ElGenius1 Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 good afternoon, i need some advice on which soundcard to buy.....it's for my 'project studio' and i want it to be good for audio recording and playback (of course).....From what i've read, i deduced that i should stay away from Sound Blaster cards, cuz they are too 'noisy.' (and i know this from experience too) My budget is no more than $100. Now, i dont need a soundcard with 16 'I/0' or anything like that....all i need is the basics.....to hook up two mics in, at the most, for stereo recording, and the midi port (which is standard, right?)..... can anyone give me good advice on which ones to look into? any experiences that would help me out?.......thanks... "Los niños escuchan el 'rap'...que les daña el cerebro" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uh Clem Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 $100 is probably not gonna get you outto the Soundblaster/Turtle Beach range. Midi ports are not standard, but are on some cards. Good cards are more like $500 and up. Take a look at: MOTU RME Frontier Design Digital Audio Labs Sekd Lynx Ego Sys M Audio Merging Technologies Soundscape Yamaha Korg Lexicon Aadvark others... There are many choices and some are better for some platforms and applications than others - you should choose a card that other people are successful with on your software and hardware/OS if you can - don't be a pioneer unless you want arrows in the back. Steve Powell - Bull Moon Digital www.bullmoondigital.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElGenius1 Posted October 6, 2001 Author Share Posted October 6, 2001 thanks for the info, but, like i said, i'm not looking into real 'professionalism' right now, the way those $500 soundcards deliver. just something that is good for audio recording and playback, and that doesnt have 'noise' like soundblasters. i'm sure there's gotta be good soundcards for about 100 bucks......for what i need...... anyone know? "Los niños escuchan el 'rap'...que les daña el cerebro" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoxTick Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 soundblasters are not that noisy compared to some of the other cards i've dealt with. i used to use the SB live and it wasn't that bad. as far as reliability and compatibility with software, sound blaster is probably your best choice. (as far as $100 sound cards are concerned) SactoG 0096 2251 2110 8105 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studioman adam Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 M-Audio: Audiophile. I have this card and I have been very pleased. The lack of noise and overall dynamic range is great and it is true to the sound. ~$150 I think. Spend a few extra. You'll really be much happier. studioman adam [][][][][][][][][][][][] "uh........OK?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod S Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 m audio audiophile 2496... analog io, spdif and midi. around $160 I think. Supposed to be pretty good.... Korg Kronos X73 / ARP Odyssey / Motif ES Rack / Roland D-05 / JP-08 / SE-05 / Jupiter Xm / Novation Mininova / NL2X / Waldorf Pulse II MBP-LOGIC American Deluxe P-Bass, Yamaha RBX760 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jso6mailcity.com Posted October 6, 2001 Share Posted October 6, 2001 There are no $100 soundcards that are "good for Project studio audio" as far as I'm concerned. You start off thinking 16 bit stereo tracks only, then get to the subject of 24bit, digital I/O, multiple I/O, sooner than you think. But If you had to live with $100 soundcards, SB isn't so bad. You just have to mute everything, except line-in and wave playback when recording. Never ever use those "radio reciever" microphone inputs. They are definitely useless unless you want a loop of the electromagnetic sound of a 52xCdrom!. If you want a good "project studio" probably for voice-over recordings and overdubs/layin of beds, get the lower models (those that offer minimal inputs of the notable professional soundcard manufacturers listed above. Any of them will do for that kind of work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip OKeefe Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 Uh, I've got a Emagic Audiowerks 8 card sitting around that I have no use for (I went to a 32 channel lightpipe card system). I'd be willing to let it go for $100. It comes with a "VTR" recorder program and a stripped down version of Logic called "Logic Audio Discovery". It works fine, and it's a pretty darn quiet card, but there's a few things you should be aware of: 1. It's a long (7") PCI card, and requires a full PCI slot for installation. 