[production bible 2] Soundcards

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:01 pm

If you want to add a model plz give its name, pros, cons & average price (new).
Thanks everybody!

Apogee Duet
Pros : Good quality 24bit converters, Small and portable, easy to setup, works within Logic.
Cons : Only has 2 XLR inputs and 2 hi-z jack inputs, pricey, FW400 input to computer

Audiotrak Maya 44 USB $96-120
SOS review
pros: analog rca ins/out, easy to connect turntables too
cons: no 24 bit converters

Digidesign Mbox 2
does the job, as the audio sound much more crisp and there's no static in the background.

E-MU 0404 USB ~ 200 $
Pros: good D/A converters, driver support for many OS, volume knobs for headphone and monitors, simple and user friendly control, good headphone amplifier
Cons: ASIO drivers and multimedia drivers not working at the same time.
I bought it mainly for the driver support, works with Win XP x64 and also OSX Leopard.
Would I buy it again? yes

E-MU 1212m ~ €140
Pros: the sound quality, the price, the DSP effects
Cons: takes 2 PCI slots, the Patchmix software is a bit tricky at the beginning.

E-MU 1616m
Rad, basically.

E-MU 1820m
have the emu 1820m which is basically then same as the other two nbut with lovely mic pre's and an external box, most of the problems ive had with it can be traced back to the cable for the external I/O.
other than that the card is wonderful, so therefore can recommend the other two.

M-Audio 1010LT ~ €190
Ive had an Maudio 10/10LT for 5 years and have had no problems with it. More than enough ins and outs for most home studio uses and had been totaly stable.

M-Audio Delta 1010 with the breakout box
solid, solid as a rock and it sounds great. loads of I/O as well, in fact too much for me tbh.

M-Audio Audiophile 2469 around $120.
Quite a nice soundcard, easy enough to set up. Had some trouble with it once though. My PC kind of stopped recognizing it (and this is where MY own personal mistake comes in) and I tried reinstalling it without removing it, when the manual clearly says that you should install the drivers before plugging the card in.
The only drawback of the card is lack of I/Os... I really need a second out, and it only has one analog and one digital out. The digital one seems kind of useless to me right now. So... yeah... that's the only drawback I can mention.

M-Audio Delta Audiophile 192

NI Audio Kontrol 1 ~ €300
NI Audio Kontrol 1 is well worth a look. Rock solid, done untold gigs with it, built like a tank and sounds excellent. Cirrus Logic's 2nd best convertor chips in there, well designed, three big buttons, a big knob and flashing lights. Bosh.

darkmatteruk · Post by **darkmatteruk** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:49 pm

i have the E-MU 0404. complicated card, still to figure it out properly. but its 50x louder than the standard soundblaster i was using

nice software bundle that came with that and the E-MU X Board 49 too

DZA · Post by **DZA** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:52 pm

daft tnuc you have been a busy boy today

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:49 pm

darkmatterUK wrote:i have the E-MU 0404. complicated card, still to figure it out properly. but its 50x louder than the standard soundblaster i was using

nice software bundle that came with that and the E-MU X Board 49 too

What's complicated?
I've read elsewhere the drivers can be unstable, what's your view on that?

darkmatteruk · Post by **darkmatteruk** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:59 pm

ive had the card for 10 months and havent had any probs with the drivers. not heard of any driver probs from anyone else either.

to me the card seems complicated because its my first good soundcard and ive installed it and not really taken the time to learn the in and outs of it all tbh, pretty lame i know. ive fiddled about with some of the software, but have just concentrated mostly on learning reason as best as i can, im certainly not taking full advantage of the card yet

deadly_habit · Post by **deadly_habit** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 8:24 pm

Audiotrak Maya 44 USB

SOS review

$96-120

pros: analog rca ins/out, easy to connect turntables too

cons: no 24 bit converters

used this one for awhile originally for my laptop, upgraded since then, but was bang for the buck back when

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:01 pm

Come on guys! Are you all making music with built-in crappy chipset?

dom · Post by **dom** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:24 pm

Ive had an Maudio 10/10LT for 5 years and have had no problems with it. More than enough ins and outs for most home studio uses and had been totaly stable.

truncated · Post by **truncated** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:12 am

have the emu 1820m which is basically then same as the other two nbut with lovely mic pre's and an external box, most of the problems ive had with it can be traced back to the cable for the external I/O.

other than that the card is wonderful, so therefore can recommend the other two.

