PC Soundcards?

[tweed]

Throwing this idea around again as well. My current card is an onboard POS. Cant really afford a new PC, although thats coming sometime next year, and would really like to get a new card for recording, gaming, everything lol. Have no idea what to get. Emu? Are there new models coming very soon that I should be aware of rather than whats currently available?

Thanks!

 

[Gainfreak]

Throwing this idea around again as well. My current card is an onboard POS. Cant really afford a new PC, although thats coming sometime next year, and would really like to get a new card for recording, gaming, everything lol. Have no idea what to get. Emu? Are there new models coming very soon that I should be aware of rather than whats currently available?

Thanks!

Im finding out that the Emu's don;t play well with certain software and o/s'

Ed Degenaro and Bob Savage can give you info on whats the shizznit but I think the best bang for the buck audio cards are the delta cards.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Concentrate on a good video card for gaming, and recording card/interface for recording.

Even most low end integrated audio would suffice for gaming....in most instances.

Also PCI is being phased out, so if you decide to get an internal PCI based sound card, you may not be able to migrate it over to a new system you get down the road. So you may want to consider an external solution

 

[tweed]

Concentrate on a good video card for gaming, and recording card/interface for recording.

Even most low end integrated audio would suffice for gaming....in most instances.

Also PCI is being phased out, so if you decide to get an internal PCI based sound card, you may not be able to migrate it over to a new system you get down the road. So you may want to consider an external solution

How do the externals hook up? Firewire? And wouldn't there be some lagtime recording by having an external interface?

 

[Gainfreak]

Concentrate on a good video card for gaming, and recording card/interface for recording.

Even most low end integrated audio would suffice for gaming....in most instances.

Also PCI is being phased out, so if you decide to get an internal PCI based sound card, you may not be able to migrate it over to a new system you get down the road. So you may want to consider an external solution

How do the externals hook up? Firewire? And wouldn't there be some lagtime recording by having an external interface?

i think Bob has a firewire Soundcard and there is no lag IMHO

 

[Shiny_Surface]

How do the externals hook up? Firewire? And wouldn't there be some lagtime recording by having an external interface?

Unless you have integrated firewire, you would have to (ironically) buy a PCI based firewire card that would provide the port to plug into.

I don't believe they are real expensive though, just make sure you have an internal slot for it.

USB 2.0 interfaces don't seem to have too bad of a lag time, but I think that's just as much a factor of having well written up to date ASIO (or other) drivers for your interface.

But firewire is definitely faster.

 

[tweed]

Looks like EMU has vista drivers available. That would be a plus. All the new pc's I see have Vista as an os. Hmmm....

 

[Bob Savage]

I would not worry about PCI going away soon enough that you're going to end up with it being an issue, Randy.

Whether you go PCI or Firewire with a PCI card, there's no "lagtime" concerns. The bus speed is fast enough that you're not going to hear anything and low latency settings can still be used if necessary.

What's your budget, Randy?

Also, I would use your internal card for gaming and whatever you buy for audio.

By the way, I'm using an RME Fireface 800. Ask Ed about his MOTU though, he's VERY happy with it.

 

[tweed]

I would not worry about PCI going away soon enough that you're going to end up with it being an issue, Randy.

Whether you go PCI or Firewire with a PCI card, there's no "lagtime" concerns. The bus speed is fast enough that you're not going to hear anything and low latency settings can still be used if necessary.

What's your budget, Randy?

Also, I would use your internal card for gaming and whatever you buy for audio.

By the way, I'm using an RME Fireface 800. Ask Ed about his MOTU though, he's VERY happy with it.

My budget is going to be on the plastic funds for now, but need to keep it low. I am pretty sure I can get a smoking deal on this stuff at the local store, just have no idea what to get. Would like to do basic clips once ina while or maybe track some stuff, but like I said I am a noob and have no idea about this stuff.

Ultimately I would mic up my cabs and hope to add an axetrak to the lineup somewhere down the road. I figured it may be better to find something that could handle normal soundcard use(gaming, music, etc) as opposed to adding another card for that. My motherboard is an ASUS P4c800e deluxe. The onboard card blows and picks up all the fan and hd noise and it is driving me crazy.

