gcerq Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I'm looking for the best soundcard - for an amateur musician on a budget - that would be a step up from the soundcard that comes with the computer (PC with Windows XP). I work a lot with a program called band-in-a-box because I play jazz guitar, and would like a soundcard that would give me the most "real" reproduction of the midi instruments sounds (paino, guitar, drums, etc). My current one sounds very "ping ping" synthetic like. I also don't know if the tracks that come with the program can be the limitating factor in quality(?) I would also like to record some music with Sonar so good recording capabilities would be a plus. I'm not interested in using it for digital home theater or games so those sound cards with THX, dolby digital, etc, are useless extras for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFTurner Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Echo , M-Audio and Edirol have cards/interfaces that start in the $150 range and work their way up. Generally the low end items from these manufacturers are good strong intfaces for the amatuer getting started with home recording. William F. Turner Songwriter turnersongs Sometimes the truth is rude... tough shit... get used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Terratec EWS 88/D I/O card: $150 Alesis AI3 A/D/A: $400 Total: $550 Result: A rock-stable 8 channel interface. Add preamps to taste. A bunch of loud, obnoxious music I USED to make with friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeleCarlos Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I bought an Maudio MobilePre for my friend's DAW (a hobbyist) and to test it, installed it on my re-furbished DAW. I have'nt taken in out yet. He's got my Delta 66. Don't miss anything about it. It's got guitar ins, mic ins, monitor and headphones out. I 'd say is excellent for a one man tracking band. Works great w/ Cubase SX, includes Reason adapted, no problems with the A7N8X-E + AMD2500. I would buy it for myself if I needed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcerq Posted March 1, 2004 Author Share Posted March 1, 2004 Some midi instrument reproductions are absolutely horrid with my current Terratec 128 PCI soundblaster card, string instruments in particular. Is a better quality soundcard the way to improve this or can it be by software (soundfonts?) and I would be wasting my money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Originally posted by gcerq: Some midi instrument reproductions are absolutely horrid with my current Terratec 128 PCI soundblaster card, string instruments in particular. Is a better quality soundcard the way to improve this or can it be by software (soundfonts?) and I would be wasting my money?That's your software, dude. Plus, the "soundblaster" type cards are designed for consumer audio, not professional reproduction. A bunch of loud, obnoxious music I USED to make with friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henchman Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Well, as I've written in other posts, the Tascam US-122 is a great box that I just purchased. As long as you don't care about 96k, which i currently don't. It has inserts on the inputs separate mic/line and guitar inpuit switch. Midi I/O and a guitar tuner built into the control panel. But as far as your midi sounds go, the only way to get better soudns is to use virtual synths in your sequencer, or get an external, multitimbral keyboard or sound module. Roland makes some really nice soundcanvas prodcuts that I have uesed in the past, and some of them really do sound good. IMDB Credit list President George Washington: "The government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian Religion." President Abraham Lincoln: "The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my religion." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apophis Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 You should check out the new lone of EMu audio cards. The lower one is only $199 and beats out more expensive cards in terms of features and quality. S.K. Evans | Animus Mundi | Nuendo 3.01, 3 WinXP SP1 machines (p4 3.0, 2.4 Celeron, 2.4 Celeron), Fxteleport, RME Multiface, 2 UAD cards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.