Using digital inputs on a sound card

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bigus Dickus
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Bigus Dickus

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A question of mine on this subject was lost in the mix of a rather lengthy set of questions, so I thought perhaps a specific thread on this question might be useful.

In short, what would be needed to use digital inputs on a soundcard for computer based recording? I have a M-Audio Delta Dio 2496 soundcard, and it has no analog inputs. It was purchased for another project, and at the time having both coaxial and optical inputs and outputs was more important than analog inputs.

Now I am interested in doing some recording as well. Are there any mixers that have an A/D converter built in? I know that an A/D converter will be necessary, but I really have no idea about what type, who makes them, is there anything specific I should be looking for or know about, what the price range is (would it be cheaper to just buy another soundcard...), what quality improvement (or loss) I could expect over a soundcard's onboard A/D's (which mine doesn't have), etc. etc...

I've narrowed down what mics I am looking for, and now I'm in the market for preamps/mixer. I have at my disposal an SBLive! 5.1, and this Delta Dio 2496. I'm trying to find out if the Delta is going to be useful to me, if the SBLive will give a good enough quality to be satisfactory, or if I need to be looking at another sound card instead of an A/D.

Can someone sprinkle some wisdom this way?
 
First of all, B D, we will need to know your spending budget?

That will enable us to best steer you in the correct direction.

Also, how many INPUTS do you need?

I could steer you in a few different directions, but so-as-not-to-waste-time :cool:, you could offer some more information.

:D
 
No problem, I should have been a bit more detailed.

My current plans are only for stereo recording. I'm not looking to do a home studio setup as a hobby really, but rather something dedicated to making recordings from my grand piano. Therefore, two channels are fine for now. Like all other things though, you never know when an investment now will pay off in the future, but I'm satisfied to stick to the essentials for now.

Budget: I'm looking at spending up to $300 on a pair of mics (used, most likely). As far as a mixer, I'd like to keep that in the $200~$300 range, if possible, which from what I gather shouldn't be too difficult with only two channels needed. Cheaper still even seems possible. And for the A/D or soundcard... well, looks like a new M-audio soundcard with analog inputs will run me $200 and up (depending on number of channels etc.), if I choose to go that route. Logically then, it would seem that I'm only interested in buying an outboard A/D converter if it is comparable in price, or would offer noticeably improved sound quality, or both. I can't see spending $1000 on a run of the mill standalone A/D if the sound quality will be the same as a new $200 soundcard. Ideally, I'd like to keep my whole outlay for this project to around $500. Much more than that, and I would start looking at trade-offs on different components (spending less on mics for a better A/D, or less on a soundcard for better mics, etc.).
 
Check out a DBX386. It's a two channel tube mic preamp with analog, S/PDIF and AES/EBU outputs. It accepts line inputs as well so it can function as a direct box too.
 
Thanks for the heads up... I'll check it out. I'm wondering already whether it supplies phantom power... going to search for it now and do some reading.

Any other suggestions?

edit: just took a look. 24, 20, 16 bit and 44, 48, 88, 96 KHz sampling on the A/D sections, with a couple of dither selections. Phantom power of course, looks fairly nice. $600 is a bit high... going to do some searching and see if there are any used ones about.

Other suggestions still appreciated.
 
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