did you? When people talk about something they should make sure they are using the latest versions of things.. AS far as the OMF file swap to PT, PARIS is totally and easily 100% swappable with PT and just about any other format. PAF, SD2, OMF, WAVE, AIFF)

"Paris is a platform most suitable for the less eccentric, for those that just want to get the job done and done quick producing some of the most sonically viable cuts out there." (?)


"I'm not sure what platform you're using but I noticed when rolling out 16 tracks of audio off a single card, the realtime editing and DSP was not so real time anymore"
(Dude I don't know what was wrong with your shit but I can on one card get over 90 some Tracks with ZERO latency and scrub 16 Tracks on the fly(PT can Scrub 3) And then Record another 16 while playing back 90 some and have 4 band eq on all channels with compression on half using ONE single 7200 RPM Drive...... PARIS is Guaranteed 128 Tracks right out of the box...)

"To equate paris to a Mercedes...nah. For the money you get what you pay for no matter what. You want the Bentley, then you record with ProTools, hands down...."
( And you think that why? Because PT costs 3 X more? PARIS was created to capture the PT market which is the reason for its price its not because its cheap or sounds cheap. You name one thing that PT can do that PARIS can't do and for half the price. Digidesign has been fu&^ing people for years with there overpriced shit and way overpriced plugins. There really has not been a a company that has come out with something that could compete with PT until EMU came out with PARIS. PARIS has caused Digi to do a lot of stuff to keep up, for instance realtime plugins. PARIS had them at the NAMM show demo and made DIGI freak out, not long after they had realtime suite. And if you really think that PT is so much better than PARIS I then want to know why studios with Million dollar budgets are choosing PARIS when they could afford pretty much anything they want? )...................

Just some tidbits you maybe didn't know about PARIS and some you might have....

128 Tracks out of the box..............,,,,,,,,,,,

PARIS supports NATIVE Tracks as well now!!!!.....,,,,,,

Realtime Effects Prossessing,,,,

PARIS Comes with a nice bundle of effects out of the box you don't have to buy them like PT, And supports Direct X so you don't have to be stuck using JUST their plugins like another company I know............

8 Aux Sends per card and 4 effects now PER AUX....,,,,,,,,

FULLY Supports MIDI

Full Waveform editor

PARIS has 99 Undo and Redos and is totally NON destructive.

I could go on but it speaks for itself, if you were using the latest version of PARIS your comments would be more informed and correct but as of now they are not. I would gladly put a PARIS system for under 10,000 up against any PT rig you could find... There is NOTHING I repeat NOTHING that PT can do that PARIS cant do and then most times better.... Even at Digidesigns site on their message board there was a forever going thread about PT VS PARIS and the only thing that PT was found to have that PARIS does not have right at this time is Motors under the hood of the control surface. Other than that there was nothing that PT had over PARIS on the other hand there were a few things that PARIS had over PT...... People get brainwashed into thinking that one thing is the best and have a hard time with something being better, PT was one of the first and had the market cornered in this dept for quite a while but not anymore... Seriously man if you have not used PARIS 3.0 and in depth I would watch what I say... It would be like commenting about Logic when all you have used is the 3.0 series.....


If anyone lives in Nashville I would be glad to give them a PARIS demo and clear up the misconceptions.....
 
Even better to see PARIS in action you should see if this tour stops anywhere near you and if it does attend and drill the Reps and try it out yourself. Throw your toughest questions and anything else at them and be amazed.. Here are some of the tour stops, check it out its free and they have a shitload of food ;-)

April 19th This event will include a special guest
appearence by Brian Tankersley!
SAE College
7 Music Circle North
Nashville, TN 37203
615.244.5848


April 20th SAE NYC
3pm to 6pm
New York City, NY
212.944.9121


April 24th Sam Ash
2 sessions: 3pm and 6pm
New Haven, CT
203.389.0500

Music Depot
7:00 pm
***This clinic has been postponed. Please watch this web site for a future date.
5950-1 Ramona Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32205
904.786.8051


April 26th Kempke Music
101 Gordon St.
Sanford, FL 32771
800.753.6753


May 1st Hilton Miami Airport and Towers
Miami, FL

Caruso Music
New London, CT
800.264.6614


May 3rd Hilton Deerfield Beach/Boca Raton
Broward/Palm Beach, FL

Bananas at Large
SF/San Rafael, CA
415.457.7600


May 5th Washington Music
1pm to 6pm
Washington, D.C.
301.946.5047


May 8th Professional Sound and Music
San Diego, CA
619.583.7851


May 9th Rainbow Guitars
Tuscon, AZ
520.325.3376


May 10th West LA Universal City
LA, CA
323.845.1145


May 15th Art's Music
3030 East Blvd.
Montgomery, AL 36116
334.271.2787


May 16th Cascio Music
New Berlin, WI
414.786.0487


May 17th Hilton Northbrook
Chicago, IL


May 19th East Coast Music Mall
12pm to 6pm
Danbury, CT
800.901.2001


May 21st San Jacinto College Central Campus
8060 Spencer Hwy.
P.O. Box 2007
Pasadena, TX 77501-2007
281.461.0710


May 22nd Sheraton Suites Dallas Marketplace
Dallas, TX


May 24th Pacific Pro Audio
Seattle, WA
206.264.8708
 
Tom Hicks:

You stated:

"For 16 bit,the Ensoniq Audio PCI is cheap ($35) and has good headroom".

I've decided to buy a Delta 44 - when I can come up with the cash (hopefully within a year). In the meantime, I'm using ntrack 16 bit (registered). As an interim card in a 16 bit environment, would you recommend the ensoniq? My existing onboard c-media is very noisy and the inputs are very flakey (plugs have to be "jostled" to get the correct stereo conection). My levels are way up before I even play anything.

Thks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top