If you want to work in the best conditions, encoding at the highest possible bit depth is best. The higher bit depth, the better detail and definition your sounds will have. And less residual noise too. So it's best you record at the highest amount possible. When you apply effects it will almost deteriorate the sound a little more (the signal must pass an extra device, and as good as it may be, it's still deteriorating a bit, maybe not noticeable at first, but try running it over and over and over again, and you'll hear it). Keep it as high as possible, and only convert it at the last stage. Of course there's a drawback : takes up much more space.
Same goes for 32 bits, but that's more used as internal processing bit depth (32 floating), although the high-end pro soundcards can have real 32 bits already.

Unfortunately an SB live can't do that. It's a 16bits 48 kHz card at best (I know creative claimed the Audigy's to be 24/96, but that's just marketing. They can't record at 24 bits). You can't judge on 24bit recordings on a Sblive. On a real 24 bit capable card, you'll definately hear the difference (sound is more detailed, has more impact).

hey dj thy

thanx for all that info

what soundcard would be reasonable or one of the best $$ can buy to record at 24bit/32bits

mainly want to get a NEW soundcard so it can record better ?

Most people will reccomend an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96. Like it's name tells, it's a 24bit 96 kHz capable card. Sound quality is great and drivers are rock stable. You get a analog input (RCA), a RCA output, Spdif in and out, and midi in and out. The only real "consumer feature" is that it can output digital AC3 through the SPDIF to watch DVD's in surround.

I myself have a Terratec DMX6fire 24/96 and I'm very happy with it. It uses the same DSP as the Audiophile (Envy24), and so far it has never posed me any problems. On the card itself you have discrete 5.1 out (internal decoder) and a line in on minijack. It features an extra breakout box with an RCA line in, an RCA phono in, RCA line out, jack mic in (with pot), jack phone out (with pot), RCA spdif in and out (with AC3 throughput) compatibility, Toslink in and out, and midi in and out.

The difference with both cards is that the M-audio is really aimed at the (semi-)pro market. So the card is optimised for pro audio progs (sequencers, softsynths, audio plugins, ...) but has very very basic "consumer" features (windows sounds, gaming, ...). So if you are using the computer for other purposes than audio, it's advised you keep a consumer card installed also.

The Terratec has that in mind, it has the pro features of the M-audio, but still has consumer features, for gaming and dvd playing for example.

Both cards have ASIO/GSIF/WDM drivers, so in the appropriate programs an optimal latency can be achieved (I'm running it at 3 ms without any glitches...).

If you want the absolute cheapest 24 bit capable cards, look for the Hoontech DSP24 value. Or try to find the lite version of the DMX 6fire (no breakout box, but still most useful features).

Real 32 bit cards are still hard to find, and are usually very high priced. But the Audiophile and the DMX6fire both accept 32 bit float (optional according to the recording app) or even 64 bit float (massive filesize though) recording and editing.

hey dj thy

thanx again for an extensive response, once again

actually i don't play games,
at the moment my pc does nothing more then play mp3 + recording from vinyl -> mixer -> pc -> wav -> mp3

i took at look at both cards, M-audio Audiophile 2496 and Terratec DMX6fire 24/96

i like that external box that comes with terratec, quite useful,
then again as for quality recording/playback they are the same for both soundcards?
both are true 24bit sounds, Audiophile seems to be focused at the professional market while terratec professional cosumers + gamers?

right now i got my eyes on terratec, i also notice the terratec has 6 channels, audiophile not sure 2 channel, also like the box =)
audiophile has some nice software tho, terratec? doesn't say it comes with any software but as for software is concern, i could buy them later. just the hardwarer is more important..well as for quality if it was the same for both. i go get myself a terratec, by looking at the tech data sheet it seems very simular

also the terratec seems to have more input/outputs?
and it has No ASIO2 support

Last edited by futurevision on Nov-10-2002 at 11:18

Terratec has Asio2 support (and multiclient), also GSIF and WDM stream driver support.
It comes with Wavelab Lite, Musicmatch Jukebox, PowerDVD 3.0 Multichannel, a special version of Sound Laundry (audio cleanup proggie) and Emagic Logic Audio Fun (a fully functional version, but without the more extensive options of Platinum). Plus a lot of demo of other audio softs.

The quality is practically the same for both, extensive tests have showed the Terratec S/R is about 1.5-2 dB behind the M-audio card, and frankly you won't notice, because it's still over 100 dB which is fantastic. That wasn't the case with the older Terratec EWX series, who had very bad convertors, and unstable drivers. They clearly advanced on that level. I have yet to crash my Terratec.

The M-audio is a 2 channel card, but has 5.1 support, via digital AC3 through the SPDIF out (btw the dmx6fire has that too).

There is a Cubase test going around somewhere on the net where people are asked to play a standard cubase project (made by the test group) to see what the minimum latency is, and how much cpu power is used in that setting. Generally you could say the cards perform the same.

You can't go wrong with either of them. I suggest you download the manuals from the manufacturers site (both are available) to see how the internal settings work, that may be another decisive point if you choose between them. I sure am happy with my DMX6fire...

With T-racks I can save the master .wav in 16 or 24 bit. Anyone knows what's the difference? I know 24 bit makes the file much bigger, but the quality is better I guess. But for burning it onto a cd it must be 16 bit? What's the best option for me?

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--Born to synthesize--

quote:

Originally posted by dj dimwit With T-racks I can save the master .wav in 16 or 24 bit. Anyone knows what's the difference? I know 24 bit makes the file much bigger, but the quality is better I guess. But for burning it onto a cd it must be 16 bit? What's the best option for me?

hi, if your source was in 16bits and you save it to 24bits the quality wouldn't improve.

and yes cd audio is in 16bits (bit dept) / 44.1 sampling rate.

24-bits for mastering then mix it down to 16bits if you want to burn it on cd audio.


ill post more later..... got to jet.

the new Creative Audigy2 card is now true 24bit/96kHz compliant. The original Audigy used to down mix everything, they were advertised as 24/96 for sales purposes i guess.

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