Subject:M-Audio Soundcard

Posted by: debaser

Date:4/1/2005 12:54:09 PM

I am getting ready to upgrade soundcards so I can record in 24 bit. I am on the fence b/w 2 soundcards so if anyone has either one and has experience recording in Acid, please give me your 2 cents. Here are my specs:

WinXP
Acid 4.0
1 gb ram
AMD 3200+

The 2 cards I am debating by M-Audio:

Firewire Solo

Delta 66

I would only be recording 1 instrument @ a time, which includes elec gtr, bass, and keyboards. If anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

debaser

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:4/6/2005 11:07:48 AM

Not sure about the FireWire Solo, but the Delta 66 should serve you well. I personally use Echo's MiaMIDI (which has been quite the stalwart thus far), but that's just me.

Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
Buy Instant ACID by JohnnyRoy and mD!
mD at ACIDplanet

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: J Psycle

Date:4/6/2005 3:23:55 PM

Yeah, I'd actually look more into the Echo soundcards if I were you. They tend to have better latency times, vastly better sound quality (especially on the outputs), and really good stability. They're about the same price range too.

EZ,

J

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:4/6/2005 8:15:23 PM

I would select a PCI soundcard over a firewire sound card all things being equal. I have the M-Audio Firewire 410 and I love it. Its an awesome box with a stereo mic preamp and two headphone outputs for monitoring and great sound; BUT it totally freaks out when I use my ADS Pyro A/V Link firewire converter. So I have to turn off the M-Audio FW410 to capture analog video to my PC with the A/V Link. This does not happen when capturing with a Canopus converter so I’m sure it’s ADS’s fault and not the M-Audio device, but ultimately it’s my problem now. :( Firewire looks great on paper, but in practice, it has its hick-ups. Stick with a PCI interface unless you need portability to a laptop.

~jr

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: FuTz

Date:4/7/2005 12:05:41 AM

I needed portability on a laptop and bought the fw-140 too, so I could plug it in my system when I'm home and bring it with me when I'm out, along with laptop.
I agree with JonhnnyRoy: go with the PCI card if it's for home.
I still haven't sorted out all the bugs 1394 has to offer me since I got hte card a few weeks ago.
For instance, I got this ADS Tech 1394 PCI card in my comp' and if, while working, I start my cam to get a preview on an external monitor with Vegas, sometimes it works but most of the time: conflict. The 410's lights go berserk and I lose sound + Vegas freezes and that's it, I have to shut down the cam. Same thing with my external Firewire hard drive... Or I can shut down everything and re-booth without the 410. even then, problems persist. Very *hard* to sum up what's happening.
Bugger.
I read beautiful things about this card before buying it but up to now, I'm not impressed in all the aspects of it.
I've heard you'll get no problems with PCI cards so it's not a quesiton of brand I think.
And concerning sound quality, some swear by M-Audio, others by Echo. Dead end.

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:4/7/2005 6:09:50 AM

> The 410's lights go berserk and I lose sound + Vegas freezes and that's it, I have to shut down the cam.

This is *exactly* what I was talking about. I get this too. The solution is to NOT have the FW410 on the same Firewire interface as the ADS (and in your case it sounds like the ADS is your firewire interface). ADS and M-Audio just don’t play well together. This is a known problem with ADS.

I borrowed a Canopus TwinPact100 when recording the VASST Introduction to ACID training DVD, and I was capturing live video via firewire in Vegas, while ACID was playing without ANY problems with the FW410. So M-Audio and Canopus is a winning combination. M-Audio and ADS Tech, however, is not. I have had nothing but problems with my ADS Tech products. I am not very impressed with the company and probably won’t be purchasing any more of their stuff. Right now I’m considering replacing the ADS A/V Link with a Canopus box.

I was told if I bought a second firewire card (non-ADS) that I could plug the FW410 into that and it would be happy. They just can’t be plugged into the save firewire interface/chip. Hope this helps.

