Soundcards...

  • Thread starter Thread starter travis16vp
  • Start date Start date
T

travis16vp

New member
I wanna buy a soundcard. here are my choices. can you tell me if there is something wrong with any of them.

turtle beach santa cruz
M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Digital Audio Card
M-Audio Delta 44
M-Audio Delta DiO 2496
Terratec EWX24/96 2-Channel Analog SPDIF I/O Card

I'm living in the Philippines and my dad's gonna buy one in belgium.
What card doesn't have a lot of complaints should I buy?
 
Last edited:
I have lots of positive experience with the Turtle Beach card, in business machines.

Under Win2000/SP2 this card is rock solid. The drivers work correctly and install correctly. None of that Creative Labs driver crap. The TB card does not have the bus hogging problem present in the SoundBlaster cards either. All this card does, is work. And it works very well. I won't use anything else for my client's home and business machines.

I'm an admitted newbie here, so no opinion for recording. However, I would like to know, as I run this card in my soon-to-be recording system along with Cakewalk Express Gold 8.
 
What do other people think? most people tell me that I should buy the audiophile but many have problems with it.
 
Delta 44. It comes with a 4 in/out breakout box, has great converters for the price, and comes with Logic 4.8, Gigastudio 24, and trial versions of Antares software and other software programs all for $220 Brand new.

I don't know about the Dio
 
Go with the M-audio D44 for recording. It's a great card that rarely has complaints. The turtle beach would be a great choice for a word/powerpoint computer but for audio recording go M-audio.

JAKE
 
I only need to record one instsrument at a time. would the audiophile be ok? coz I won't be recording any live drums.
 
You don't have a breakout box with the Audiophile, so you will need a mixer, perferrably a digital mixer which are very expensive. But since you are recording only one at a time an analog mixer will do.

I'm telling you, go on ebay and get a Delta 44. I got mine for $185 + shipping on ebay and it was brand spank'in new still in the cellophane wrap.
 
Audiophile2496

travis16vp said:
What do other people think? most people tell me that I should buy the audiophile but many have problems with it.
Click to expand...

I got my Audiophile2496 from S'pore. Great stuff! no problem what so ever. (even if you do face some problem, some tweaking will solve it) :)

of course, if budget allows, I would recommend the Delta44 as well. But for under USD200, get the audiophile, don't even think twice! :)
 
The breakout box has nothing to do with whether you need a mixer or not. Both those cards have line-level inputs, so you'll only need a mixer if you need the pre-amps (or help with routing the delta's 4 outputs to your monitoring system). I don't understand the comment about digital vs. analog mixer with regards to how many tracks he's recording.

BTW - I also recommend a Delta 44. It's what I use and I don't use a mixer for tracking, although I have a Mackie 1202 to monitor the Delta's outputs.

frank_1 said:
You don't have a breakout box with the Audiophile, so you will need a mixer, perferrably a digital mixer which are very expensive. But since you are recording only one at a time an analog mixer will do.
Click to expand...
 
I can't buy the delta44 coz there's other stuff i have to buy.
what if I just use a pod 2? will that be ok with the audiophile?
 
Well there's always more stuff you have to buy! :)
You should be able to plug your POD directly into both the audiophile and the 44. With the 44, you'll have to go analog out of the POD, but the Audiophile has a digital input. The problem you're going to run into is using any microphones (to mic and amp, your voice, an acoustic guitar, etc...)
A mic puts out a very low level signal compared to other stuff, like the POD's output, a synthesizer, etc... You need to plug the mic into a Pre-amp, which converts the low level signal into a line-level signal. You then take this line-level signal into your soundcard. Preamps either come standalone (check out the Audiobuddy by M-Audio, I've never used it but people seem to like it) or with a Mixer (the Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro gives you4 decent preamps for ~$400 USD). The Audio-buddy gives you 2 mic inputs for not much $, the mixer costs more but gives you more routing flexibility (especially with regards to monitoring) and 2 more mic inputs.

Hope this helps! Search the BBS for more info on Mic Preamps. I have a Great River MP2 2-channel Pre which kicks major booty, but it will cost you about $1500USD :)

travis16vp said:
I can't buy the delta44 coz there's other stuff i have to buy.
what if I just use a pod 2? will that be ok with the audiophile?
Click to expand...
 
The POD 2.0 doesn't have digital out, only the POD Pro has SPDIF to my knowledge.

The main inconvenience of the audiophile is that the connectors are right on the card, and they're RCA. That means that you'll need some 1/4" -> RCA or XLR -> RCA cables. It also means you'll be reaching around the back of your computer a lot.

The Delta44, besides having two more analog inputs, has a breakout box containing 8 balanced 1/4" jacks (4 in, 4 out).

Slackmaster 2000
 
Terratec EWX 24/96

Travis,

I have the Terratec EWX 24/96. The Terratec does have S/PDIF and has a MIDI connector. It also allows digital audio from an appropriatly equipped CD-ROM player. My LG 52X is such a machine. :)


Of course there is also the Terratec DMX6-Fire that is worthy of consideration. It has a breakout box and shares drivers with the EWX 24/96.


Another card very highly regarded is the Echo Mia, but it doesn't have a MIDI connector. Early versions of the Mia suffered from clicks and pops during playback, but I believe the latest drivers have cured that particular annoyance.

Ah, it's a mine field out there Travis and no matter what you buy, there's always something better - unless you start off with the RME Hammerfall. In which case it is the best. ;)

--
BluesMeister
 
In the sub-$200 range don't forget the Echo Mia, I know it's been mentioned but it's a rock solid performer. You'll also need a preamp for mics.
 
The problem is, I don’t have an amp yet. Maybe I could buy one in a few months. I need to buy the pod because my guitar and multi-fx sucks and I need to have good tone. Would it be possible if I plug my guitar-pod-soundcard? I have ¼ to RCA cables. What’s the difference of an analogue and digital output? How much is the delta 44? I only have 200 bucks to spend.
 
So do you think the audiophile and pod II will do good for now?
 
The Delta 44 is $230. The Delta 66 has SPidif (digital) outs, I don't know what the difference is between digital and analog outs.

The Audiophile will do, many people use it for recording, plus if I'm not mistaken the Audiophile has better converters then the Delta 44 or 66.
 
audiophile2496

I just purchased the audiophile 2496 card and let me tell you it sounds great. I use my tascam 464 portastudio as my mixing board. Simple setup that works. I transferred some stuff I recorded on cassette tape to the P.C. via the 2496 and it sounded great. For the money you cant go wrong. I was looking at the delta 1010 but I need some studio monitors. For the price and sound you can't go wrong.
 
will it be ok if I record using headphones and not monitors? I already have good computer speakers with a bass speaker..
 
No! Not headphones (although they are very useful), not computer speakers, your better off with regular home speakers, but as they say YOU NEED NEAR-FIELD MONITORS!

Check out the Event Ps6's, I heard them and they sound suprisingly good for $520. The Event 20/20's have too much low end in my opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top