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Always been interested in production but still very new to it all, primarily I'd like a soundcard that will be excellent for recording mixes, but also will be good enough for production aswell.. any recommendations?

I have the M-Audio 1010LT for about 2 years now and not got a single problem with it.

To be honest I have not really touched any of the settings on it. Does anyone have the same card and can suggest a few things I should at or play with to try and improve anything?

Emu 0404 pci. Had a few driver problems to begin with but the latest drivers have sorted those out. It sounds great however i can't work out how to record what i hear on it.

Echo Audiofire 2 $199.99 US

Firewire (400) Audio interface - 2 1/4" in and 2 1/4" out plus headphone out.

Pros: small, easily portable and very well built sturdy enclosure. Installs without any additional drivers on OS X(tested on both 10.5.1 and 10.5.6). Just plug it in and drag the included software interface into applications. Sounds good, records well and does what it is supposed to. I've had it for about a year and no complaints. software interface is easy to use and light on the cpu. It's not necessary to have launched when using the soundcard. Works with Logic and probably all software on a mac. Haven't tested on Windows.

Cons: Requires a headphone amp of some sort. Not enough juice to really push and half way decent cans. They get loud, but not loud enough. Also, the headphone output is it's own output so it's not listening in on the main output. Basically in Logic you would have to switch your output to 3-4 instead of 1-2 for the main output if your using the headphone jack on the soundcard. I run the card into a mixer and listen through the mixer to avoid changing any outputs in logic.

All in all, I'm very happy with the product

String wrote:Always been interested in production but still very new to it all, primarily I'd like a soundcard that will be excellent for recording mixes, but also will be good enough for production aswell.. any recommendations?

I'm in exactly the same boat as String. Primarily intersted in recording mixes with an eye to getting started in production within the year. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have a hunch that I shouldn't have to spend that much (under £100?) to get a good bit of kit to satisfy my needs...

baz1manor wrote: i have been using this to produce on, paid 170 gbp for it, and i hate the thing, i cannot monitor a mic, i dont think im missin anything, i can record it fine but no monitor on the inputs. its handy to use on the macbook when i want to play with logic, but i do not recommend it, not for producing at home anyway. i have a m-audio audiophile 2496 pci card that i use regularly, i once had 3 of them inside the tower as you can link em, but didnt really need them so got rid. anyone else feel this on the NI-AK1??

In what sense do you mean no monitor on the inputs? if you can record with it then you should be able to monitor. That should be handled in your host app. Make sure ASIO Direct Monitoring is turned on.

Macc wrote:

baz1manor wrote: i have been using this to produce on, paid 170 gbp for it, and i hate the thing, i cannot monitor a mic, i dont think im missin anything, i can record it fine but no monitor on the inputs. its handy to use on the macbook when i want to play with logic, but i do not recommend it, not for producing at home anyway. i have a m-audio audiophile 2496 pci card that i use regularly, i once had 3 of them inside the tower as you can link em, but didnt really need them so got rid. anyone else feel this on the NI-AK1??

In what sense do you mean no monitor on the inputs? if you can record with it then you should be able to monitor. That should be handled in your host app. Make sure ASIO Direct Monitoring is turned on.

I am kinda confused by that post myself. The Audio Kontrol is working out pretty well for me so far.

I use the Apogee Duet, as i copped one of 't Bay for cheap. I love it, the sound quality is really good and can reccomend it for Mac users. It's so easy and intergrates into Logic seamlessly.

RME multiface

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.

what exactly does this mean, ASIO drivers and multimedia drivers not owrking at the same time? ive read that certain ASIO sample rates are not supported....i'm currently running windows vista on a shitty acer laptop running FL Studio 8, but im pretty sure im not using ASIO as my driver. i have a pretty limited understanding of drivers and soundcards altogether, but in fruity loops i have "primary sound driver" selected, don't see any option to select any ASIO drivers......but was interested in maybe buying this audio interface, wanted to see if it would be compatible with my shitty acer laptop and with fruity loops

thanks

EDIROL UA-25

Pros: Very sturdy metal case, preamps are good for the price, and fairly flexible range of options for recording (hi-z for guitar, phantom power on 1 in, etc) given that there's only two in's.

Cons: Only two in's, I'm going to be upgrading to get better preamps for recording.

summary: absolutely sick live soundcard for gigging, cheap, built like a brick, and very good for the price.

Can vouch for the M audio firewire. quite rare now cos it's out of production, well cased in metal, XLRs, volume controls, no fuss.

Suppose you want to buy a decent soundcard. You want good quality but you don't want to spend an awful lot of money on it (just bought mackie mr5's) what would be the best recommendation? :p

just got me a saffire le seems good so far first soundcard iv bought so cant really do pro's and con's

In my home studio had hella trouble with Mbox 1 when my monitors were plugged in the same power socket as the comp, even with surge protectors was still humming like a pile of crap.

I gota Mbox 2 now and has been great. I dont use the shitty focusrite inputs but it is nice to have 48v at hand somtimes. I use my M-audio delta 2496 to record decks n stuff and just use straight usb MIDI with Korg PadKontrol.

Cant knock the Mbox2, apart from it hates Youtube, Myspaz etc.

Would love to have both 2496 and Mbox2 to be recognised in my DAW if anyone knows how? (ASIO4ALL dont work!)

hayze99 wrote:They all seem to think I want to plug a guitar into my computer.

Yea!!! whats up with that ?!!

hayze99 wrote:Fuuuck, I just want a AI that I can record my mixes on nicely. Don't need anything overly fancy; this whole audio interface thing is driving me crazy because I've spent hours looking into it and still don't understand a thing.

Which soundcard has a phono/RCA input? I can't find ONE. They all seem to think I want to plug a guitar into my computer.

Get an m-audio delta audiophile (PCI card) http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/A ... e2496.html

or if you are a bit sheepish about removing your comps side panel get a usb version.

Both are compatable with m-audios version of pro tools as well.

Phono is not the desciption you should use the correct terminology for the output on any standard dj mixer is RCA (Record company of America) but if you have 2 1/4" mono jack balanced output, use that they are far better.

Hope i've helped. If you want further confusion check out gearsluts forum

EDIT if your cheep just get a converter for 2 quid http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1218