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pacman
Advanced Member
Australia
1,132 posts
Joined: Sep, 2001
190 hardcore releases
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 Posted - 2003/04/02 : 15:05:45
i will be buying a sound card soon (for producing), and don't know a whole lot about them so could people please give me a run-down. what's good? what should i look for? what makes some better than others etc...
thanks
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ryg0r
Advanced Member
Australia
2,807 posts
Joined: Aug, 2002
34 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2003/04/02 : 19:00:42
To tell you the truth, I"m the the same boat at you.
But now, I'm using the SBLive! Value.
I think the MIDI latency is the most important
-=[ryg0r]=-
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Underloop
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
3,895 posts
Joined: Mar, 2002
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Posted - 2003/04/03 : 00:58:29
ryg0rs right, latency is probably the biggest issue.... either if your going to be using soft synths/samplers (and lets face it, who doesn't these days!) or if your going to be recording audio into your puter. Most soundcards have a pretty low latency these days (I even get something useable out of the built inone in my laptop!), but when shopping for a card you really want anything below 10ms.
Next thing to consider is how many inputs and outputs you are going to need. As far as inputs go, you need to consider what the maximum number of instruments your going to want to record is.... and then for safety's sake add 2. If your just doing dance music then you can probably get away with a stereo in, however, if your going to be recording a full band all at the same time then 8 inputs would be better.
Outputs.... this really depends on whether you will be doing any processing outside your computer... using external effects, or maybe just taking advantage of the benefits of a hardware mixer.... again, if everything is being done inside your computer then a stereo out would suffice, if not you need to decide how many outputs you want
Audio quality is another issue. The majority of new cards are all 24bit 96kHz, which IMHO is more than adequate, bearing in mind that you will probably be burning to CD at 16bit 44.1kHz, but there is certainly an improvement in recording quality using 24bit.
The other spec to check is the signal to noise ratio (S/N) Basically the higher this number is, the better the sound quality..... most these days seem to be above 100dBA, which is pretty good.
All the above obviously have to be balanced against your budget. I was on a tight budget with mine, so I got what I consider a "basic professional" soundcard. Its an M-Audio Audiophile 2496. 24 bit 96 kHz Stereo I/O, and can achieve a latency of 2ms. Its ideal for what I need it for, and it was a bargain at £130. I also have a SB Live Platinum installed on my machine which works fine alongside it, giving me a total of four inputs and four outputs.
Hope this helps,
Matthew aka DJ Underloop
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ryg0r
Advanced Member
Australia
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Joined: Aug, 2002
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Posted - 2003/04/03 : 04:32:33
Yeah, how's that audiohpile for latency? OR better yet, cn you post all the stats for the card?
-=[ryg0r]=-
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Raver_Davie
Senior Member
United Kingdom
281 posts
Joined: Jan, 2003
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Posted - 2003/04/03 : 07:06:51
Most shops over where I live rant on about the Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum 2. It costs about £199 here, I don't know how it would work out over there.
Dave!
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Simon
Advanced Member
Belgium
5,001 posts
Joined: Dec, 2001
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Posted - 2003/04/03 : 08:28:42
the audigy 2 is great value now...has just dropped a lot in price and I have one....it's much better than the sounblaster live imo.
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DJ Mouse
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2,687 posts
Joined: Jul, 2001
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Posted - 2003/04/03 : 13:22:16
^^ it doesn't take a lot to beat an sb live hehe
but i'd recommend it as the absolute minimum if you can't afford owt else
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ryg0r
Advanced Member
Australia
2,807 posts
Joined: Aug, 2002
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Posted - 2003/04/03 : 16:15:05
I'm looking ar this one called the "terratec DMX 6fire 24/96". I"ve been told it makes the Audigy sound cheap, like an old radio.
Bit on the $$$ side
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Oli G
Advanced Member
United States
1,817 posts
Joined: Oct, 2001
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Posted - 2003/04/04 : 05:43:18
Any of the Maudio cards have spot on audio drivers with them, the 1010LT is good as you get 10 in 10 out and midi, or the 410 is great if you dont need the 10 ins
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pacman
Advanced Member
Australia
1,132 posts
Joined: Sep, 2001
190 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2003/04/04 : 20:26:44
^^^ what kind of price?
thanks alot guys for all the useful shit, especially underloop!
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Oli G
Advanced Member
United States
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Joined: Oct, 2001
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Posted - 2003/04/05 : 06:39:21
1010lts are like 280 pounds
410's are like 150 pounds
1010 full versions (with external rack mount ins and outs) are like 400 ish
heh
CAM001 Out MARCH2003
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StrifeII
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
2,143 posts
Joined: Mar, 2001
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Posted - 2003/04/06 : 07:53:06
i'll be getting a soundblaster soon
latency is very important indeed but you also need to look for good sound quality.
get a 5.1 platinum for top notch results or a 4.1 if your budget is teenchy :)
- Robbie Jay
http://robbiejay.iuma.com
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Underloop
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United Kingdom
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Posted - 2003/04/07 : 00:40:20
The M-Audio cards are spot on for latency AND audio quality. Latency for all teh M-Audio cards can go down as far as 2ms, although I have mine at 6ms (which is more than adequate.... not noticable in the slightest).
Full specs for teh M-Audio cards can be found here:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/m-audio/delta.php
The Sound Blasters are alright cards, but they are more geared towards Multimedia than professional recording.... theres alot of fancy gadgets that aren't needed attatched to them, and I think there is also some issue between using ASIO drivers (low latency) and the 24bit 96kHz mode, although I am not sure.... maybe somebody could fill us in on that point?
Matthew aka DJ Underloop
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weba_d
Advanced Member
Australia
789 posts
Joined: Jun, 2002
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Posted - 2003/04/10 : 03:32:32
=what about prices in aussies dollars? (im a dumb shit) im also after a sound card. Do i need one to burn my choonz to a cd? can anyone explain what a card does in more detail??
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Underloop
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
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Posted - 2003/04/10 : 04:54:47
Not sure on the price in Aus $, but I'd suggest contacting your local (or not so local) music shop (one that deals with hi tech stuff) and asking as simply converting may not give an accurate price coz of shipping and all that malarchy 
The basics of a soundcard are to (a) get audio into your computer (ie record it from an external source such as the output from your mixer) and (b) output audio so you can hear whatever it is your playing.
Decent quality is required for recording for obvious reasons, and for playback so that you are getting an acurate representation of your track so you can mix it properly (you want to be able to hear all frequencies between 20Hz and 20kHz, and the output should be flat)
Latency is important for 2 reasons:
(1) Monitoring what your recording (although there are ways round this)
(2) Playing "Soft Synths" (VERY important!)
Latency is basically the time between putting something into the computer and getting something out. In the case of recording the delay between picking a note on your guitar, and hearing it come out f your computer. In terms of soft synths, hitting a note onyour keyboard and hearing the sound come out. Recording audio in can be got round by monitoring the input rather than the output (a term called zero latency monitoring I think). With soft synths there is no way round it, so if you want to be able to play soft synths live then you need as low a latency as possible (<10ms ideally).
As for burning CDs of your tunes, no a decent soundcard isn't essential at all, it is only really essential when your mixing your tune. Once you have bounced it down to a stereo wave file you can burn it onto a CD using a computer with no soundcard at all if you like.
Sorry if some of the above doesn't make much sense, I'm not the world's greatest explainer. Anything I explained crap, just ask.
Matthew
Matthew aka DJ Underloop
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