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WHATS A GOOD SOUNDCARD !!!!!!!!!!????

justinfontaine	Date: December 27, 2004 @ 9:49 PM I know its that lil hole in the back of the hard-drive....(im no good with comps) but what the hell is a sound card and what makes one better than the other ????
Thaspian	Date: December 28, 2004 @ 1:08 AM a) Enough with the all caps shit. b) It's not the hole in the back of the hard drive. In fact, the hard drive has nothing to do with your soundcard. One is for storage and one is to make sound. If you are a gamer, go for a creative card. If not, go for a quality card. Creative makes the best gaming ones due to their EAC and onboard processors so you get the best FPS and whatnot, but they are not good for audio. Creative exaggerates their SNR, which they lie about to make up for their subpar performance. They never get a flat frequency response in 16/44 mode, and everything you can measure in rightmark audio analyzer turns up far better with other cards. The pro M-Audio and Terratec models are great and excel where it counts, so I'd suggest one of those. If you're using decent equipment(decent headphones, speakers but computer speaker packages), you'll get better sound with a better soundcard.
povertystricken	Date: December 28, 2004 @ 3:48 AM soundcard plugs into a PCI slot on your motherboard.I agree with Thaspian, M-audio is your best buy for quality vs. price http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.list&ID=pciinterfaces I wish someone had told me that before I bought an audigy2 ZS. If you have a little more to spend Tascam makes some nice USB/Firewire interfaces that come bundled with quality software http://www.tascam.com/Products/US-122.html
Veracohr	Date: December 28, 2004 @ 6:19 AM What makes one sound card better than another: converters and clock stability. The AD/DA converters (analog to digital/digital to analog) obviously have to be good because they are the things that give you what you want. Crappy converters equals crappy sound. The clock is a timing source that tells the converters when to convert. With 44.1kHz audio (such as CDs), the converters have to do their thing 44,100 times per second. If your audio interface has a poor clock, you will get jitter (imperfect timing), which also equals crappy sound. If you want an audio interface for recording music, M-Audio is a good place to start. The best ones are made by RME, Apogee, Benchmark and Lucid, often using separate clock sources to increase sound quality.
AGenePunckbowee	Date: March 22, 2005 @ 5:23 PM I was recommended to get a Soundblaster. It does ok for me, but probably isn't no where near as good as others. I just needed a cheap full duplex sound card.
fuhkengruven	Date: April 18, 2005 @ 11:16 AM m-audio makes some really nice stuff and not very expensive either .. you can get a m-audio delta 44 which will give you 4 ins and 4 outs .. basicaly you can record 4 tracks at a time .. i have 4 of them hooked up to my pc .. and use the on a daily basis here in my studio .. www.burnstudios.com if your serious about recording , dont waste your time with a creative soundblaster .. heh thats garbage ..a delta 44 will set you back about 200 bucks ..
fuhkengruven	Date: April 18, 2005 @ 11:17 AM http://burnstudios.com
DigWeed	Date: April 18, 2005 @ 2:49 PM well, I got a Digi 001 from eBay for less than the price of an m-audio.. $400
fuhkengruven	Date: April 19, 2005 @ 7:49 AM 400 bucks for that? ... that only gives you two inputs, the m-audio gives you 4 inputs . i paid 179.95 for each one my m-audio's , and they are cheaper than that now at musiciansfriend.. i record and mix at 96 khz ..
woodhead	Date: April 19, 2005 @ 11:48 PM I spent 200 dollars on a delta 10/10lt (delta m-audio) if you paod more than that for a duel input you got ripped off sorry Digweed. I used a creative card for a while as well, if you are recording by your self works at best OK, not real great, spend the money and get your self a decent sound card the first time. If you dont then you will end up doing it later and spending more than you should have. oh by the way, any one want to buy a creative audigy platinum ex?
imemine	Date: April 20, 2005 @ 12:20 AM I digweed too but I have to agree, the M-Audio products are good stuff! Hope the Digi thing works out for ya---It certainly has the “snob appeal” factor going for it!
