soundcards

[davexxxxx]

I have a montego a3d sound card i use for recording with cakewalk pro audio 9.
if i upgrade my card to say a layla type super soundcard ,how much improvement can i expect sound qualitywise??? the montego works well ,but i would like to have the capability of recording more than two tracks at a time.
what do you think???

 

[drstawl]

Like the old jazz standard:
Night and Day.
Even if you discount the extra physical inputs. I had one of those on my PC stock; I went with the Gina. Also 2 in only.
Four if you include digital input.
But in for a dime, in for a dollar:
Look carefully at the 10 track cards
(8 analog, 2 digital) in the $800 range that feature balanced +4 dBu/-10dBv selectable analog I/O and some sort of digital I/O before you drop $300 - $400 on a lesser card. I've heard some really nice stuff done on lesser cards than the Montego. Learn to get the best you can out of the Montego while you save for the high-end stuff. The idea being: avoid the midrange solution and go straight to the high end.