I'm buying a new PC for music production

I've already settled on the following: 2 GB RAM, Core2Duo 2.3GHz or greater.

My question is: What soundcard specs should I be looking at. Is there anything special that I need or should watch out for.

Anything that has a good ASIO driver and the I/O you need. Good ADC/DAC is always a plus, but they're all really a much of a muchness at our level.

Make sure you get the Conroe if you're getting core2duo. Quite the leap in performance over the cheaper core2duos.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115003

And I guess this, everyone says it's top shelf

http://www.emu.com/products/product...91&product=9872

Don't go for EMU! There are much better quality, more reliable soundcards.

RME - expensive but very high quality - not the greatest value and aftersales tech support is not the best.

M-audio - good value, good quality, very good after sales tech support, decent drivers.

Motu - Amazing quality (both sound and build), very goood after sales tech support, superb drivers. Not cheap though.

echo - good quality, decent drivers, good after sales support, fairly expensive.

Creative - peice of shit.

Roland / edirol - OK but don't bother - better out there for the cash (M-audio)

Presonus - good quality, decent drivers, but again nothing that other brands can't do better.

Terratec - decent quality whe they do work but very hit and miss depending on model.

Focusrite - great build quality, varying driver quality depending on model, fairly expensive.

digidesign - Very good quality but very expensive for what you get. Drivers also sometimes a problem until they get the version sorted.

My advice (depending on I/O configuration needs obviously)

on a budget: M-audio (amazing qaulity for the money)
Money to spend: MOTU

I take the opinion it's not worth buying a mid range soundcard; either get a really good value, decent quality card, or go the whole hog, save up and buy a top of the range card.

What do you need from the card? Are you recording external signals?

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN on a budget: M-audio (amazing qaulity for the money)

The only good thing m-audio ever did was the delta series (which are/were awesome, but getting a bit dated). Avoid m-audio firewire like the plague.
YES, I have personal experience...

Also, they don't have very good quality preamps.

Last edited by echosystm on May-14-2007 at 10:03

Are any of the Creative X-Fi cards any good ?

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Generally speaking, anything made by Creative and/or it's subsidiaries is crap.

quote:

Originally posted by Subtle Are any of the Creative X-Fi cards any good ?

I said it in my post before "Creative - peice of shit"

Stay away from them, they are not designed for pro audio use.

If you're looking at that price range and at a PCI card, go for M-audio.

I remember the first batsches of the M-Audio FW410 having quality control and driver issues but this was completely eliminated after 6 months. After that they were fine. Pre-amps not amazing, but definately not that bad.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm Avoid m-audio firewire like the plague.

Curious to know why. I use the fw audiophile and have had no problems with it.

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN I said it in my post before "Creative - peice of shit" Stay away from them, they are not designed for pro audio use.

Is that based on experience or general assumption ?

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