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Looking to purchase some new equip soon and was looking for some advice: should I get a new soundcard or some monitors?

I currently use a laptop with and Echo Indigo soundcard. I have one hardware synth and 2 midi controllers. I currently run the synth (Roland SH-32) through my DJ mixer, but I get background noise when I do this, and also my soundcard does not record (pretty much its only draw-back).

I currently produce using either headphones, or via my Gemini mixer through some half-decent creative speakers. The bass response is not good enough for strong sub bass without rattle (essential to the stuff I produce).

So should I go for a pair of half-decent monitors or a new soundcard? Which is likely to most improve my sound? My main need for a new soundcard stems from the need to record with decent quality from my synth and DAT field recordings.

Which models would you recommend?

I would personally go for the monitors
I was using creative speakers for a while and as soon as I got my monitors I wondered how I ever got by with out them.
Speakers that are not active monitors are bias to certain frequencies.

But sound card and monitors sort of go hand in hand.

Think I'm gonna sell me current soundcard and crappy speakers and buy an Echo Audiofire 2 souncard and some monitors. Can you recommend any monitors? Want to spend £200 - 300. Is there a price at which quality rises signficantly? Is it worth waiting and spending more?

8-bit / Meta wrote:Can you recommend any monitors? Want to spend £200 - 300. Is there a price at which quality rises signficantly? Is it worth waiting and spending more?

with monitors you get what u pay for basically. 200 - 300 is the average for 1 monitor. not a pair, plus a soundcard aswell. I'd wait and save if this is what u really wanna do.

I hadn't included the soundcard in that £200 - 300. Thanks for the advice though.

Are second-hand monitors worth looking at dya reckon?

8-bit / Meta wrote:Think I'm gonna sell me current soundcard and crappy speakers and buy an Echo Audiofire 2 souncard and some monitors. Can you recommend any monitors? Want to spend £200 - 300. Is there a price at which quality rises signficantly? Is it worth waiting and spending more?

KRK RP-6...£150 each, great for the price



There's a thread or two about monitors, have a search.

tbh i think it dependends on the problems you get..if you've got big latency problems i'd start with getting a new soundcard and after that monitors...otherwise go for the monitors, it's a bit frustrating not to hear properly what you do...
if you can wait a bit and get the money get yourself whether the genelec or the dynaudio, even tho they sound tooo good - which means you could end up being disappointed on other monitors, speakers after them..
krk are good too.

Don't really have latency issues - my only really problem with my soundcard is its inability to record audio. May just sell my old Echo and get the new one with recording capabilties (Audiofire 2). That shouldn't cost too much. I guess with the monitors it all depends on how long I can hold out for..

second hand for a soundcard is bless. it justs sits in a PC and does what it does.

second hand for monitors is a gamble. you can easily get a deal you think is good but end up buying a ton of sh*t. ex-display models are good though. they are always tested and you get abou 20% off.

ex-display models are good though.