Hi,

I just got a laptop and it has some unknown internal soundcard called Realtek HD Device or something. Is that good enough quality for music making or is it better to get an ASIO soundcard?

I only intend to use soft synths controlled with a USB keyboard, but isn't it so that if you want low latency, it's still best to have an ASIO soundcard?

Which ASIO soundcards for laptop do you recommend. I think I also have a Firewire port but i would prefer USB since its connector is located at a better place. Since I won't be using external hardware I don't need much in and outputs. Which ones are good but don't cost too much?

Is Soundblaster a good idea or does it still has that native 48khz samplerate problem that can give problems if you want to work at 44.1khz?

Oh.. I also run Vista.. didn't that have its own protocol similar to ASIO?

Thanks for all good advice!

Last edited by Dance123 on Nov-26-2009 at 16:56

if u have firewire port on your computer i recommend Echo Audiofire 4. its 299 or something though but the soundquality and the drivers are awesome. It has four stereo outputs (and four inputs) in case u ever want to use it for lets say djeing. Great soundcard I have it myself. If you got express card slot or PCMCIA on it, Echo has some great devices there too.

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/AudioFire4/index.php
http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/ExpressCard/IndigoIOx/index.php
http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/CardBus/IndigoIO/index.php

Thanks.. still alot of money.. no USB recommendations or is USB not recommended?

quote:

Originally posted by Dance123 Thanks.. still alot of money.. no USB recommendations or is USB not recommended?

I bought a Gigaport AG a while back, had no problems with that whatsoever.

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>>> Beatport Stuff <<<

not sure. ESI has a USB-device i think, but i dont know anything about it. BTW Echo has a device to 199 also (Audiofire 2) but i had it and it blew off a couple of times when unplugging from computer because it doesnt have a powerbutton, might be my bad luck though, but i needed to get it replaced twice. Second time i switched to the 4 instead, all devices should have fucking powerbutton. There are other awesome USB-cards too but they cost more than twice of what we are talking about now. like 600 or more.

also.. is it true that ASIO drivers can give problems when watching Youtube vids for example.. something to do with ASIO playing audio seperately.. is this true or not?!!

it can be buggy if u have your music program open and at the same time browse the net, using winamp etc. i had some problems with the biggest soundcard i had, no problem now though but I moved over to mac where stuff seems to work diferently. what im having trouble with now is getting the sound from Shaun White Snowboarding in both channels, werd problem.

quote:

Originally posted by palm not sure. ESI has a USB-device i think, but i dont know anything about it.

The Gigaport AG I mentioned is ESI.

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>>> Beatport Stuff <<<

esi maya 44 works well for me ;

i have an rme cardbus for sale if you can find a cheap interface for it

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Btw what software and monitors are u using and at what level are u?
If your just starting out (aka noob) you could just download a Asio driver for the internal soundcard called Asio4All while your saving for a Echo device and some monitors. Theres little point of wasting alof of money on a soundcard if you dont have any good monitors or lack skills. Asio4all driver will help you getting better performance (not sound, but latency etc) with the internal soundcard. Also try getting windows 7.

quote:

Originally posted by Ry Thomas i have an rme cardbus for sale if you can find a cheap interface for it

I would also recommend this.