New Sound Card - Advice?

[pDc]

I think I need a new sound card.
I need an audio and USB interface(s).

At the moment I have MIDI-IN on my onboard soundcard and MIDI-OUT on my M-Audio Ozone. A terrible setup!
My controller is an 88-Key Fatar keyboard and I have some Access/Roland equipment receiving the MIDI in the end.

It's like:
Fatar Keyboard --in--> Onboard game-port --in--> Cubase --out--> Ozone --out--> Virus

In the Cubase ASIO setup, I can only get high audio latency and large buffer sizes.
Would a nice new sound card help this?
I am not sure if sound cards are supposed to help the cpu with audio processing but if it is, my Ozone sucks at it.

Also, what kind of features should I be looking at for a budget card?
I suspect ASIO 1/2 support is standard now.

And should I want a PCI / Firewire / USB device?

Some budget recommendations would be great if I have not asked for too much already! ;)

Thanks!

Edit: I am on a PC

[ten]

Dont touch ANY soundcard that is usb.

They are utter shit, have high latencies and tons of problems....probably will give even worse performance than your onboard sound, seriously they are that cack. USB was just not meant for audio (hi Access! :) and definately not audio production.

You want PCI or firewire, and if your going firewire you only want decent brands because there is some shit flying about. Ill recommend the RME fireface or Presonus Firebox or Firepod, even though your on a budget take a look at them.

Otherwise you have PCI cards and you cant go wrong with either RME again (pricey though) Maudio or Echo. Dont touch EMU, bag of crap.

Checkout RME 9632, Maudio 2496 or 192, echo mia or layla.

Going cheap on a soundcard will only cost you later in the long run with shitty performance or hassle with hardware or something else.

ten

[Doc Jones]

pdc, I agree with everything ten wrote. Try to spend as much as you can on your audio card as that really is the backbone of most any studio setup. For firewire I have done quite a bit of research and feel that the rme fireface is probably the best thing out there. Ten is using one of these so if you have questions about it, he is the one to ask. If that is out of your budget, there are some really good pci solutions out there. I personally use the echo layla 24 and love it. They have 8ins/8outs and great converters and right now you can pick one up off of ebay very cheaply. (I have also had mine for over 5 years and not one glitch). Also look at rme pci solutions as well.

[Drammy]

I went from a Soundbalster (many eons ago) to an Audiophile 2496 (which was ok) then to an RME 9632.

I wish, as Ten said, that I had just taken the plunge a while ago rather than trying to find a cheap alternative. The RME has improved a whole manner of things for me (most notably Sounddiver started working as intended - it wouldn't work with the Audiophile).

Plus DigiCheck is fantastic...


I also second Tens comments with regards to the USB idea - don't do it, my studio partner had the Audiophile 2496 USB for a while and it was terrible.

I recommend the RME 9632, built with typical German precision and quality, the drivers are regularly updated to move with the times. I have heard the Echo cards are good but can't comment on them

[jasedee]

Are you on PC or Mac???

The only thing I would recommend is buying seperate Audio interface and MIDI interface

At the least, if one is not operational, you can at least use the other.

Good luck!

[pDc]

Are you on PC or Mac???
On a PC, of course! ;)


My budget was actually about ?150 ($250) but it seems I seriously under-value the importance of a good sound card!

regarding the RME 9632 and the Echo Layla 24,

They both seem well recommended and reviews are very positive.

These 2 are the front-runners and I would happily take either at a good price.
I will have to do some sums before splashing out the ?350 ($600 USD) though!

I expect I will 'take the plunge' anyway. damn you all :D

[Doc Jones]

pdc, like i said I am an echo user, but I have heard many good things about the RME 9632 as well. Either way, go on ebay first as I am fairly certain you can pick up the layla24 for a lot less than $600.00. As a matter of fact, I think I paid $700.00 for it brand new, but that was 5 years ago. So I would be surprised if it were more than $300.00 on ebay.

[Drammy]

I don't know if you own Inspector XL but if not then DigiCheck is a good alternative and is an incredibly valuable tool, especially if any of your work ever goes on vinyl...

Digicheck is a free tool for RME users, that monitors whatever output or input you like on the RME soundcards. It offers many different functions such as Frequency Analysis, phase meters, Peak meters (K system available), etc...


The list is quite exhaustive.

[Khazul]

Dont touch ANY soundcard that is usb.

They are utter shit. ...


LOL - very nicely put and so true.

Even USB2 is a waste of time for audio.

My one USB audio unit now serves as a door stop - tha damn thing is so useless I cant even sell it for the price of a door stop.

[matsa]

I broke the bank to get an RME Multiface a few years ago. Great piece of kit. Wouldn't swap it for anything. If you can find a 2nd hand one, go for it. I reckon mine would survive a tank rolling over it.