Soundcard recommendations (1 Viewer)

[pete]

Built a lovely new PC for the brother in law. He wants to do some recording from decent quality microphones and some music making with the midi and the cubase and the stuff.

Any soundcard recommendations?

 

[karljacuncha]

Built a lovely new PC for the brother in law. He wants to do some recording from decent quality microphones and some music making with the midi and the cubase and the stuff.

Any soundcard recommendations?

decent quality mics? then i'm guessing he's looking for crystal clarity (or close to), in which case you probably want an external soundcard (away from (acoustically) noisey fans and (electrically) noisey PSUs n such)

(although, if he's recording fuzzy distorted three chord punk type stuff then this probably dont matter so much)

check out my reply to hag (re; the usb soundcards), unless you wanna keep it internal, then um, ...wait for someone else to reply

-karl

 

[Chocohead]

those firewire motu things look excellent.

 

[old]

I hear them Terratec DMX 6Fire things are good.
You can pick them up for €130 odd on Ebay.

 

[pete]

thanks chaps

any more?

 

[Donal]

I used the Terratec DMX6fire 24 bit card (still do but now we have a spanking new digi 002 pro tools set up).

I can recommend DMX as a very pro alternative to the noisey soundblaster jobbies.

Terratec DMX is nice and clear, works well with cubase and has very low latency.

Sounds like he will get frustrated with the one input at a time / no multi-tracking set up soon enough if he already wants good mics... I 'll give it 6 months before he is pissed off with not being able to record lots of tracks at once.

 

[pete]

what's the handiest way to get the multi-tracking action then?

 

[aoboa]

what's the handiest way to get the multi-tracking action then?

Best soundcard for the money at the moment is Motu 828 Mk2 Firewire.
http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw6_artikel-146358.html
http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/englisch/shop/produktinfo.asp?info=PCM0002888-000
They can act as an all in one digital mixer too and have dedicated pre-amped inputs for mic's.
I will be buying one soon, when I can afford it.

RME Hammerfall do an excellent PCI soundcard for the same price but the Motu's features beat it hands down.

If that's too expensive then the M-Audio 410 Firewire is also really good:
http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/englisch/shop/produktinfo.asp?info=PCM0002725-000


As for multitracking:
Easiest is Cool Edit pro. I don't like it too much though, very clunky interface and have never been 100% sure about the sound quality in the multi track section.
Sonar and Protools are designed for multi-track recording with a bit of midi.
Cubase SX and Logic Audio (stuck at version 5.5 for PC and now released only for Mac) are designed for midi but with really good multi-track audio.

All apples and oranges really. Pick one app and learn it. Probably best to pick something like protools or cubase SX. They're pretty easy to get results with quickly even though they're really complex applications that should just keep on givin'

 

[karljacuncha]

as a follow up, this is what i ordered from musictechnology.ie
they may still have some (or may be getting more in)
(got it yesterday and started playing with it at 2am after the blackfort gig - yes i am sad)
anyways - for beginner type persons, this would be a pretty sweet deal

the audio interface was really what i wanted - picked up and worked straight off on os x, seems nice (tho have to test it properly)
(a firewire one would be lots nicer, but the downside of FW is that you always gotta pay that bit more)

the midi controller is a cute ikkle two octave thing - not idea for classical pianist types, but quite acceptable for people like me who still have to pause to check which key is c (handy that it connnects straight to the usb port too)

not installed cubase se yet, but it looks nice/easyier to pick up than cubase4 anyway (it is a limited version, but seems like it should do for most straight forward stuff)

-karl

AUDIOTRAK MAYA 44 USB 20 Bit/44kHz USB Audio Interface , 4in-/ 4 outputs, optical S/PDIF Out, Headphone output, ASIOdriver for Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, Core Audio for Mac OS
M-AUDIO Oxygen 8, MIDI/USB-Keyboard with impact-dynamicallyFull-size-Keys 8 Controllerknobs, with integratedUSB-MIDI-Interface (MIDISport-Technologies). WITHOUT POWER SUPPLY !
Steinberg Cubase SE, sequencer-/harddisk-recording softwarefor PC/MAC, 48 audio tracks, unlimited number of MIDItracks, 8 track simultaneous recording possible, 24bit/96kHzresolution.

Our normal discounted price on this package would be ?499.

We have a limited deal at the moment on this package for an incredible ?256.

