Soundcard or Interface?

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BenignVanilla

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I've seen similar discussions, but no clear answer to this question explicitly so I am starting a new thread.

I moved Cakewalk to a new PC that has integrated sound on the mobo. Of course the PC can't handle it. So I was going to buy a sound card, but then considered...should I just skip the sound card and buy an audio interface? Will an audio interface (I am thinking PCI card based) act also as a soundcard, or do I need both?
 
A soundcard is an audio interface. It's the same thing.
 
TimOBrien said:
Hmmmmm..... should I buy a car or a personal automotive conveance????

Here's a good guide and tested suggestions that WORK: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
Click to expand...

Give the guy a break, y'all; it's not a stupid question. In fact, that Tweak article actually does make a distinction between soundcards and audio interfaces, which is what I always thought as well. The article says that soundcards are usually mounted in a PCI slot in the computer, whereas audio interfaces usually have an external breakout box that sits outside of the computer, where you hook your cables to and then a cord running from that to your computer via Firewire, USB, or to a PCI card.

By the way, what's a conveance?

Or .. wait ... you mean conveyance I guess.
 
Right, there is a lot of overlap between the two generically. One angle to consider (a few actually depending..) is how many A/D's and D/A's etc, future growth and flexibility in having pieces separated', and playing into that is more higher end options in external separates. In general this applies to a lot of this audio stuff.
 
Yeah, it's semantics.... A soundblaster with a line in and a stereo out is technically a 2x2 interface, albeit the worst one you could buy... A MOTU 828 is 10x10, but your OS doesn't differentiate, it just knows you have x inputs and y outputs.

Even tho they're technically the same thing, the terms have sort of a hidden connotation - I would call it a 'soundcard' if it's main purpose is playback on a PC. I'd call it an 'interface' if it's more geared towards nice clean recording, ie mic pre's, more inputs, better AD/DA converters, phantom power, midi, etc.. Figure out what you need in terms of inputs and outputs, preamps, routing options, etc., and get an interface/soundcard that has those features.
 
Interface

I just bouth a firewire audio interface. Its an M-audio firewire solo. The issue i came across with it is that the sound quality is not really good. I mean, I'm not after CD mastering quality but the audio interface should record at a decent sound atleast.
 
BenignVanilla said:
I've seen similar discussions, but no clear answer to this question explicitly so I am starting a new thread.

I moved Cakewalk to a new PC that has integrated sound on the mobo. Of course the PC can't handle it. So I was going to buy a sound card, but then considered...should I just skip the sound card and buy an audio interface? Will an audio interface (I am thinking PCI card based) act also as a soundcard, or do I need both?
Click to expand...

If you get a PCI sound card or an external USB or firewire interface designed for audio recording, it replaces the computer's internal soundcard, but performs all the functions that the internal sound card did (such as reproducing the sund andmusic for games and whatever). You hookup your speakers to this instead of going out of the back of the onboard soundcard.

animesh_joshi said:
I just bouth a firewire audio interface. Its an M-audio firewire solo. The issue i came across with it is that the sound quality is not really good. I mean, I'm not after CD mastering quality but the audio interface should record at a decent sound atleast.
Click to expand...

If you are not getting high quality sound from the M-audio, it is highly likely that the problem is not with the M-audio, but with some other part of the system. You would need to examine the signal path to see where the problem lies.
 
signal path testing

Can you tell me ways i can accomplish this? I'm using Ableton live lite on my laptop. The audio interface connects to the laptop via firewire.
 
animesh_joshi said:
Can you tell me ways i can accomplish this? I'm using Ableton live lite on my laptop. The audio interface connects to the laptop via firewire.
Click to expand...

What is the source you are trying to record?

What interface are you using?

What are the symptoms of your problem?
 
info

I'm using a M-audio firewire audio interface. That connect to the 4 port 1394 firewire port of my windows XP laptop. The laptop has 1GB RAM. The issue is that the sound quality is not very good. I've made sure that the signal is not clipping, i'm recording at very high volume.