2. It's only 16 bit capable, but it's got pretty good sounding converters... as well as stereo S/PDIF input and output. 3. There's no MIDI onboard. For that, you can get a USB MIDI interface for not much. Single port USB MIDI I/O's go for as low as $35. For a "2X2" interface, the MIDIMan 2X2 USB is a nice interface. I've seen them as low as $60. If you need a parallel port interface, I have a spare MOTU MIDI Flyer interface I would be willing to throw in for an extra $25. It's a 2 in / 2 out parallel port MIDI interface. 4. There's no mic preamps on the unit. Sorry, but I'd avoid using onboard mic preamps on ANY card - they're right in the computer, and by their nature, they amplify signal. And that means noise. Go with outboard preamps. The line outputs from any mixer can be used to feed into the Audiowerks' line inputs for recording. Other than getting something used, I doubt you're going to find anything that meets your needs in your budget price range. If you're interested in this card, you can get more info at http://www.emagic.de or you can email me. Phil O'Keefe Sound Sanctuary Recording Riverside CA http://members.aol.com/ssanctuary/index.html pokeefe777@msn.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrmac Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is probably the best bet. We've used one and it was very good. ------------------ Mac Bowne G-Clef Acoustics Ltd. Osaka, Japan My Music: [url=http://www.javamusic.com/freedomland]www.javamusic.com/freedomland[/url] Mac Bowne G-Clef Acoustics Ltd. Osaka, Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted October 7, 2001 Share Posted October 7, 2001 My vote would also be for the Audiophile, but if you can't fork out the extra $50-60 for it then I'd recommend looking for a SB Live Value (around $50) or Creative Labs new Audigy 5.1 OEM Version (around $70). Do a search on [url=http://www.pricewatch.com]www.pricewatch.com[/url] for these cards if you don't know where to find one locally. But the Audiophile will surpass any SoundBlaster in both audio quality, performance, and driver quality. -Dylan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duhduh Posted October 8, 2001 Share Posted October 8, 2001 M Audio Audiophile. You've got to be able to hold out for one more paycheck to save up an extra $50. Its worth it. Take a look: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ex/shop/rec/computer/011007155059216102152041441214?pid=701341 "Meat is the only thing you need beside beer! Big hunks of meat and BEER!!...Lots of freakin' BEER." "Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." Zakk Wylde http://www.hepcnet.net/bbssmilies/super.gif http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15_1_109.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philbo_Tangent Posted October 8, 2001 Share Posted October 8, 2001 [quote]Originally posted by ElGenius1: [b]good afternoon, i need some advice on which soundcard to buy.....it's for my 'project studio' and i want it to be good for audio recording and playback (of course).....From what i've read, i deduced that i should stay away from Sound Blaster cards, cuz they are too 'noisy.' (and i know this from experience too) My budget is no more than $100. Now, i dont need a soundcard with 16 'I/0' or anything like that....all i need is the basics.....to hook up two mics in, at the most, for stereo recording, and the midi port (which is standard, right?)..... can anyone give me good advice on which ones to look into? any experiences that would help me out?.......thanks...[/b][/quote] Take a look at Arny Kreugers site - it is the most comprehensive unbiased comparison I've found: http://www.pcavtech.com If you want just stereo in/stereo out, look around for a used card. I picked up a Turtle Beach Malibu for $50 and have had excellent luck with it (though the driver S/W sucks, I use Win2K which supplies its own drivers). It also has a fairly decent MIDI sound bank (it uses Kurzweil samples). You can hear some of the stuff I mixed & mastered with this card at (can you smell the SPAM frying in the background? [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] ) http://artists3.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Tangent2/ Good luck! philbo Tangent Music Phil Tangent Studios http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Tangent2/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagevibe Posted October 9, 2001 Share Posted October 9, 2001 I just got the Musician's Friend and Guitar Center Catalogs and one of them (I can't remember which but they are the same company) was blowing out one of the Emagic cards for $99.00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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