Sound Cards

Fusion251

Hey,

Thinking of buying a new pc, it will be essentially for music productions and I was just wondering if anyone has any recommendations as far as sound cards go?

Cheers
D

BloodBath

The Creative soundblaster audigy 2 platinum zs seems to be the one to go for. Very popular and brilliant card.


BloodBath

Venom

What BloodBath said. Best card out there at the moment and pretty cheep for the basic model via the net

aaf

I did a bit of research when I was building my PC back in Feb and found that the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 PCI Soundcard was the way to go if you primarily want to use your pc for music and not games. Check out some reviews. The creative range is excellent for gaming.

RicardoSmith

aaf wrote:

I did a bit of research when I was building my PC back in Feb and found that the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 PCI Soundcard was the way to go if you primarily want to use your pc for music and not games. Check out some reviews. The creative range is excellent for gaming.

The creative audigy 2 are great for gaming and music.

The M-Audio Revolution are only good for music.

aaf

RicardoSmith wrote:

The creative audigy 2 are great for gaming and music.

The M-Audio Revolution are only good for music.

Eh, that's what I said

RicardoSmith

aaf wrote:

Eh, that's what I said

I'm agreeing with you...

aaf

RicardoSmith wrote:

I'm agreeing with you...

Oh, ok

Fusion251

Ha ha cheers lads. Probably won't be using it for gaming at all, it won't even see the interweb. It's just purely for music production. I read a review on the M-Audio there, seems to give 24-Bit/192kHz for up to 8 (7.1) channels, which is what I need. The Audigy 2 operates at 24-Bit/96 kHz and the effects engine is limited to 16/48 kHz, meaning that anything passing through it is resampled also. So seems for purely music purposes the M-Audio is the one.....

Anymore suggestions would be welcome

Cheers
D

RicardoSmith

I think most people where trying to establish how serious you where about the music side of things. Theres a whole rake of serious pro cards and breakout boxes you can get. I suggest you start reading some reviews online.

I only know the basics myself. For some ideas, heres a place that sells some stuff. http://www.sub.co.uk/ Why not search for reviews of the equipment that they are selling? Theres a PC mag http://www.computermusic.co.uk/ that does lots of equipment reviews. For example http://www.computermusic.co.uk/reviews/h2hsoundcards3/scards3main.asp bit out of date though...

t.R.I.P.p

Dude nothing can be more awesome than Creative audio. But i you want something extra cool - try USB sound like Icemat

stevenmu

t.R.I.P.p wrote:

Dude nothing can be more awesome than Creative audio. But i you want something extra cool - try USB sound like Icemat

Wow Dude, you must be extra cool if they tell you about their products before they even put them on their website. Or maybe you just work in marketing and forgot to get the website guy to put it up before you started pimping it ?

JayZuZ

M-audio offer the best bang for buck at the moment. Check out something like their Audiophile 2496. Its more or less the bottom of the ladder in their pro range but still very good with rock solid drivers and low latency.
Work your way up from that and ya can't go wrong.

Another option is a card by echoaudio such as the mia or gina

If ya want to spend serious money look at something by RME. Wanna spend less? check out the new EMU 0404. Try www.thomann.de for good deals. www.digitalvillage.co.uk is good also.

For reviews search the archives at www.soundonsound.com

Creative cards are toys when it comes to serious music production although not nearly as bad as they were and you could get by with one but don't bother

j

t.R.I.P.p

Hey dude, don't call me a pimp. When i visited their site it was there. Word. What's wrong if i liked their stuff?

musician.ie

General Guidelines:
You need to figure out how many ins and outs you want. Try to find a card that uses full 1/4 inch jacks, not mini jacks or rca connectors. Do you need midi ports? Check that the card has it's own specialised ASIO and directsound low latency drivers. It should support hardware monitoring.

stevenmu

t.R.I.P.p wrote:

Hey dude, don't call me a pimp. When i visited their site it was there. Word. What's wrong if i liked their stuff?

Well, you post here recommending the Steelpad 4D, you recommend a few of their products here. You then start 2 seperate threads here and here asking for advice on which mouse/mat combo to get and then going ahead and say you think the steelpad one (which you've already claimed to have) would be best for you. You point out steelpads lovely mx510 package deal here and then you recommend Icemats USB sound card here and above which doesn't seem to even be for sale yet, unless you mean their MP3 player ?. I should probably point out at this stage that a very quick Google revealed the very interesting fact that Icemat and Steelpad are the same company. Googling the words of your "ads" turn up the fact that you're also known as TopTigen , k1II3r k1ng, EnErgY (and here too) and plenty of others that I can't really be bothered listing.

The problem I have with this is that boards.ie relies on advertising revenue to survive, when you advertise for free on a thread your taking potential sales, or at list potential clicks, away from those who do pay to advertise on boards.ie making them less likely to do so in future. You also put yourself forward as an unbiased person with knowledge of various products who can honestly recommend one over the other, you don't make it known that you have a vested interest in trying to sell the products you recommend. People, such as the original poster on this thread, are asking for peoples opinions and may buy a product based on them, they deserve to know the reason you're recommending them.


edit: Btw, you'll be happy to hear that I've wholeheartedly "recommended" you for a banning. Word.

RicardoSmith

Rename him RIP and ....

D!ve^Bomb!

Mbox