I've spent AUS $350 on the audio interface and the sound is similar to what it was when i recorded using a 1/8" to 1/4" line in converter. I don't wan't a mastered CD sound but still all this interface and ableton live s/w should have some better result at least.

Please advise.
 
Seafroggys said:
You didn't answer 2/3 of his questions
Click to expand...

Imagine this conversation:

Patient: "Doc, I don't feel good. This medicine is not working"
Doctor: "What medicine are you taking, what is it not doing, and what are your symptoms?"
Patient: "It's aspirin in a brown bottle, and it's not working."
 
He said..
animesh_joshi said:
.. The issue is that the sound quality is not very good. I've made sure that the signal is not clipping,
I've spent AUS $350 on the audio interface and the sound is similar to what it was when i recorded using a 1/8" to 1/4" line in converter. I don't wan't a mastered CD sound but still all this interface and ableton live s/w should have some better result at least..
Click to expand...
She said..

Maybe... it's that situation of the 'ten other things that are 100 times more important than the interface's effect on quality?
i'm recording at very high volume.
Click to expand...
And stop that.
Record; average' (sustained') levels down around -18 or so, then your peaks land up around -6 +/-. That's for your system's built-in head room. It's there for a reason. ;)
Even this is one of those relatively small things.
 
In other unrelated news. Sad day at CathouseSound as after years of quietly doing it's job and still going strong, Dakota' is going away. RME 'RayDat steps in filling in for the death of 5vdc PCI.

Ca-ching$$$. :rolleyes:
 
more info

Alright! Let me re-frame my query and provide more info.

What is the source you are trying to record? : - Jackson JS1 guitar with Roland cube 15x amp

What interface are you using? : - M-audio firewire solo

What are the symptoms of your problem? : - The problem/symptoms are that the sound that is recorded is crap, it has a lot of noise, the signal sounds very distorted even if I don't distort it too much.

Here are my amp settings: bass:5 ; mid:6.5 ; treble:7-7.5. Normal distortion
 
animesh_joshi said:
Alright! Let me re-frame my query and provide more info.

What is the source you are trying to record? : - Jackson JS1 guitar with Roland cube 15x amp

What interface are you using? : - M-audio firewire solo

What are the symptoms of your problem? : - The problem/symptoms are that the sound that is recorded is crap, it has a lot of noise, the signal sounds very distorted even if I don't distort it too much.

Here are my amp settings: bass:5 ; mid:6.5 ; treble:7-7.5. Normal distortion
Click to expand...

Excellent!

Now . . . how is the sound getting from amp to M-audio?

Are you using a line out?
Are you using a mike? If so, which mike?

Have you tried just recording your voice?

What level settings do you have on your M-audio?
 
Are you using a line out? - Recording out from the amp into the 1/4" input of the M-audio interface

Are you using a mike? If so, which mike? - No mic only guitar

Have you tried just recording your voice? - voice records ok

What level settings do you have on your M-audio? - i just use the 1/4" input of the m-audio and signal strength/volume is at 4-5 on a scale of 1 to 10
 
animesh_joshi said:
Are you using a line out? - Recording out from the amp into the 1/4" input of the M-audio interface

Are you using a mike? If so, which mike? - No mic only guitar

Have you tried just recording your voice? - voice records ok

What level settings do you have on your M-audio? - i just use the 1/4" input of the m-audio and signal strength/volume is at 4-5 on a scale of 1 to 10
Click to expand...

I assume you are going out of the "Recording Out/Phones" socket of the Roland. Is that correct?

If so, then you should be getting an okay sound. Have you tried listening to this sound by plugging in a set of headphones into the socket? Don't have the volume set too high on the Cube.

The fact that your voice via mike records okay, but your guitar via line-in doesn't is more suggestive of a problem with level settings, rather than the M-audio.
 
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