Sound card for music production
 

So, when I have saved enough money, I want to invest in some production hard/software. I would buy my own computer and connect my stereo speakers to it. I already have Reason, but maybe I'll buy some other software, I'll have to see. But my main question is: Is there a really good soundcard that you recommend?

My experience with CREATIVE soundblasters is really good. I checked their website and the "Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Elite Pro" (yay) seems pretty good, although pricey. I'll have to consider if I will pay the price or not. Is there a cheaper/better alternative? Let me know, thanks.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

anything but a soundblaster. get some kind of firewire device. m audio makes some good ones, and that will leave you set up for when you are ready for m-powered protools. i have both an audiophile and a firewire 410....not at the same time...but i've used them both. mostly i'm using the 410 now. it's solid and most software platforms recognise it...ableton, reason, reaktor...etc...and protools now.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

I'd get an M-Audio Delta series... good ASIO drivers, good 24-bit sound quality, not too expensive. I ended up getting the Delta 1010 with a breakout box but I'd only get something that elaborate if you're going to be doing alot of live recording.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

just make sure it plays vinyls ;)

Re: Sound card for music production
 

That's SOOO last century! ;)

Re: Sound card for music production
 

EMU is making some nice cards these days though it may be out of your price range.

If you come across some money somehow plop down on an RME card. Bout to get a Multiface myself.

Three words: Zero CPU Load

That's right....all channels running.

Zero CPU Load

Re: Sound card for music production
 

That's pretty useful, I'll keep that in mind.


It's a long time before I actually start buying things (I need money first) but I got the idea of buying my own computer in my head so I wanted to ask what would be the best things to get.
Personally, I think buying my own computer with soft/hardware is the best way for a beginner/hobbyist to become a bit more serious in this. Unless you guys (with more experience) proof wrong?

Re: Sound card for music production
 

I'm working with an M-audio Audiophile USB card. Works perfectly with Ableton, my SH101 and MS2000.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

Yeh the RME cards are gonna cost you $$$ so maybe not something until you get a bit more serious. M-Audio is probably a good bet to get you started. Once you get your feet wet and start making a bit more $$$ you can drop on something like an RME.

But definitely stay as far away from anything made by Creative Lags.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

you don't have you own computer?!

That will be the most important thing then :) (ah i remember the day when i first got my own computer. Pentium 266 Mhz, something like that :))

Re: Sound card for music production
 

Heh, well the only computer we have is this one, that's on the attic. But everyone in this house uses it. My next objective is to get one for my own, to have it in my own room too.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

believe me, it will mark a new era in your life :)

Re: Sound card for music production
 

You mean you have a lot of porn on your pc?

Re: Sound card for music production
 

In our main studio and as part of our live rig we use a RME Fireface 800. Solid, stable, never had any issues.

Home studio and for travelling and DJing I use a M-Audio Firewire Audiophile. A good piece of gear. A few glitches and stabilty problems on occasion, but on the whole it is a great audio interface.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

RME's are rock solid cards. Have had HDSP9652 for couple years now and 0 (ZERO!) problems. I've had Motu2408mkII, DIGI001, Korg 1212 and some cheap stuff and RME is just plain solid. I have lots of adat gear and I have never had a noisy loss of sync etc.
I can use 64 samples/buffer with 1.8ghz p4 :P (although very risky while recording but it works)

RME highly recommended.
EMU has good stuff.
M-Audio M-BOX has been praised too.
(Stay away from X-Fi etc. consumer products, go for more pro gear, it is worth it)

-Tomi

Re: Sound card for music production
 

what did you think i bought it for in the first place?! ;)

Re: Sound card for music production
 

My sound card cost fifty dollars. It was the cheapest one I could get with onboard MIDI. I have absolutely zero problem with it other than Cubase doesn't recognise it as surround, which is not really a huge deal.

I know you can reduce your CPU load and etc. by getting a more expensive sound card, but just get a better CPU. Or a mac, if you're going to be exclusively using it for music-making. I've never used one for that purpose but I hear that they are good at it.

I've got a P4 2.2GHz, and 768MB RAM. My PC only struggles in the densest part of a Reason song that has got to have more than a hundred devices. Possible much more, I haven't counted them all and a lot of them are in Combinators. If you've got a good amount of RAM (1.5-2GB) and a decent processor (c. 3GHz) then you don't need to worry about a fancy sound card, and both the RAM and processor can be used for things other than music.

Short n Sweet: Don't bother.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

I can recommend E-MU. Using the 1616 Cardbus interface myself (for laptop). They also have nice PCI cards for desktop PCs, check out the 1212m <- the 'm' means really good AD/DA converters, found in Digidesign ProTools HD systems!

Edit: the 1212m costs € 199 @ Feedback

Re: Sound card for music production
 

The BEST music creation software by far, is FL Studio 6
(Fruity Loops)
And i own nuendo and cubase, and i think this is way better, i also own the native instruments FM7, DX7 emulator, and if you use it as a vst plugin in conjunction with FL, you can make some sweet music.
The minimoog v is also good.

Re: Sound card for music production
 

I'm just getting into this myself, i have a P4 3.2, D865 Intel Mobo, 1gb 400mhz ram, two 80 Sata II HDDs, and a Radeon 9000 series (not sure which one off the top of my head)

I don't need a ton if in/outs at the moment so i went with the E-MU 0404 sound card, you can get them for $75-$99 and they're supposed to be great cards as long as you have a decent PC to run em.

The Audiophile 2496 is pretty much the same thing as the 0404, except it has lil' RCA outs as opposed to the 1/4 TS outs of the 0404 and maybe better drivers depending on your system.

Both have unbalanced outs, so be careful if radio interference is a problem where you live. If it is, you might just want to save up longer and invest in a card/audio interface with balanced outs. I think the E-MU 1212 has balanced i/o

You should invest in a pair of monitors(speakers) too... i got the KRK Rokit RP5 monitors... $135 a piece with full warranty.

Are you going to be using soft synth stuff mostly? I plan on using Reason/Cubase/FL6, and a bunch of Native Instrument VSTs. You can just use your computer keyboard but most people prefer a midi controller and i already have my eye on one... haven't bought it yet though.

If you are going to be recording live instruments at all, you will need to invest in an external mixer with decent mic preamps...

Ok so i'm just in the purchase/research/experimentation phase and all of what i've said thus far might be bogus, but this is a good site to go check out...

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

Re: Sound card for music production
 

"Basically, we consider the studio itself to be a musical instrument. Like any instrument, you get good by practicing, trying different things, experimenting, mimicking, tweaking, mixing...."

Hallelujah! Exactly what I think (though I have no training in producing music). It always frustrates me when people say that "techno music is no real music" because nobody plays a "real instrument". What's the point of a guitar, drums etc. when you can make even cooler sounds with all kinds of other stuff, be it synthesizers, metal rods or pre-recorded animal shouting?

Sorry for the off-topic rant but when those arguments with analogue people come into my mind I can hardly control myself. */me goes meditating*

Re: Sound card for music production
 

I agree. Why the fuck should it matter with which instruments it's played, as long as it's good music, there's no problem right?