A Musical Sound Card

[A Casual Fitz]

When it comes to sound cards, I know less than nothing. I'm a musician and I'd like to start recording and I heard that having a kickass sound card would immensely effect the quality. I'm sure you guys all know what I'm looking for, so I hope you have a suggestion for me. Thanks.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

what kind of music? Guitar?

heres a shameless plug, but for my band we used a Pod 2.0 ----> to the LINE In on my stock Asus Nforce 2 sound card. It came out decent, you can check it out here. Are you looking to do Midi?

I have been able to record keyboard with the Pod 2.0, but it has to be Line out from keyboard to the Line in on the pc.

www.myspace.com/haceldama

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Yes, guitars. Line out doesn't really work out on tube amps. They need to be miced.

What are you using for drums on that recording?

 

[CreativeTom]

Soundblaster Sudigy 2zs platinum....enough said.

 

[minofifa]

Originally posted by: CreativeTom
Soundblaster Sudigy 2zs platinum....enough said.

worst idea ever... i would stay away from creative when it comes to recording purposes. go to www.homerecording.com/bbs and see what others think of creative cards if you don't believe me.

if you are just starting out, i would suggest something with built in preamps. A great unit is the tascam us-122. i'm using one right now myself. It is USB so i wouldn't do more than 2 tracks at a time with it. It has 2 preamps, 2 line in (1/4''), MIDI i/o, direct monitoring with zero latency (this is key) and heaphone out / line out. It also comes with cubase, a decent recording software pacakage, as well as gigastudio, a nice sampler. Also, it uses low latency WDM or ASIO drivers which is really important. I can get as low as 10 ms latency sometimes.

 

[jwpeer]

What's your price range?
How many and what type of inputs/outputs do you need.
How much quality do you want?
Do you want PCI or USB/Firewire

the M-Audio Delta 44 might be good for you, and it's at a lower price end.

The EMU 1212M would probably have too many inputs/outputs but it's got amazing quality at the price level. Same with the 1820M, but that's even more expensive with more inputs/outputs (Though it has some fairly decent preamps apparently)

If you're more specific I might be able to look for something for you.

 

[mshan]

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Originally posted by: A Casual Fitz
Yes, guitars. Line out doesn't really work out on tube amps. They need to be miced.

What are you using for drums on that recording?

Well Than it still can work.

We are doing Vocals with a Shure 57 Mic (awesome mic!!!) so just hook that up to the POD 2.0 (instead of guitar)

BTW, a Pod is a modulater, it emulates different tones, but you can set it to clean and plug the microphone like i said, and still use the Line in still and use your tube amp.


We used a drum machine in fruity loops.

 

[minofifa]

Originally posted by: djmihow

Originally posted by: A Casual Fitz
Yes, guitars. Line out doesn't really work out on tube amps. They need to be miced.

What are you using for drums on that recording?

Well Than it still can work.

We are doing Vocals with a Shure 57 Mic (awesome mic!!!) so just hook that up to the POD 2.0 (instead of guitar)

BTW, a Pod is a modulater, it emulates different tones, but you can set it to clean and plug the microphone like i said, and still use the Line in still and use your tube amp.


We used a drum machine in fruity loops.

I thought the POD was a modeler (as in a cab/amp modeler). anyways, how are you guys running the sm57 into the pod? do you have an adaptor that changes the XLR on the mic to a 1/4 line for the input on the POD? and is there a preamp on the POD, in other words, how do you boost the signal from the mic without a preamp? I agree that the sm57 is an awsome mic though. You can use it for almost anything and get decent results with the right soundcard/preamp.

 

[bball1523]

I have a M-audio Firewire Solo external soundcard that has 1 guitar input, 1 XLR mic input, and 2 balanced/unbalanced ins/outs. It works perfectly for playing/recording guitar. I use NI Guitar Rig and it sounds and plays great. I get like 9 ms latency and the latency is bearly noticeable.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Originally posted by: jwpeer
What's your price range?
How many and what type of inputs/outputs do you need.
How much quality do you want?
Do you want PCI or USB/Firewire

the M-Audio Delta 44 might be good for you, and it's at a lower price end.

