PCI Audio Cards

[J. Dan]

In my old computer that has become virtually non-functional (an original first gen Athlon 64 processor running XP), I still have my old M Audio 1010-LT PCI card. I only use that computer for a few software packages still installed like Adobe Suite, my email, and it has a couple large drives with backups of all my files.

 

I have a newer computer that I got cheap mainly to run video software. I also have my DAW software on it, but it's a small form factor without full PCI slots (and I understand those have pretty much gone away, anyway). I have my M Audio Fast Track Pro (USB) hooked up. But there have been a few times when it would be nice to record more simultaneous tracks and it'd be great to use that 1010LT. But it really doesn't work anymore on that computer. It's on its last leg.

 

Is there any easy or inexpensive way - like some sort of adapter or something - to use that card either USB or the smaller form PCIe? It would obviously need to be external. Is it even worth it? I don't really have a budget right now for a new interface that can do 10 channels in and out.

 

Or....any way without really going through the OS to host the card on the MOBO of my old computer and access it sort of directly from the other? They're networked, but I'm guessing even if it's possible, it would have to go through the same bottlenecks that are giving me trouble now.

 

Finally - suppose I DID buy new, which wont happen anytime soon, but since my mom recently passed, presumably once we sell the house, I'll have some money later this year - If I wanted 16 channels IN (preferably combo 1/4"/XLR - thought 1/4" balanced would be fine) and only 2 channel out....let's say USB that I could use with a laptop....what's the most cost effective that would be suitable for recording a live show multi track, or a practice multi track? Seems like Tascam had a single rack 8-ch of which I could use 2 - but would 2 work OK over USB simultaneously, or cause problems?

[Rou]

In my old computer that has become virtually non-functional (an original first gen Athlon 64 processor running XP), I still have my old M Audio 1010-LT PCI card. I only use that computer for a few software packages still installed like Adobe Suite, my email, and it has a couple large drives with backups of all my files.

 

I have a newer computer that I got cheap mainly to run video software. I also have my DAW software on it, but it's a small form factor without full PCI slots (and I understand those have pretty much gone away, anyway). I have my M Audio Fast Track Pro (USB) hooked up. But there have been a few times when it would be nice to record more simultaneous tracks and it'd be great to use that 1010LT. But it really doesn't work anymore on that computer. It's on its last leg.

 

Is there any easy or inexpensive way - like some sort of adapter or something - to use that card either USB or the smaller form PCIe? It would obviously need to be external. Is it even worth it? I don't really have a budget right now for a new interface that can do 10 channels in and out.

 

 

If your new small form factor (SFF) PC is based on an Intel mobo chipset, IIRC, there is no more "native" support for PCI bus. They started "phasing out" native support for PCI-bus sometime 2010 and had gradually removed "legacy" PCI bus in their subsequent mobo-chipsets.

 

However, if the mobo of the SFF PC still has a PCIe x1 slot, then "maybe" something like this might still work:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158165

 

Like you, I still have a Delta 1010LT PCI card but it is currently installed in an old AMD-chipset Gigabyte 880GM-D2H mobo which natively supports a PCI bus (i.e. a humble Athlon II X3-based micro-ATX rig I haul and use live for EWQL-SO, Pianoteq and Dimension Pro). My main DAW PC (indicated in my sig) is Phenom II X4-based but uses a Focusrite Sapphire 6i6 audio interface because it's mobo (ASUS M5A97) wouldn't let me "dedicate" the PCI slot to the Delta 1010LT (i.e. the mobo has not option in the BIOS to dedicate the IRQ of the PCI slot to the 1010LT unlike my Gigabyte board).

 

If you can still find cheaper (which may still be new and available in some online stores) boards like a Gigabyte GA-880GM-D2H or any 880G-based board and pair it with a humble Athlon II x3 or even x4 and a reasonably priced 1TB 7200 rpm HDD w/ 32mb cache or 64mb cace (if not with a Crucial MX 100 256GB SSD, that is), you may still be able to breath new life to the Delta 1010LT card and enjoy a reasonable amount of tracks minus pops & clicks (especially when using virtual instruments with effects). These AMD 880-based chipset mobos still support native PCI-bus and have at least one PCI slot that can accept a Delta 1010LT PCI card...YMMV depending on the revision version of the mobo and hardware configuration.

 

If I'm not mistaken, even the AMD 970/990-based chipsets still have remaining support for PCI-bus and these are very much still available online.

 

 

 

 

 

[Theo Verelst]

Hi Dan, some things I know for pretty sure, and some are just considerations. A sure way would be to take any reasonable disk drive with your old PC (possibly disconnecting the backup ones) and put Linux on, which even can work (slow and usually only in the pre-installed way, which may let you check out if the card device gets recognized) on a USB drive/stick. Probably it isn't hard to find a linux that works on it, and use that to record with Rosegarden + Jack is interesting and shouldn't be too hard (not without a little work, though).

 

I use a not so recent and a very recent (and hip and relatively expensive, depending on where you buy it) Asus mobos, and if I'm not mistaking, both have still PCI slots on them. I did read the card you mention might have a problem with running under a recent windows version.

 

I don't know much about cheap 16 track recording options, isn't there a Motu that can do that quite ok ? I kind of liked the Lexicon Ionix (but never had one).

 

A problem with pairing one or more cards is the audio clock comes from a crystal on the card, and there is usually (but not always) no possibility to connect the one card to the other clock source, so that leaves you with recorded files that aren't sample aligned, or some software sample rate correction that isn't going to be very perfect (and possibly cpu hungry, if it does a good job), it is possible on Linux to take one card as reference and slightly re-sample the other to match the clock of the whole audio system, and that can work, but it isn't perfect and may take tuning to achieve good enough quality with.

 

T.V.

[Al Coda]

For realtime audio DAW and PCI cards you should buy a socket 775 (now rare), socket 1366 or socket 1150 (most or many work) ATX or microATX mobo.

 

There´s no native PCI support for socket 1155 mobos!

(all failed)

 

When buying a ATX board w/ several PCI slots, the chance is higher it works perfect w/ ONE of the slots, just because todays motherboard´s features share ressources across all the available connections and meanwhile you have to deactivate something always,- or you cannot use all slots simultaneously and w/ full bandwith.

 

With a micro ATX and possibly only ONE PCI slot available, you must be sure that PCI slot will work without IRQ sharing,- this before you buy, or you´re lost.

 

It was found out over @PlanetZ forum where users of old Creamware PCI cards test computer motherboards for the latest Intel processors, large RAM size in 64Bit systems and usability w/ multiple PCI-card setups for audio/MIDI.

Creamware PCI cards are picky when using 2 or 3 in a single machine, they need up to 3 full bandwidth PCI slots, stable and no interrupts.

What works w/ these cards works also w/ your´s in regards of hardware.

 

When you´re fine on the hardware side, w/ the M-Audio Delta, are you sure your card´s drivers support latest OS,- Win7 or 8?

 

But, when you´re still fine w/ WinXP and your PCI card´s drivers support Win XP only, you could also buy a used HP 4600 workstation w/ Intel Core2Duo or Xeons.

You´ll find ´em cheap @ebay and they work perfect w/ the Creamware PCI cards.

 

A.C.