~jr

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: debaser

Date:4/7/2005 8:09:56 AM

thanks for the suggestions. i went ahead and purchased the firewire solo, then realized that it doesn't come with midi. i have a johnson j-station for my gtr and the line 6 podxt for my bass. i am definitely going to exchange for a better card, perhaps switch to echo. i am looking to spend b/w $200-$350 on my card.

i currently have the soundblaster audigy, so i ran my firewire through the soundblaster.

so now i have a question: if i get a pci card, what do i do about playing games? i currently have the klipsch pro media 4.1 speakers (analog) wouldn't that leave me with the 2 channels and not play through all of my speakers?

when i hooked up the firewire, of course it only played through 2 of my 4 small speakers and no bass (woofer.)

last night i just ordered the m-audio bx-8 monitor speakers so this will be great for my recording.

i have a desktop, not a laptop.

thanks again all and let me know if you have any more ideas/suggestions.

debaser

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:4/7/2005 8:38:46 AM

In my brief return to computer gaming, the Echo MiaMIDI actually didn't work half bad as a gaming card. I don't know how it works for a surround setup though. (You would want to use the MiaMIDI in the default WDM mode rather than PureWave.)

You can actually keep your Audigy installed for games along with whatever PCI choice you make; they should co-exist peacefully as long as there are enough resources to go around.

Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
Buy Instant ACID by JohnnyRoy and mD!
mD at ACIDplanet

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: FuTz

Date:4/7/2005 2:54:58 PM

Hey, JohnnyRoy, do you think I can run my ADS 1394 PCI card AND re-assign my on-board 1394 ports altogether without getting conflicts?
The 410 was indeed working with the on-board 1394 (VIA chip... I know, not the best...) but as I was looking to get rid of stuttering in sound when playbacking tracks, I decided to install my ADS card in the comp' and at the same time, unswitched the on-board 1394 via BIOS...

But can I run both? That may be a solution for me: the 410 in the on-board 1394 and other devices on my ADS card (which never gave me any trouble in my other -older- computer...)

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: Rockitglider

Date:4/7/2005 3:24:09 PM

Hello,

I would only get the fire wire card if the fire wire port isn't sharing any IRQ's with anything ekse. Also check out the 1010LT from M-Audio, it's a great bargain.

See ya, Rockitglider

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:4/7/2005 9:40:10 PM

> do you think I can run my ADS 1394 PCI card AND re-assign my on-board 1394 ports altogether without getting conflicts?

Yes, you should be able to run both. I had my motherboard firewire enabled and a PCI firewire card running without any problems.

~jr

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: FuTz

Date:4/7/2005 10:31:04 PM

I'll try, even more since I checked the manual and there is no IRQ assigned to the 1394 on-baord outputs. Is that possible? At least, it's not listed in the graphics...Maybe there IS an IRQ but it's not shared with another ? (I'm not sure but it actually TAKES an IRQ for someting to work on a computer, no?)

One more detail JohnnyRoy : I remember you said to turn on the 410 before turning on the computer. As said in the manual. At the very beginning when I first used the card, I was using the wall outlet transformer and now I'm using only the 6pin 1394 cable. Should I get back with the transformer?

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:4/8/2005 5:07:51 AM

There is definitely an IRQ that is assigned, they just don’t let you change it anymore. :( With XP, everything is plug-and-pray. You are correct, PC’s are still interrupt driven but XP has increased the limit on IRQ’s so there is less likelihood of IRQ conflict, but it still happens occasionally.

I’m using the transformer with my FW410 because when I was just using the firewire cable, the FW410 would get power from the firewire port on the motherboard and then the power would go off and back on again as the OS booted; causing a loud pop in my speakers. This might be unique to my motherboard but my solution to the problem was to use the transformer so that the FW410 has constant power. This might not affect you.

~jr

Subject:RE: M-Audio Soundcard

Reply by: Pindal

Date:4/8/2005 6:27:30 AM

If my experience is of any help for you I have just bought a Firewire Audiophile last month. I have a Lacie Firewire Hard drive and I can not use both at the same time even if the hard drive is turned off. My computer is a Compaq Presario with two 6-pins Firewire ports. In adittion to this Acid 5a loose contact with the Audiphile from time to time without advice and I must restart Acid. Otherwise it works great and the latency is very low. By the way, I suppose you already know that Digidesign has just shipped a special version of Pro Tools, Pro Tools M-Powered, which works with the following interfaces for the time beeing:
Delta Audiophile 192, Delta Audiophile 2496, FireWire 410, FireWire 1814 and
Ozonic