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Best Mid Price Audio Card

I currently have a delta 2496, while it sounds alright, it just isn't cutting the mustard anymore. Before I had a Echo Mia, which was way better. I also prefer a card with at least 1/4 inch inserts and outputs, if not XLR.


I was thinking of just buying a used yamaha ov1 and getting a hammerfall digital card and going that route. Both used could be had for about 600. I currently have a mackie 1604 VLZ Pro that is cool and all, but I have some pretty decent moniters and am convinced this mixer is for live applications only.

So I am sorta looking overall to improve my signal chain. What I don't understand is pro studios use a Patch Bay that I would assume would totally mess up the signal chain because they just seem so cheap and cheesy to me.

Anyone know anything here?

what's wrong with your audiophile? Only thing I can think of is if u need more/different inputs or outputs.

Well it doesn't sound good I think.

quote:

Originally posted by Flashback Well it doesn't sound good I think.

Well I think you're crazy

You're going to have to buy a $1500 USD DAC if you really want any noticable difference..

If you want higher quality sound get an EMU1280M.I have the 1212m version, same as the 1280m without the extra breakout box. It sounds much better than both the audiophile and Echo Mia. The sound quality is comparable and in most test actually better than a Lynx 2 which is well over a grand and considered to have one of the best quality sounding converters. Right now the drivers for the emu 1280m are still not 100%. They're slowly getting there but i'm sure after a few more updates they'll be rock stable. RME is a guranteed winner, great drivers, very low latency, great components from the ground up. can't miss, but a bit more expensive than most low to mid range soundcards.

Ok thanks, I might just get a yamaha ov1 mixer and a hammerfall digital card used on ebay.


And ps dude above, I heard the difference between the Lnyx Card and the Delta 1010 on some Jupiter 8 Samples. The difference would justify the cost for me. All my mixes sound dull and like crap when they go into audio because of my delta card. It just sounds less round and full, less crisp. I mean the difference is so easy to hear because I play the nord lead 3 straight out the mixer to my moniters and it sounds like heaven, then once I record into the card and play out of it, welcome to a dull, grey world.

Well my moniters only retail for $5,000 USD new(I purchased them used for $2,100). I guess that I really like my music, since I have spent
easily over $10,000 on equipment and software over the last 8 years.

I see a lynx one on ebay for $275, I mean does it really matter about using 192 or 96 vs 44.1?

Well The nordlead 3 only supports recording at 24 44 anyways so no point in recording any higher unless u got a synth that can go 24 96 or 192. I had a nl3 and the quality at 24 44 through my emu1212m was absolutely incredible. Make sure u get good cables, p500 or p1000 monsters as they will make a difference compared to cheap hosa cables for instance.

If you can get a lynx 2 for a good price, go for it, just make sure your system is compatible, but the emu card is just as good and very affordable. Also be warned on some systems the emu runs great, on others it's a living hell. Make sure that you can return your card if you buy it, try www.jrrshop.com. I get all my stuff there, Eric has the best prices and he offers 30 days return policy so if something goes wrong u can return it.

The Mackie is a great mixer...you should keep it. I have the 1402-VLZ PRO together with a Delta 1010 and I couldn't be more happy. It suits perfect in my space-deprived apartment and the sound is clean. I don't need an upgrade unless I decide to go all out on this music thing.

quote:

Originally posted by trancenrg69 If you want higher quality sound get an EMU1280M.I have the 1212m version, same as the 1280m without the extra breakout box. It sounds much better than both the audiophile and Echo Mia.

Have you ever A/B compared the EMU 1212m/1280m with an Audiophile? I bought a 1212m not long ago but immediatly resold it becuase it costed $100 more than my audiophile and sounded the same. And 192kHz is worthless.. not even DVDs have a samplerate that high (so don't fain that)

If any thing.. maybe the EMU has a better THD/SNR.. but you would need a $10,000 monitoring system and the ears of BT to hear the differnence...

Alanzo, Actually i owned a echo mia before the emu1212m and the mia is similiar to the audiophile but with a higher quality converters. The differences are there, , the emu1212m has a more open sound and clearer highs. But bare in mind that this difference only comes into play during mixing, once it's rendered it will sound the exact same as the audiophile. Now Flashback has hardware gear, and that's where your gonna really hear the difference in quality between a audiophile and emu1212m, a big one because the converters come in play. Mind you, I'm like you I got a multi license virus running inside on the poco so you would be hard pressed to find a difference in mix down quality between our 2 cards unless you had like you said a really sick professional montoring system. But for Flashback , it would be advised to get the emu,lynx, or rme, it will make a noticable difference, when he records from his nord.

quote:

Originally posted by trancenrg69 But for Flashback , it would be advised to get the emu,lynx, or rme, it will make a noticable difference, when he records from his nord.

definite about that.. I would of kept the E-MU but I no longer have any out-board synths so I do no A/D conversion (the Audiophile isn't nearly as good in this area as the E-MU)

Yeah, plus gotta love that Virus. I'll never get sick of that vst, god bless tc electronic/access.

I just bought the Audiophile 2496 and its quite nice for only ~$AU300

quote:

Originally posted by Chewporka I just bought the Audiophile 2496 and its quite nice for only ~$AU300

That's pretty expensive though, I'm thinking about buying one ASAP (I hate my onboard noisemaker 2000 soundcard), and it's about $AU195 ($US145) here in Sweden.

I take it that's a good price then?

quote:

Originally posted by trancenrg69 Yeah, plus gotta love that Virus. I'll never get sick of that vst, god bless tc electronic/access.

Definitly.. I pray for the day when TC Electronic and Clavia strike a deal... (they're basically the only major hardware VA manufacturer that hasn't)

I'm assuming it all depends on sales. If access makes alot of money from porting to poco (which I'm pretty sure they did), clavia might be inclined to do the same. After all that's why they're in business, to make money. I'm pissed off that Novation ported the V-station instead of a supernova, which actually uses the same dsp chips as on the poco so porting it would of been fairly easy. But i guess since they already did all the work porting the kstation to vst format, porting it to poco probably didnt require to much effort, although i heard the poco vstation will sound exactly like the hardware down to the filters and effects.

quote:

Originally posted by trancenrg69 although i heard the poco vstation will sound exactly like the hardware down to the filters and effects.

But that isn't saying much. I bought an A-Station a while ago and immediatly resold it and bought a Virus Rack becuase it sounded nearly exactly like V-Station (not saying V/K/A-Station sounds bad, but my Virus (and just about any other good hardware synth) absolutly destroys it )..

Yeh a port of the SuperNova II would of been awesome... so would a port of the JP8080 (which is possible since it's VA) but I doubt Roland would do that since they havn't made a single (real) synthesizer since the JP80X0.. Plus they think they're too 1337 to even touch TC Electronic, I'm sure

Roland should port the jp, with no chance of cracked software and with a huge chunk of home studio owners producing trance, house, hip hop, the JP would be on most peoples christmas shopping list.

quote:

Originally posted by trancenrg69 Roland should port the jp, with no chance of cracked software and with a huge chunk of home studio owners producing trance, house, hip hop, the JP would be on most peoples christmas shopping list.

Yeah.. but, alas, they won't.. bastards

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