sween	Date: April 20, 2005 @ 7:44 AM Mines Creative Audigy thingy... It works well for me, although, now that Im reading all this, Im gona start looking for a better one.
fuhkengruven	Date: April 20, 2005 @ 9:39 AM wow imemine , where did you get a 10/10 for 200bucks? used? .. im building another pc to record with and i want to get two of those for it .. and a delta 44 can be had for 149 bucks new from mf ... check out some mp3's on my site http://burnstudios.com
imemine	Date: April 20, 2005 @ 9:52 AM Uuuuu, that's woodhead that got the 1010 for $200. I only have the 2496 and I paid around $150 for it a few years back. Considering that it’s only me here in the bat cave , that’s all I need for now.
FREEZYSHOP	Date: May 13, 2005 @ 1:16 PM EMU SOUNDCARDS HAS BETTER COVERTERS THAN M-AUDIO... EMU USES THE SAME COVERTERS AS PROTOOLS DOES
LilVIetBalla	Date: May 14, 2005 @ 1:30 AM just get one and be happy with it.
Dizeazed	Date: May 14, 2005 @ 3:13 AM Creative Sound Blaster Extigy (External) -
freddemillio	Date: May 15, 2005 @ 5:36 AM Creative Audigy 2 ZS - has always worked acceptably well for me (hobbyist) and the Creative software that came with it is pretty good for working with lots of types of different media.
DigWeed	Date: May 15, 2005 @ 4:42 PM fuhkengruven... the Digi 001 has 8/8 inputs/outputs i dont know where u got the idea it has only 2. Maybe in your case the delta 44 is all u need, but it is very limited compared to the Digi 001 .. Plus u get Pro Tools with it as well...
AdamsGod	Date: May 18, 2005 @ 1:07 AM i'm happy with my 2 in 2 out 'Echo mia midi'. look it up. god price, great sound.
killerbiller	Date: June 2, 2005 @ 11:50 AM what should Buy then for godsake im sooooo confused!!!1
DigWeed	Date: June 2, 2005 @ 3:07 PM killerbiller, it depends on what are u going to record with it (midi, audio, mic).. and most important, how much are u willing to invest.. At that point u can have a smaller number of interfaces to choose from..
fuhkengruven	Date: June 22, 2005 @ 5:11 PM the digi 001 is ok... it doesnt have the headroom my deltas have and the delta's have a better s/n ratio .. and it comes with pro tools le , which is a joke 32 tracks? lol... i use 4 44's and have 16 ins and outs that sample at 96khz i think your digi 001 is limited to 48khz .. adobe audition blows pro tools le away .. pro tools is only good if you have a mac and use the real deal .. http://burnstudios.com
Elu	Date: July 21, 2005 @ 11:52 AM If you are talking music recording then I would recommend Emu, digi 001 or a Roland PC1 card. These are specifically designed to capture 24 bit, 96khz quality and higher and can also play it back. If you want gaming then get what everyone here is saying. Cost is the big factor. I purchased my Roland PC1 card for $250.00. It's a great card.
woodhead	Date: July 24, 2005 @ 3:10 PM where did you get a 10/10 for 200bucks? used? Brand New, and at Guitar Center.
Elu	Date: July 25, 2005 @ 11:21 AM yeah it was used. But it's new to me. I got a pretty good deal on e-bay. It still had the box and cables and instruction book. It was only used for a short time.
imemine	Date: July 25, 2005 @ 11:28 AM "EMU SOUNDCARDS HAS BETTER COVERTERS THAN M-AUDIO" I believe that might be subjective.
hueseph	Date: July 27, 2005 @ 4:18 AM Emu is Creative as in SoundBlaster. I've heard a lot of complaints about the emu cards already. Trying to throw too many peas in the pot. Audio interface and powered plugins in one card? That's askin for trouble. As far as the Digi 001. I've heard some good stuff using them. I have a Delta 44. My only complaint is that due to the inherent noise of the cpu housing, some of that tends to leak into my recordings. If there is a way to get rid of that please let me know. Also The Digi 001 has built in preamps. With the Delta series you need to invest in either a board with good preamps or a set of stand alone preamps. Which is good and bad because it does leave it up to you (and your bucget) as to what preamps you are going to use. And, as far as I am concerned a good preamp can sweeten the worst of mics. My two bits.
hueseph	Date: July 27, 2005 @ 4:25 AM For the record. I'm pretty sure that there is only one company producing A/D converters for the budget interfaces. That is most if not all the prosumer cards use similar or the same A/D converters. Of course there's a whole lot more to consider than just the converters. YOu can force a Holly carb onto a Toyota four banger and it's still a four banger. It ain't goin no faster. Personally. Stay away from Creative pro sound (EMU).
