New sound card - TranceAddict Forums

TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Production Studio
-- New sound card

Posted by kaymak on Oct-12-2007 14:14:

New sound card

Im looking at buying a new sound card and I was looking at the MOTU 424-PCI EXPRESS KARTE as it is the only PCIe card in my price range, does anyone use this?, Im not running any hard ware for it, just software

Cheers

Kev

Posted by Eric J on Oct-12-2007 14:44:

You'll need to understand that this card is NOT an audio interface. Its the base card in the MOTU system to which an audio interface must be connected. Think of it like MOTU's version of a firewire card. SO if you were to buy this card you'd need to buy a 24io, 828, or HD192 to connect to it.

If you are looking for a good MOTU card without the need to connect any external synths to it, check out something like the UltraLite or Traveller.

Posted by kaymak on Oct-12-2007 14:50:

Cheers Man,

Thats stopped me makin an expensive mistake,

Can you remcomnmend any resonable PCIe sound cards?

Cheers

Kev

Posted by kaymak on Oct-12-2007 15:01:

Just to let you know, I just need it for produciung with software so its not so much an interface im looking for, just a good sound card

Posted by Getafix on Oct-12-2007 16:27:

How about EMU-1820M?

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=9871

Posted by Eric J on Oct-13-2007 04:05:

I agree with Palm, if you do not need any inputs, then something like an Audiophile 2496 will do just fine, and its only $99US. Hard to beat that. This is especially true if you are just starting out, no sense in spending wads of cash at this point.

Posted by Zombie0729 on Oct-13-2007 05:59:

quote:
Originally posted by Eric J
I agree with Palm, if you do not need any inputs, then something like an Audiophile 2496 will do just fine, and its only $99US. Hard to beat that. This is especially true if you are just starting out, no sense in spending wads of cash at this point.

Eric J -- be honest with us here, do you work for a hardware/software manufacturer?

anyone who asks about gear i always point them to the most expensive unit saying "learn from my mistakes, i've rebought gear 1000000 times over, i've been thru 4 sound cards in 2 years, 4 midi controllers in 18mos and i could go on"

if you're at all serious about music making, save up... go with the best and you won't have to keep losing money everytime you have to rebuy a nicer piece of gear.

back to the thread topic i own a motu ultralite(after going thru a series of cards) and love it. drivers are rock solid, support is awesome and it sounds great. what's leaning you towards a PCI card if you don't mind me asking?

Posted by echosystm on Oct-13-2007 08:00:

Echo AudioFire or MOTU Ultralite ftw

AudioFire 12 is a good choice if you want loads of I/O without preamps.

Posted by G-Con on Oct-13-2007 09:07:

quote:
Originally posted by Zombie0729
Eric J -- be honest with us here, do you work for a hardware/software manufacturer?

anyone who asks about gear i always point them to the most expensive unit saying "learn from my mistakes, i've rebought gear 1000000 times over, i've been thru 4 sound cards in 2 years, 4 midi controllers in 18mos and i could go on"

if you're at all serious about music making, save up... go with the best and you won't have to keep losing money everytime you have to rebuy a nicer piece of gear.

Yeah but, what if he saves up and spends loads on a top soundcard but then a year or two later, he has stopped producing (family/work reasons) and never needed all the extra bells and whistles that the top card had.

Or he doesn't stop producing but it is some years till he needs a better soundcard. Maybe at which point, there is a new standard of motherboard connectivity (different to pcie) forcing him to upgrade again.

I'm sorry but I have never believed in getting the very best you possibly can UNLESS producing is your profession or you've been doing it for years and years and you know you will be doing it for the rest of your life.

Spending shit loads on a top soundcard when a �60 one will do just as well for what he wants is stupid. If he does decide a few years down the line he needs a better card, so what. He has got a few years use for �60. Can probably sell it on Ebay and get some of that money back.