The EMU 1212M would probably have too many inputs/outputs but it's got amazing quality at the price level. Same with the 1820M, but that's even more expensive with more inputs/outputs (Though it has some fairly decent preamps apparently)

If you're more specific I might be able to look for something for you.

I want to spend $150 or less. The best quality possible, and be able to at least record 2 tracks at a time. I don't know what the difference is between PCI and usb/firewire when it comes to recording. Thanks.

 

[A5]

I think the M-Audio Delta 44 falls in your price range...look it up on Newegg.

 

[rikadik]

I was suprised what good results I got just plugging the line out from my amp into the line in on my Audigy 2. Was plenty good enough for the average home musician just having a bit of fun!

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Eww, line out doesn't work on a tube amp. Sounds all cheesy. But if you're a solid state, yeah line out rules.

 

[Ken90630]

Last time I checked (a couple years ago), Terratec made some nice sound cards for musicians. You might check them out as well. You won't see them mentioned on Anandtech much 'cuz they're cards designed exclusively for musicians (as opposed to gaming), but musicians are very familiar with them.

EMU and M-Audio also have good reputations among musicians, though I don't follow them enough to be able to recommend specific models for you. Good luck.

 

[halfpower]

I suggest an M-Audio card. They're a little cheaper than the E-mu's and I have heard that they are more reliable. The ones by Terratec might also be worth considering. They're a little more popular over in Europe.

If you want to improve your sound, you will also need a pre-amp or mixer.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Originally posted by: A Casual Fitz
Eww, line out doesn't work on a tube amp. Sounds all cheesy. But if you're a solid state, yeah line out rules.

your not listening very well......


you use the POD2.0 with a shure 57 Microphone. MIC it to the Tube speaker and have hte pod 2.0 connect to your pc.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: CreativeTom
Soundblaster Sudigy 2zs platinum....enough said.

Negative Ghost Rider.

This is the next edition of the soundcards that they use at the radio station that I used to work out. They're awesome, though expensive.

If you're serious about this, I'd look into this card, pairing it with some good recording software (CoolEdit Pro is nice if you can find it) and a good board.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Originally posted by: djmihow

Originally posted by: A Casual Fitz
Eww, line out doesn't work on a tube amp. Sounds all cheesy. But if you're a solid state, yeah line out rules.

your not listening very well......


you use the POD2.0 with a shure 57 Microphone. MIC it to the Tube speaker and have hte pod 2.0 connect to your pc.

I was actually reffering to what rikadik said about plugging into the line out.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: CreativeTom
Soundblaster Sudigy 2zs platinum....enough said.

Negative Ghost Rider.

This is the next edition of the soundcards that they use at the radio station that I used to work out. They're awesome, though expensive.

If you're serious about this, I'd look into this card, pairing it with some good recording software (CoolEdit Pro is nice if you can find it) and a good board.

Yes, CoolEdit Pro is very nice. I find to be way better than Acid, althouh I still like acid a lot.

 

[DanDaMan315]

X-Fi when it's released will most likely please your audiophile ears.

 

[bball1523]

you could get an m-audio buddy preamp, where you could plug in a guitar direct to the computer. They are like 60-70 bucks.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Thanks guys, the M-Audio Delta 44 is my top choice right now. I'm seeing it for around $100 on ebay...easily do-able. Suggestions are still welcome.

 

[minofifa]

that's a good choice, the delta 44 has proven itself a decent card for recording. Just remember that it has no built in preamps so if you wanted to mic your guitar cab, you would need a pre amp for that. m-audio makes a good preamp to go along with the delta 44 called th DMP-3.

 

[mshan]

"I want to spend $150 or less. The best quality possible, and be able to at least record 2 tracks at a time. I don't know what the difference is between PCI and usb/firewire when it comes to recording. Thanks."

If you look around the For Sale forums at Head-Fi, used RME Digi96/8 PAD sound cards are showing up around $150 (I think MSRP used to be over $400):
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/search.php?searchid=1005694