Sound Card, or?

GenJerDan

GenJerDan

Veteran
I'm going to buy a new sound card.

Any good ones that support 5.1? (although that's not vital)

What about non-cards, with a USB interface? Or those cards that have the breakout box like the Maya 1010 or M-Audio 1010?.

I have NO idea what's good and what isn't. I don't even know which ones to look at to compare them. :(

Searched through here a bit (grrrrrrrr), but comments are scattered all over the place...and the one pro-audio card thread I found had two dozen people, each talking about a different product, with no one product getting people jumping in and saying Oh Yeah, get that one. I guess everyone has a different opinion.

Well, I have no opinion, but I do have a credit card.

Right now, my work will be almost completely mixing already-recorded work, so I'm not that concerned about inputs... But I really want the outputs to be clean so my mix isn't crap.

Anything around $500 or less? Or even a little more? (PC, not Mac)

Dan
 
don't get a usb, if you want an external device (non pci) get a firewire interface. I love MOTU's stuff. REM also makes great stuff. If you're on a PC M-audio is good (not for mac though). Check out the FW-410. Also look at Echo's products. I like M-Audio least of all, but others are happy with them. For $500 you can get a decent FW interface. I have a MOTU 828mkII which was a little more but I think it's fantastic.

Matt
 
I don't know what kind of sound work you will be doing, but unless you are wanting a card with an external dock for 1/4" jacks to have your computer act as a complete studio (Echo Laya for instance) you really dont need anything more than a . . . .

Will he say it . . .


A Sound Blaster Audiogy. 5.1 surround sound (AND if I am not mistaken the ability to encode AC3 and decode as well if you want to make you own surround mixes), with native 24 bit recording with sampling rates up to 96.k.

They also come with built in firewire, and if you buy the little deck that plugs into it and sits on your desk, an optical digital input as well.

I have a friend who just rebuilt his computer, plays bass and lead guitar in a very prominant local band, and does a consierabale amound of home recording. with his new setup, running T Racks, Reason, and Cubase BRIDGED AND RUNNING AT THE SAME TIME, he is still able to keep his latency to under 5 milliseconds.

He records and edits in 24 bit, and swears by it. Only about 100 buck too I think, prolly even cheaper.

HOWEVER, he has all of his equipment (the direct sounds and MIDI) seperate outside the card and going into the card appropriately, but he is still able to use incoming MIDI as well as MIDI transfered from Cubase to Reason and back again, using multiple VST sounds while maintaining that low latency.

He swears by it.


Hope that helps.
 
The latency on the audigy sucks big time - and that's only one of many issues. There is a reason no pros use it. Everyone I know who ever bought one, including myself, upgraded within six months. Do NOT get one of these unless sound and recording is unimportant to you.
 
Well, you will have to tell that to my friend. He has great preformance from it.

Besides, when in his post did he say he was going to be using it for "pro"use?

He was talking about "will be almost completely mixing already-recorded work, so I'm not that concerned about inputs... But I really want the outputs to be clean so my mix isn't crap."

That is certainly able to be achieved and NOT having to spend 500 bucks.
 
GenJerDan said:
Right now, my work will be almost completely mixing already-recorded work, so I'm not that concerned about inputs... But I really want the outputs to be clean so my mix isn't crap.

Dan
Click to expand...

MattC is right, and so am I. It all really comes down to what you will be doing with your card and its future use.

If you could be a little more specific about the audio you will be getting that would help. Is this something coming off of a digital 8 or 32 track machine? Or, is it something that is already in digital format?

If you need to actually record to your PC FROM existing audio from an 8 track or something, MattC would be right.

If you are getting your audio in an already digital format with no need for great inputs, just the need for output, is that output going to be to CD, DVD, or MiniDV?


EDIT: if you are going to be hardcore music editing with multiple inputs, listen to MattC. If not, you MAY be able to get away with a less expensive card but as I have been properly "schooled" of late your needs may eventually require more capabilites that the Audiogy can handle.
 
If you aren't doing any recording, I would probably worry about speakers first, and then a sound card of some sort. As a general rule, if you want decent quality analog outputs, you have to get a card that has a breakout box. What software are you planning to use for your audio work, as that could make a difference in your decision. MOTU hardware is pretty nice, but you cannot use it with Pro Tools (for example), but you can use all of the M-Audio hardware with Pro Tools now, as Digidesign acquired them fairly recently. MOTU and M-Audio interfaces seem to be well supported by all the major PC and Mac pro sound applications.

I personally wouldn't use a Soundblaster anything, but my system is a little on the extreme side so take that with a grain of salt :)
 
It's late and I'm tired, so if my response is short it is not meant any other way than I'm beat.