Posted by T-Soma on Oct-13-2007 09:24:

I agree, cheap soundcards stink. Iv been through a few soundcards and so far my favourite was the Presonus Firebox.
I guess... if you only need an output and latency/super stability don't matter then cheap ones can do the job.

Don't buy USB soundcards, they always tend to suck.

Next up, Focusrite Saffire PRO 10.
Any thoughts?

Posted by Eric J on Oct-13-2007 14:26:

quote:
Originally posted by Zombie0729
Eric J -- be honest with us here, do you work for a hardware/software manufacturer?

anyone who asks about gear i always point them to the most expensive unit saying "learn from my mistakes, i've rebought gear 1000000 times over, i've been thru 4 sound cards in 2 years, 4 midi controllers in 18mos and i could go on"

if you're at all serious about music making, save up... go with the best and you won't have to keep losing money everytime you have to rebuy a nicer piece of gear.

back to the thread topic i own a motu ultralite(after going thru a series of cards) and love it. drivers are rock solid, support is awesome and it sounds great. what's leaning you towards a PCI card if you don't mind me asking?

No, I don't work for any hardware/software manufacturer, but the point I was making to the OP was that if you are just starting out, I do not believe that it is necessary at that point to spend loads on a card, or anything at that point. At that point you should be learning the basics of writing, arranging, sound design, synthesis, etc. Once you feel that this is something you truly want to pursue, then you can start buying gear.

It's like those people that want to learn to play golf, so they go out and drop $1,500 on a nice new set of clubs when all they need is a 6-iron and a good swing coach.

In addition, if he is in an all software environment, then it is debatable whether or not he needs some of the high end features of a better sound card such as higher quality A/D converters. M-Audio drivers are pretty stable, so that's not really a concern. There has been some debate on this forum on whether or not working in rates higher than 16/44.1 even makes a difference in an all software environment.

In the grand scheme of things, $99 is nothing to spend on gear, and it's not like if he upgrades later that the card becomes suddenly useless. There is always a use for old gear.

Posted by Tarpex on Oct-13-2007 20:59:

E-mu 0404 pci is also a nice piece, i have it on my pc, and i'm not dissapointed, for $100 it's money well spent, but i guess delta 2496 is just as good, so it's either of these two, they both deliver.

Posted by kitphillips on Oct-14-2007 02:37:

Posted by kaymak on Oct-15-2007 10:20:

Cheer for the feedback guys,

Just a quick breakdown of mu problem tho,

I cant use any PCI cards as my motherboard only ha 2 spare expansion slots, A PCIe x16 and a PCIe x1, I wish it was as easy as getting a nice audiophile card,

From looking round the new all the PCIe cards seem to be around the �800 price,

Im kinda lookin for a solution where I can spend up to abt �300,

I only really need the card for the drivers and for good latency so my pc can run a sequenser and a few vst's to get my self back in the game ,

I hope you guys in your infijnite wisdom can recommend something to get me goin,

Cheers

Kev

Posted by kitphillips on Oct-15-2007 11:44:

There are some PCIe cards around, but thats not really my interest so I can't help much. If I had that much money to spend I would look at the 20 channel presonus firestudio or have a look at some MOTU thing with less channels but maybe better performance.

Posted by kaymak on Oct-15-2007 13:00:

Ok guys,

I think ive decided what im doing,

Im gonna get a FW150 PCI-X Low Profile Half Height Firewire Adapter Card and then get the M-AUDIO FIREWIRE 410 or something alomg them lines,

Im hoping this should do the job and get me going,

Im taking it that this should suffice?,

Any ideas?

Amd again, cheers for the help

Posted by Tarpex on Oct-15-2007 14:07:

Just make sure that the firewire card has texas instruments chips, otherwise you may encounter all sorts of problems, most common and dead serious of which is a non-detected soundcard out of the blue after a few days work, and you can barely do shit about it.

Posted by tyron_biggums on Oct-15-2007 14:30:

i use a echo gina 3g... neat audio card dont have any problems with it at all.. its bit costy but im glad i got it