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Buying PC for production, which sound card
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| HardTranceProd |
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. |
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| echosystm |
| 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. |
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| jupiterone |
| Make sure you get the Conroe if you're getting core2duo. Quite the leap in performance over the cheaper core2duos. |
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| DJ RANN |
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 .
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. |
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| Chronosis |
| What do you need from the card? Are you recording external signals? |
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| echosystm |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RANN
on a budget: M-audio (amazing qaulity for the money)
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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. :p
YES, I have personal experience...
Also, they don't have very good quality preamps. |
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| Subtle |
| Are any of the Creative X-Fi cards any good ? |
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| echosystm |
| Generally speaking, anything made by Creative and/or it's subsidiaries is crap. |
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| DJ RANN |
| 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 "
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. |
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| aquila |
| quote: | Originally posted by echosystm
Avoid m-audio firewire like the plague. :p |
Curious to know why. I use the fw audiophile and have had no problems with it. |
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| Subtle |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RANN
I said it in my post before "Creative - peice of "
Stay away from them, they are not designed for pro audio use.
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Is that based on experience or general assumption ? |
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