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Posted by kozbiol on Jan-29-2005 22:51:

Soundcard question

i have some sound-quality problems with my productions. When i listen to song in cubase it sound a good/decent, but after exporting it to audio file its flat and moody-sounding. What is the reason of that? Soundcard or monitors btw: i have a poor AC97 souncard integrated to my motherboard, so i think this is the reason of my problems...
Could you guys tell me which souncard to choose if i wanna buy a good and cheap product? I was thinking about M Audio audiophile, but is there some cheaper & higher quality card than audiophile?

Posted by Perry on Jan-29-2005 23:23:

Hi.

Posted by Rob on Jan-30-2005 11:13:

quote:
Originally posted by Perry

Hi.

They don't work

Posted by kozbiol on Jan-30-2005 13:14:

thanks for help so i guess that emu 0404 is the best choice, but dunno what ia a distributor in my country... at least im gonna buy sb audigy or something...

Posted by Dj Yoel Culiner on Jan-30-2005 19:40:

M-Audio Delta 66/44

Posted by Derivative on Jan-30-2005 22:12:

a new soundcard i repeat will NOT improve the sound quality of your productions. it will barely improve the playback quality, if at all. i certainly noticed no difference between my m-audio delta 1010 and my intel integrated soundcard except for a little less static interference on the 1010.

a soundcard will give you

1) low latency monitoring
2) midi connectivity
3) audio ins and outs (to connect, playback and record external soundsources through your PC)

a soundcard will NOT

1) alleviate CPU load
2) make your songs sound any better than they were
3) improve playback quality significantly

Posted by kozbiol on Jan-30-2005 22:44:

so what is the reason of flatness sound after exporting project to wav/mp3?

Posted by Derivative on Jan-31-2005 00:09:

when you are working in cubase you are working at 24 bit precision. when you render it you have to make sure that you render at the same bit depth and interpolation. if you render to 16 bit wav or to mp3 you will lose precision. if you already render at the same bitdepth you are working in then reimport the file. and listen to both side by side. they will be identical. BUT. you must make sure they are playing at exactly the same level. otherwise your ear will pick out the louder one as sounding sharper and clearer. most often people say their renders lack the detail and sparkle of their cubase project - well thats because they are playing it at a lower output volume.

Posted by Rob on Jan-31-2005 11:32:

Yeah, the only reason you would need a pro sound card is if you want to record from external sources (synths, mics, etc).

As for sound problems, the only other one I can think of is the sound drivers you're using in cubase are different to the one's you have selected for playback in windows media player/winamp etc. It basically revolves around the same premise that derivative mentioned, but the sound driver you use in cubase could be louder then the on you're using in WMP/Winamp etc.

Another reason has to do with weird shit. My friend had onboard AC97 audio, and I was amazed at how fucked up all tracks sounded on it. The reason: He had a little thing in the volumn control panel enabled called "3D Depth". It totally washed out all the tracks and made the sound like muddy pieces of shit.

Another reason I can think of has to do with the the use of equalizers in winamp/WMP. Never use an equalizer on winamp or windows media player. Never fucking ever.

Posted by hardikaveri on Jan-31-2005 11:40:

do anyone got experience of m-audio 24/96 USB version here ?

Posted by Derivative on Jan-31-2005 15:33:

quote:
He had a little thing in the volumn control panel enabled called "3D Depth". It totally washed out all the tracks and made the sound like muddy pieces of shit.

awww man i hate those. one of my mates has an audigy and its got this EAX thingy that makes everything sound like its in a tunnel. supposed to be an 'enhancement' but it just seems to put this cheap horrible soggy, dripping wet reverb on everything. bleh. weird shit is a very apt term. why call it 'EAX enhancement' when 'weird shit' sums up exactly what it does to sound?

Posted by kozbiol on Jan-31-2005 22:49:

quote:
Originally posted by Rob
As for sound problems, the only other one I can think of is the sound drivers you're using in cubase are different to the one's you have selected for playback in windows media player/winamp etc. It basically revolves around the same premise that derivative mentioned, but the sound driver you use in cubase could be louder then the on you're using in WMP/Winamp etc.

Another reason has to do with weird shit. My friend had onboard AC97 audio, and I was amazed at how fucked up all tracks sounded on it. The reason: He had a little thing in the volumn control panel enabled called "3D Depth". It totally washed out all the tracks and made the sound like muddy pieces of shit.

1: How to check in Cubase and Winamp which drivers are used?
2: I dont see anywhere that "3d depth" thing

Anyway thank you all for reply

Posted by CSniper on Jan-31-2005 23:48:

you wouldnt happen to be exporting it in terrible quality would you?