I'm wondering how critical and important having a good sound card is and how it can have an impact on music production???

I'm having a hard time visualizing how it could make a difference if one is to work strictly in software. When would the sound card even come into play? Is it more critical to have if you are actually recording in audio into your DAW?

Right now, I'm just using my standard built in Apple soundcard with a line out to my soundsystem. I'm trying to determine whether it makes sense to purchase a real soundcard but I'm not really seeing the benefits?

its pretty important. recording or not.

It's a must.. you will run into latency issues without it

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well i'm or was running the built in soundcard on my pc and just up graded and found a small but better improvement. you will find that changing sound cards allows you to hear more and take the load of your pc.

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quote:

Originally posted by aLviNx80 It's a must.. you will run into latency issues without it

the problem isnt latency but the soundquality, he obviously doenst record any external gear so hes latency can stand at 5096 samples and he wouldnt have any problems with that.

I'd say good monitors are more important than the soundcard. I've used both high-end soundcards and onboard soundcards and the only major difference is the latency, really - and since I don't do any live recording or anything like that it's not really an issue at all.

(Disclaimer: Obviously I know the answer isn't as straightforward as that, but whatever...)

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i always find those onboards minijack outs muddy.

It is important, but if you aren't recording anything a cheap one like some M-audio stuff will work perfectly.

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quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery I'd say good monitors are more important than the soundcard. I've used both high-end soundcards and onboard soundcards and the only major difference is the latency, really - and since I don't do any live recording or anything like that it's not really an issue at all. (Disclaimer: Obviously I know the answer isn't as straightforward as that, but whatever...)

Surprised you'd say that. I'm yet to find an onboard sound card which doesn't completely obscure the sound of whatever I'm playing through it. I won't even listen to MP3s through mine any more.

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Yes, the difference between using an onboard soundcard and even the cheapest m-audio card for example is night and day. Onboard sound cards are almost unuseable if you want to actually hear what you are doing. The best monitors in the world will sound like crap through an onboard soundcard.

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Originally posted by kitphillips Surprised you'd say that. I'm yet to find an onboard sound card which doesn't completely obscure the sound of whatever I'm playing through it. I won't even listen to MP3s through mine any more.

There is a difference, sure, but the speakers/monitors you use make a much bigger difference, IMO.

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quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery I'd say good monitors are more important than the soundcard.

I would definitely say this as well.

I've produced tracks on a 'standard' soundcard with great monitors and have produced some great results. I have also done tracks on a 'better' soundcard with the same monitors, and....well, they produced some great results!!

There wasn't much difference if I'm honest.

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