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looking for a good sound card for home studio

19 March, 2008 - 13:34 — reversed mohawk

Hey evereybody, I have been using a creative labs soundblaster audigy sound card (i know) with sony acid pro 6 and sound forge 8. It works ok for basic stuff (drum grooves and editing files I have imported from my Boss br-600). But recently I think I pushed the crappy little card to its limits. I was trying to run acid pro whlie running easy drummer vst and recording via guitar rig 2. It will either crash, pop horribly, or make insane feedback squeels and static. I know its the wrong card for this stuff but I checked and rechecked my drivers, their all good as far as I can tell (these things all work well alone but not together). So I came to the quick conclusion that I need a much better sound card for home studio. I would like something with break out cables, 1/4 ins for guitar and rca out for monitors and maybe some midi i/o. I am looking for cards around or under $200 and Ive found some cards that have good reviews (m-audio delta 1010, audiophile 192, audiophile 2496) but I am confused about the specs on these and what I need compared to these. Ive read some stuff about some of these not being internal loop capable and I think thats something I need since I record from guitar rig and other modules internaly.

:My PC - AMD AthlonXP 3200+ 2.5ghz, 1gig ram, nforce2 board, 2 ATA100 7200 rpm 80gig drives, g-force5900xt 128mb agp card, soundblaster audigy1 pci card:/ XP home sp2+

Any suggestions/ideas would be appreciated. Thanks! :)

‹ Frank Marquis ~ My Studio cheap mpc ›

19 March, 2008 - 18:50 — poppntagz
poppntagz's picture

i got a delta 1010 and i aint had any problems at all with my setup, the only thing i dont like is all the wires hanging out the back of my computer. It has two mic inputs and 8 in and outs but no 1/4, all rca, but you can get a 1/4 to rca cable for your guitar if you decide to go with the delta.

19 March, 2008 - 21:24 — matt
matt's picture

Not sure if you're confusing the Delta 1010 (rackmount + PCI card) with the Delta 1010LT (PCI card)?

I've got a Delta 1010LT, and its been great for my needs for far. It does have a ton of inputs / outputs, but poppntagz is right when he says you'll likely need an adapter cable for 1/4 inputs for guitar.

Not too sure about the internal loop thing, I've only heard of that as a bad thing - to do with unwanted feedback I believe. But I think I know what you're meaning - I would be very surprised if thats a problem with the 1010LT. I know that when browsing my audio/midi options in my software, there are always a heap of "Delta 1010LT" options for audio ins and outs, so I would think that it shouldn't be an issue there. Eg taking audio input, routing it through your sequencer and on to your guitarrig plugin, then back out to your sequencer, and on to the monitors?

21 March, 2008 - 08:52 — reversed mohawk
reversed mohawk's picture

Hey thanks guys! THe Delta 1010lt was at the top of my list because of its excellent reviews and its array of i/o I think Ill go with that one. Im sure it will out do my sound blaster by leaps and bounds anyway.

On another note. I use my PC to play games as well. Will the 1010lt sound the same as the soundblaster audigy (3d positioning in stereo"eax")
I dont use surround so Im wondering if this is even a factor??

And also if it is going to affect the sound of games can I use two separate sound cards in one PC??? Ive never tried it.

Thanks again!!

21 March, 2008 - 11:31 — matt
matt's picture

Yup I upgraded a few years ago from a shasty old SB Live soundcard, to the Delta 1010LT, and have never looked back.

I played a bunch of games with it for quite a while too, though not many these days, but that was one thing I was wondering about when I bought it too. I think its worked pretty well with all the games I've played it with... BF Vietnam, BF2, San Andreas, Oblivion etc. Though the EAX is NOT an option, as its a Creative thing... so surround does have to be emulated, if at all. So yeah, while usually it sounds pretty good, some games don't allow Hardware Sound mode, as its basically Creative only, and force you to use Software Sound mode or some other type... though I haven't had really any issues with this myself.

Obviously being into audio, I'm kinda fussy if something sounds bad. But yes, do be aware that from time to time you MAY encounter a game which doesn't play 100% nice with a musician based card.

That said, there shouldn't be any reason you can't have 2 soundcards installed at the same time... just setup your Delta1010LT as your default, and if you ever play a game, select Creative in the game options... I used to have my SB Live installed alongside my Delta1010LT for a while... but then built a new pc, and didn't bother to bring the SBlive over to the new rig, and just used the 1010LT for everything.

21 March, 2008 - 12:32 — reversed mohawk
reversed mohawk's picture

Thanks!

21 March, 2008 - 12:50 — matt
matt's picture

No problem, glad to help.

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