GeneHilbert	Date: July 27, 2005 @ 2:27 PM I've had a M-Audio Delta 66 card for about 6 or 7 years - I have never had a problem with it. It will do anything you need it to do....... 4in 4out and sp/dif - I paid $250 then - I'm sure they're cheaper now. Make sure you get the 10in or 10out rack (if you have the cash) or at least the breakout-box w/the d25 cable - it's a lot cleaner - none of that 20 damn cable crap coming off the card sound - that is a mess and a fuck-up waiting to happen.
woodhead	Date: July 28, 2005 @ 2:07 PM Guitar Center has the delta 10/10lt for two dollars still, every day price. If you know some one who works at Guitar center you could pro even get a discount on it. I am going to buy my second this week end. 16 In and 16 out (12 in the manner I will use it) frigin cool man
GeneHilbert	Date: July 29, 2005 @ 1:54 AM That's the shit right there - SOLD - "Deal Of The Week".
hueseph	Date: July 29, 2005 @ 7:42 PM Just for the record: I wasn't dissin' M-Audio. I love my Delta. It sounds great.
woodhead	Date: August 1, 2005 @ 4:12 PM Guitar Center has the delta 10/10lt for two dollars still, every day price. I actually paid 170 dollars after all, one hell of a deal, every one run to Guitar Center and buy one OH yea Guitar Center is also Musicians friend as well.
woodhead	Date: August 1, 2005 @ 4:13 PM two dollars, that is one hell of a deal, I meant 200 dollars
fuhkengruven	Date: August 3, 2005 @ 9:16 PM ahh you have the 10/10lt .. i thought you were talking about the 10/10 PCI .. its way different and about twice as much ..
hueseph	Date: August 4, 2005 @ 3:38 AM Yeah. The breakout box makes a huge difference. Much less messy as far as cables are concerned and less worry about cable damage.
animetronic	Date: August 20, 2005 @ 8:31 PM I'm dying to know why someone said that the Digi 001 has two inputs and that $400 was a rip off for it? Are you aware that it has the same features and inputs/outputs as the M Audio Delta 1010? How do you get 2 inputs? The front inputs are mic preamp inputs. There are six additional on the rear side, plus ADAT optical, etc. The unit has every feature that the Delta 1010 has. I know because I have owned both. I picked up a Digi 001 for $300 and it was a good purchase. I can use Pro Tools LE if I want to but I prefer Sonar 4 Professional, with the same RTAS plugins as Protools LE.
mattbanx	Date: August 20, 2005 @ 9:34 PM I have a RealTek sound card that came with my HP that has held up pretty well. I bought the computer in 2002.
leedsquietman	Date: January 20, 2006 @ 8:45 PM If you don't need a lot of inputs then the Echo Indigo I/O is a great choice, low latency with ASIO drivers and supports 24 bit / 96 Khz recording with 8 virtual outs. Does a great job in my laptop with my DAW of choice...
mattbanx	Date: January 20, 2006 @ 11:24 PM I just installed a Sound Blaster Audigy and Turtle Beach. I record between 2 computers. It's a step up because the buffers are better than what came with my computer. But I have no use for Audigy's special effects and eq. At least not yet. I mix my sound externally or through wave software. I don't know how a $400 sound card would do me much good unless I did everything with the computer had all the fancy knick knacks besides. I guess it's a matter on how much you are looking for with a production. I tried Audacity also. It's a neat little toy to practice with. But music software tends to make everything sound the same. Damn good little program for being free though.