Order ASAP to avoid disappointment.
(We cannot offer any variations on this package)

 

[Donal]

Best soundcard for the money at the moment is Motu 828 Mk2 Firewire.
http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw6_artikel-146358.html
http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/englisch/shop/produktinfo.asp?info=PCM0002888-000
They can act as an all in one digital mixer too and have dedicated pre-amped inputs for mic's.
I will be buying one soon, when I can afford it.

why would you buy that when you can buy a protools system for the same price (plus tons of software thrown in (including reason adapted).

http://www.music123.com/Digidesign-Digi002-Rack-i105181.music

.

the card you have up there seems to have MAC only recording software (and just drivers for PC).

 

[aoboa]

Besides the fact that I've never liked protools, the cheapest you can get that interface for in Europe is just under €1200.

The software that's bundled with it is the digital mixer/recording software. Agreed this is a disadvantage because it's mac only but I don't think I'd be using AudioDesk.

 

[bombidol]

M-Audio 10/10LT soundcard . 10 inputs 10 outputs. excellent

 

[pete]

http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw6_artikel-151498.html


good deal?

 

[Sprite Boy]

HI Pete,


I have this sound card @ home in my work station and it is a very good card but I have had a lot of issues with recording of sound with the card. When transferrring sound via S/Dif or analog from a roland desk there was a load of digital clicks going on which I could not find a solution for on the web. On my laptop which I use for live I have an M-Audio audiophile FW external card which is great. I got it from the states for 180 euro. If you want to record with mics then i would recommend this one
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=1a37d4837d4d99eb6500a030985a354a

 

[pete]

HI Pete,


I have this sound card @ home in my work station and it is a very good card but I have had a lot of issues with recording of sound with the card. When transferrring sound via S/Dif or analog from a roland desk there was a load of digital clicks going on which I could not find a solution for on the web. On my laptop which I use for live I have an M-Audio audiophile FW external card which is great. I got it from the states for 180 euro. If you want to record with mics then i would recommend this one
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=1a37d4837d4d99eb6500a030985a354a

ah well he already ordered so we'll see. i'm blaming the tychonautster dude if it's a piece of shit.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Best soundcard will always be Disney Soundsource, worked for Wolfenstein 3d and Rise of the Triad and fuck all else.

 

[Sprite Boy]

ah well he already ordered so we'll see. i'm blaming the tychonautster dude if it's a piece of shit.

that problem may have been releated to my desktop hardware setup so the clicks may not be an issue on ur brovs pc. Like I said it is a really good card.

 

[Jimmy Magee]

Any slick new (cheapish) cards that folks are aware of?

 

[chymera]

I currently use the firewire 410 at home:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FireWire410-main.html

I would recommend it a far as sound quality is concerned, but driver's-wise it is a nightmare. There was a problem for the first year I had it where the midi out would not work at all. There was no solution until just recently with the release of some updated drivers. However although the midi now worsk, there is a serious latency on the midi and I just use a USB edirol in/out for midi instead. Have not tried any digital recording or anything, but have recorded from mikes in with no problems. Audio latency is excellent. One bad point is that it is that the firewire bus is a bit of a CPU hogger - does affect live performance sometimes, but then I do have a geriatric laptop.

I'm just after purchasing this baby for live gigs with my laptop:

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/CardBus/IndigoIO/index.php

As far as size and portability it is a dream and perfect for live gigs. I can run an external synth through the single input and run the laptop audio and synth audio out the master output. The sound quality is not quite as good as the firewire 410, lacking a bit of punch in the bass end, easily remedied by turning the bass slightly up on the mixer. However, that said, the sound is very very good considering the size and price. Latency is excellent too.. I can get it down to about 8 ms, which is more than adequate. One drawback I have found is that the drivers are a little temperamental, and the computer sometimes fails to boot if the card is fully inserted on bootup. Just have to jiggle it a little bit to get things going. Once again, this sort of issue would vary from machine to machine i'm sure.

If I had the money I would go for the RME Hammerfall with dedicated cardbus input. Because its got the dedicated drivers, it doesn't hog any CPU power at all. But the price is prohibitive. I will be needing a new laptop most likely before I ever think about getting the hammerfall. For mow I'm happy enough with those two.
Hope this helps in some way.

 

[chymera]

prices - firewire bought for about €350 in the states, echo indigo was €180 from digital village.