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:06 am

Truncated wrote:have the emu 1820m which is basically then same as the other two nbut with lovely mic pre's and an external box, most of the problems ive had with it can be traced back to the cable for the external I/O.

other than that the card is wonderful, so therefore can recommend the other two.

Doesn't seem to be on the market anymore.
Thanks for the input anyway.

junglist · Post by **junglist** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:40 am

I use my Digidesign Mbox 2. I does the job, as the audio sound much more crisp and there's no static in the background.

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:51 am

Cheers Junglist.
Would be cool of you guys could go a bit more into details tho.

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:56 am

Junglist wrote:I use my Digidesign Mbox 2. I does the job, as the audio sound much more crisp and there's no static in the background.

I'm reading terrible reviews about it right now.

james fox · Post by **james fox** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:10 pm

m-audio delta 1010 with the breakout box.

solid, solid as a rock and it sounds great. loads of I/O as well, in fact too much for me tbh.

junglist · Post by **junglist** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:24 pm

Daft tnuc wrote:
Junglist wrote:I use my Digidesign Mbox 2. I does the job, as the audio sound much more crisp and there's no static in the background.
I'm reading terrible reviews about it right now.

Well I got it for free

And I have no complaint with it as of yet. It's also very sturdy, just last night I was working on a project and got up sending the MBox flying into the side of my bed (metal frame) and not a single fault, it's also not the first time this has happened. I've dropped and knocked it multiple times.

The only negative would be a lack of inputs/outputs, and I also have a mate who got his MBox brand new and it failed to work.

I also own a Mackie Onyx I might add, which is very useful as it has a few more inputs and setting and has a kind of hub in it so it can be split in two and used in a more portable fashion. Although I got this off a mate for free and the hub is the only thing to work (which has 2 midi and 2 mic) so you could add faulty as a negative.

sorry if not going into great detail but external.internal soundcards are not my most knowledgeable subject. From my point of view, if it sounds good and has MIDI and Mic input/output it's perfect

truncated · Post by **truncated** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:01 pm

Daft tnuc wrote:
Truncated wrote:have the emu 1820m which is basically then same as the other two nbut with lovely mic pre's and an external box, most of the problems ive had with it can be traced back to the cable for the external I/O.

other than that the card is wonderful, so therefore can recommend the other two.
Doesn't seem to be on the market anymore.
Thanks for the input anyway.

no its not but the 1212 and 0404 are basically the same card without the external breakout box, so was saying if you dont need the rediculous amount of ins and outs or the protools HD mic pre's the other two will be great.

also own an m-audio mobile-pre great cheap usb soundcard use this with my laptop, not alot of i/o but enough for a card this size and price,
it has:

2x mic pre's
2x TRS outputs
2x instrument/lines
1x stereo mic input
1x standard stereo minijack output
1x headphone

no problems with it at all, doesn't sound as good as the 1820m i have, but v,good.

£82! i paid quite abit more for it!

vadarfone · Post by **vadarfone** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:47 pm

EMU 1616m

Rad, basically.

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:30 pm

I use M-Audio Audiophile 2469. Quite a nice soundcard, easy enough to set up. Had some trouble with it once though. My PC kind of stopped recognizing it (and this is where MY own personal mistake comes in) and I tried reinstalling it without removing it, when the manual clearly says that you should install the drivers before plugging the card in.

The only drawback of the card is lack of I/Os... I really need a second out, and it only has one analog and one digital out. The digital one seems kind of useless to me right now. So... yeah... that's the only drawback I can mention.

Quite cheap, around $120.

chewie · Post by **chewie** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:49 am

I use Apogee Duet
Pros : Good quality 24bit converters, Small and portable, easy to setup, works within Logic.
Cons : Only has 2 XLR inputs and 2 hi-z jack inputs, pricey, FW400 input to computer

gbass · Post by **gbass** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:51 pm

EMU 0404 USB
200 $
Pros: good D/A converters, driver support for many OS, volume knobs for headphone and monitors, simple and user friendly control, good headphone amplifier
Cons: ASIO drivers and multimedia drivers not working at the same time.

I bought it mainly for the driver support, works with Win XP x64 and also OSX Leopard.

Would I buy it again? yes

specs
review1
review2

[production bible 2] Soundcards

[production bible 2] Soundcards

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