How important is a sound card?

FSTZ1 · Post by **FSTZ1** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:52 pm

I scooped up my EMU 1616M for less than $300.00

it has pretty decent converters for the price

I send my dj mixer into it and it's made my radio shows sound alot better and I can monitor / play music at higher levels without any distortion.

well worth it

FSTZ1 · Post by **FSTZ1** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:14 pm

^^well said

I feel the same

I have always had good luck with PCI cards

doubtful · Post by **doubtful** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:48 am

Thanks for the advice.

So, yes soundcards are important, but I should get headphones/monitors first?

serox · Post by **serox** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:52 am

Internal hardware on a computer is always better than external! They will be faster and more stable.

(harddrives, gfx, audio cards etc)

higgzbozon · Post by **higgzbozon** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:05 am

doubtful wrote:Hi everyone. I started producing on a shitty pc last year and things got out of hand, so I've just bought a new pc to feed my habit. This has taken a sizeable chunk out of my budget, so I'm just wondering what I should get next? I have some ok computer speakers, but they're not monitors so I don't trust them in the least. They do have more bass than my Seinheiser phones though, but these were also fairly cheap.

I guess most of you have soundcards, but I was just wondering how essential they are, as I can already hear what I'm doing with the internal chip that came with my pc.

So, should I get a soundcard or decent headphones next (can't afford good monitors and noise is a problem) ?

How important is gass to a car?

higgzbozon · Post by **higgzbozon** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:08 am

Serox wrote:Internal hardware on a computer is always better than external! They will be faster and more stable.

(harddrives, gfx, audio cards etc)

Yes and no. Your right about they are a bit faster and more stable.
But also when you have little room in the pc, the pc fan can distort the in and outputs. Also with inboard soundcards you most off the times have no control over your monitors. Only with the software for the soundcard..

Jus tmy 2 cents

__________ · Post by **__________** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:18 am

Macc wrote:
FSTZ wrote: you will want to get something that will render a decent mixdown
I'm not sure if I am reading you right, but the card doesn't affect the internal calculations (summing/mixdown), only the I/O.

so when people say you need at least an X quality soundcard, they're talking shit?

i do all my music making on my laptop. stock dell soundcard straight into the speakers.

a better soundcard would let me HEAR the music i'm making better, but it wouldn't actually affect the sound quality that would be bounced out of any program, right?

what's with all the soundcard wanking we see everyone doing? surely a good soundcard is only useful if you're recording a lot of things, or running your audio through outboard and back in again?

i've been making tunage for about 6/7 years now and have never felt the need to buy a soundcard. i'd rather have a decent synth.

serox · Post by **serox** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:35 am

HiggzBozon wrote:
Yes and no. Your right about they are a bit faster and more stable.
But also when you have little room in the pc, the pc fan can distort the in and outputs. Also with inboard soundcards you most off the times have no control over your monitors. Only with the software for the soundcard..

Jus tmy 2 cents

Never heard of that fan problem before.

Most people run there stuff thru a mixer so have control that way if they dont want to use the digital controls for volumn.

serox · Post by **serox** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:37 am

£10 Bag wrote:
so when people say you need at least an X quality soundcard, they're talking shit?

i do all my music making on my laptop. stock dell soundcard straight into the speakers.

a better soundcard would let me HEAR the music i'm making better, but it wouldn't actually affect the sound quality that would be bounced out of any program, right?

what's with all the soundcard wanking we see everyone doing? surely a good soundcard is only useful if you're recording a lot of things, or running your audio through outboard and back in again?

Since my fancy M-audio has been playing up I have been using my on board sound card and have not noticed a difference with anything

I got the M-Audio after following advice from many forums.

serox · Post by **serox** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:39 am

Depone wrote: For that, you need an audio interface with at least 12 outputs (6 stereo)

Some confusion here I think. I was just talking about the volumn of the whole mix, I thought he was too?

Altho I do have 10in/out sound, well I did before it started crackling.

higgzbozon · Post by **higgzbozon** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:49 am

Serox wrote:
Depone wrote: For that, you need an audio interface with at least 12 outputs (6 stereo)
Some confusion here I think. I was just talking about the volumn of the whole mix, I thought he was too?

Altho I do have 10in/out sound, well I did before it started crackling.

Indeed i agree.. But why spend the extra money on a mixer if you could buy a external soundcard with controls for the same price (or cheaper)..

serox · Post by **serox** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:51 am

HiggzBozon wrote:
Indeed i agree.. But why spend the extra money on a mixer if you could buy a external soundcard with controls for the same price (or cheaper)..

Because internal sound cards perform better?:)

macc · Post by **macc** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:05 am

£10 Bag wrote: a better soundcard would let me HEAR the music i'm making better, but it wouldn't actually affect the sound quality that would be bounced out of any program, right?

what's with all the soundcard wanking we see everyone doing? surely a good soundcard is only useful if you're recording a lot of things, or running your audio through outboard and back in again?

You answered the question in your first sentence.

It doesn't affect the quality in terms of the mathematics/summing being performed in the box, but being able to hear what you're doing better means making better decisions, means making better mixes, means better quality.

And yes it DOES make a difference. A big one.

__________ · Post by **__________** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:20 am

so, in my current acoustical situation, a soundcard would be absolutely pointless!

chrs for that Macc, i was wondering about soundcards the other day

i lowered the sample rate of a tune to 22 the other day because it sounded better to me

serox · Post by **serox** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:35 am

Depone wrote:
You were talking about mixing through an external desk. for this, you will need an interface with a lot more ins/outs (like your 10 in/out one) to hook up to the desk to mix/use hardware on

Yeh I know

but you can use with just a controller was my point. I would ave thought most people used a mixer to adjust volumn instead of some knobs on a sound card.

macc · Post by **macc** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:34 pm

^ oh woe is me etc etc

How important is a sound card?

Re: How important is a sound card?

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