sound card?

[Rusty K]

Well I've been reading the archives. Perhaps now I can ask a little more intelligent question about the best sound card for my system. I have a 4trac digital recorder. My computer is an Emachine (366MHz,32MBsyncDRAM,up to 256MB). I've had trouble finding out which sound card I'm currently using but does Crystal CS4280 3D PCI ring a bell with anyone. I plan to take suggestion I've already recieved here and get Goldwave mastering software. There are so many sound cards talked about here my head is spinning. Is there a card that would fit well with what I have now and also be adequate if I went to 8trac?

Thanks,
Rusty

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Oh yeah, that's familiar alright. The CS chipsets are sold OEM widely to many cheap mobo/soundcard manufacturers. They absolutely suck for recording.

Here's the problem, that "soundcard" might actually be integrated into your motherboard. In that case you'll have to look for a way to disable it when you get your new card.

Second, a pro audio card might not fit into your machine. eMachines are kinda small and full-length cards have a hard time squeezing in. A few months ago a guy here had to sell his cause his Gina? wouldn't fit into it.

Anyway, I know you probably bought it because it was a great deal. I hope it works out. If you can fit a good soundcard in there you should be able to get 6-8 tracks with effects on it. Many more without effects.

I'll let the other guys point you towards a good card.

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Rusty K]

Thanks Slack,

I pretty much figured the sound card was a cheap game card but the puter was a gift so I'm going to have to deal with it for a while. (I'm not complaining "knock on wood"!)

I need that direction toward the right card help!!

Rusty

 

[Eddie N]

how many tracks are you recording at once ? if you only lay down one track at a time youll only need a 2 input soundcard.. like the darla 24 ( about 300 ), or the wave 4/24 ( about 270 )... if you need 4 inputs then theres the gina card with 4 inputs ( about 300 ) .. if your tracking 8 tracks at a time theres the layla ( about 600 ) and the wave 8/34 ( about 500 ).. also i believe the aark 20/20 has 10 intputs.. just hope you have room for a good soundcard..im going through similar drama as you with my compaq computer..

keep in mind that the # of inputs your soundcard has has nothing to do with the amount of tracks you can playback on your computer.. the # of inputs is the amount of tracks you can record AT ONCE..

- eddie -

 

[bobbo]

Welcome Rusty K,
I had the same machine a while back when I was starting on computer recording, except it was a 400MHz celeron. I put in an extra 32MB for a total of 64MBSDRAM. That card in it now gives lots of hiss, so I tried a darla 24 by echo, and with ntracks software couldn't even get through recording one stereo track over 1 minute. Keep in mind that I was just starting to learn this stuff and am still not real learned on computers, so I sent the card back to echo and got a different computer. I do know that I was able to take out the old soundcard and put in the new one though, and I have heard of ways to increase performances of celerons (not sure if thats what you have though). You may even try to look into upgrading the drive and or processor and RAM. With that crystal soundcard though, I was able to get about 13 tracks playing back with ntracks software at 22.1 bits in mono, but again the hissing was pretty bad, and sampling rate low and in mono. I did measure the room inside it the emachine I had, and had to rule out a card at Gadgetlabs I was looking at.
I hope you will have some luck with your needs and the emachine. By the way, are you wanting to record with the digital 4 track and then send it to the computer for editting etc, or are you wanting to record with the computer? There is some really good help here at these forums, so just keep asking questions, and tell people what you want to do with your setup, how you will be recording, how many tracks you would like to hear playing back, maximum number of tracks you might be recording at once, equipment you have, how much you are willing to spend, etc. and they will lead you in the right direction.
bobbo