Maybe I will just find a normal sound card for now. It's not like I own any mics to do recording anyway.

 

[tweed]

So who's got good recommendations for a plain ole PC soundcard? Newest soundblaster pretty good?

 

[Bob Savage]

My budget is going to be on the plastic funds for now, but need to keep it low. I am pretty sure I can get a smoking deal on this stuff at the local store, just have no idea what to get. Would like to do basic clips once ina while or maybe track some stuff, but like I said I am a noob and have no idea about this stuff.

Ultimately I would mic up my cabs and hope to add an axetrak to the lineup somewhere down the road. I figured it may be better to find something that could handle normal soundcard use(gaming, music, etc) as opposed to adding another card for that. My motherboard is an ASUS P4c800e deluxe. The onboard card blows and picks up all the fan and hd noise and it is driving me crazy.

Maybe I will just find a normal sound card for now. It's not like I own any mics to do recording anyway.

In my opinion, SONAR is a fairly simple application and is far more intuitive than many applications (subjective), but how about this?

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/PowerStudio/

We bought that for our telecom group so they can record voice prompts and while it's not a "top end" setup the pricing is very reasonable and it gives you everything you need for basic clips, drum jams, etc.

I would not suggest adding two new cards to the system. If you need gaming, just use the interface as a stereo mode game card.

Do you have monitors? Mics? Cables?

 

[tweed]

In my opinion, SONAR is a fairly simple application and is far more intuitive than many applications (subjective), but how about this?

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/PowerStudio/

We bought that for our telecom group so they can record voice prompts and while it's not a "top end" setup the pricing is very reasonable and it gives you everything you need for basic clips, drum jams, etc.

I would not suggest adding two new cards to the system. If you need gaming, just use the interface as a stereo mode game card.

Do you have monitors? Mics? Cables?

None of the above...

Looking at the interface now.

 

[Gainiac]

Ok, lwhile your at it, let me jump in an ask you guys, Sav, what would u suggest for inexpensive monitors?? Brand(s) / Price Range??

 

[degenaro]

Bob is right I absolutely love the Motu Traveler, especially since it doubles as a stand alone mixer for rack stuff.

 

[degenaro]

Ok, lwhile your at it, let me jump in an ask you guys, Sav, what would u suggest for inexpensive monitors?? Brand(s) / Price Range??

My fave cheap monitors...actually my go to monitors are the Digital Behringers that are like 150 bucks.

 

[degenaro]

As for my experience with Emu...NEVER AGAIN!

 

[Bob Savage]

Ok, lwhile your at it, let me jump in an ask you guys, Sav, what would u suggest for inexpensive monitors?? Brand(s) / Price Range??

My fave cheap monitors...actually my go to monitors are the Digital Behringers that are like 150 bucks.

I'll second this based only on hearsay. From what I understand for cheapo's, you can't beat these.

 

[OneArmedScissor]

I think for $150 I'd try to find some used hi-fi speakers that just sound good. It's not like you're going to get something truly "accurate" without spending a lot of money (and sometimes not even then), so I'd just go with something that would be a good representation of a decent setup the average person might be able to have. And then you'll have speakers good for just listening to music on, too, which I'd imagine is what many people end up using them for the majority of the time, regardless of how into recording they are.

And I wouldn't even bother with a non-recording sound card. The only time they were ever of any real significance was when they were what you needed for surround sound. But now, motherboards have integrated 7.1 surround, so it's pretty much pointless.

Besides, there are acceptable $100 recording interfaces, and it's not like you'd be able to get away with spending much less than that on a regular sound card.

 

[Bob Savage]

I think for $150 I'd just try to find some used hi-fi speakers that just sound good.

For nearfield monitoring I don't know that I'd want a $150 pair of "hi-fi's" on my desk.

 

[OneArmedScissor]

For $150, I don't think I'd want much of anything on my desk hehe. Maybe I shouldn't say "hi fi," but I'd just see what I could find used for $150, without limiting myself to "monitors" in that range. It's not like there's a wild difference.