My thought is this. If you are going to invest in an audio interface, invest in one that you can use for the foreseeable future. Since you are working in video, there could be a time when you would want to record digitally into your computer (voice over, foley, etc.). If that's the case, and if you want really accurate monitoring of your audio, I would advise going with a pro card. You could get the FW410 for a just a few hundred more than the Audigy and I think it would serve you better (on PC not Mac - drivers for Mac are not very good latency wise). Better pre-amps, better A/D/D/A converters, better latency. But to each his own.

Matt
 
tigeba said:
If you aren't doing any recording, I would probably worry about speakers first, and then a sound card of some sort. As a general rule, if you want decent quality analog outputs, you have to get a card that has a breakout box. What software are you planning to use for your audio work, as that could make a difference in your decision. MOTU hardware is pretty nice, but you cannot use it with Pro Tools (for example), but you can use all of the M-Audio hardware with Pro Tools now, as Digidesign acquired them fairly recently. MOTU and M-Audio interfaces seem to be well supported by all the major PC and Mac pro sound applications.

I personally wouldn't use a Soundblaster anything, but my system is a little on the extreme side so take that with a grain of salt :)
Click to expand...


Everyone here has an "extreme" side and it's making me want to choke people.

My system is not that great, but I ever leave the digital realm, so I do ok.
 
MattC said:
It's late and I'm tired, so if my response is short it is not meant any other way than I'm beat.

My thought is this. If you are going to invest in an audio interface, invest in one that you can use for the foreseeable future. Since you are working in video, there could be a time when you would want to record digitally into your computer (voice over, foley, etc.). If that's the case, and if you want really accurate monitoring of your audio, I would advise going with a pro card. You could get the FW410 for a just a few hundred more than the Audigy and I think it would serve you better (on PC not Mac - drivers for Mac are not very good latency wise). Better pre-amps, better A/D/D/A converters, better latency. But to each his own.

Matt
Click to expand...


Fully agree, and I stand proudly corrected.
 
All is good in audio land!

No need to go extreme for this stuff. Personally, on a PC used for video work, I would probably get the FW410 and use Cubase SX 3 as my audio app. For just over a grand, you have an entire studio at your disposal - what would have cost over $50,000 ten years ago. I'm not a fan of Protools LE. I think Protools HD is fantastic, but compared to LE I like Cubase better. Plus, it is a complete midi solution as well, if you want to compose music for your work. It is also a digital multitrack recorder. It's really pretty amazing software and for what you're doing, you'll never outgrow it.

Matt
 
RE: Latency.

You probably only need to worry about this if you are working with LIVE input sources ( like a person doing a voiceover ) and you want them to be able to monitor the sound that is coming through your computers mixer. If you are just mixing pre-recorded sources then it won't be something you have to worry about. It will still be there, but the software compensates for it. This is the same problem that occurs when you monitor the signal coming in to a DVX100 with headphones, and you can hear the live source at the same time.

Let me know when to stop, I can blather on all night !
 
I've been using the M-Audio Delta 1010LT. It's the same card as the Delta 1010, but without the breakout box, so it's significantly less expensive. If you can afford the breakout box, I'd recommend it, but the Delta 1010 crushes anything from Soundblaster. The latency is practically non-existent and the inputs and outputs are super clean and quiet. Zero problems and I'm totally sold on M-Audio cards. If you plan on hooking up a midi keyboard (and you should), then latency is a big issue.
 
Yeah but he may eventually do voice over, or foley work and then latency is an issue, especially if you're using say waves plugs on the recorded input instead of outboard gear.

Again, even if he only wants good monitoring capability, he's still going to need a decent audio interface (as you said), so why not get one that will do everything he could need in the world of video? It's less that $500 which was his stated budget. And he could use this system for the next five years (or much longer, even) without ever having to upgrade. It's like monitors, they never become obsolete, so just bite the bullet once and get good ones - assuming you have a decent room to mix in. If not, you can still get very decent ones for $500. I just wouldn't mix a feature on them.

Matt
 
Barry, the Delta is a great card, I have one in a PC here somewhere, but I would get the one with the breakout box, it just makes life easier. And yes, as I said, on PC they are great cards. The Firewire 410 (also made by M-Audio) is a great PORTABLE firewire solution. Latency is a tad greater but it's still almost non-existant (on PC).

Douglass Spotted Eagle recorded the opening ceremony for the Salt Lake City Olympics (Mormon Tabernacle Choir - they lip synched on tv) with his laptop and an Echo fire wire device (their version of the FW410). So there is something to be said for portability, if that is of interest to him.

Matt
 
MattC said:
...I would get the one with the breakout box, it just makes life easier.
Click to expand...

Hey, *tell* me about it. I just love crawling around under my edit station with a headlamp. At the time I couldn't swing the extra $200 for the breakout box, but I still think it's a killer deal for $200. And you can build your own breakout box--theoretically if you have the time, that is. :)
 
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