Subject:Best Sound card

Posted by: Randini

Date:12/2/2011 11:43:44 AM

My USB Line6 soundcard is causing me major problems and want to purchase a great internal sound card. I want the best one that will allow me to have no latency when playing my keys. Any suggestions?

Thank you,
Randini

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: Kappeesh

Date:12/2/2011 4:10:31 PM

I use the m-audio 2496 with confidence (bought at amazon for around $80).

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: pwppch

Date:12/2/2011 5:32:23 PM

There is no audio card that will not introduce latency. You can minimize latency with a card that support ASIO, but how low the latency can go is dependent on your overall system, and the load you are placing on the system with ACID or any DAW.

Even if the driver for you audio device let you set to 32 samples per buffer, achieving this may be a limitation of your system and how much you are trying to do.

Peter

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: jackn2mpu

Date:12/3/2011 1:46:40 PM

If you want a great semi-internal sound I/O you could do worse than any of the MOTU pcie interfaces. They are actually a pcie card connected to an external I/O box. Not cheap but then quality and speed aren't. The MOTU HD192 (12 channels in and out at max of 192 KHz) goes for $1800. The MOTU 2408mk3 goes for $949. The MOTU 24I/O goes for $1420.

Some what cheaper and farther down on the quality level are the E-MU 0404 pcie at $120 (no external box) or the 1616m pcie at $450 and the 1212m pcie at $170 (both use an external I/O breakout box). Lastly you have the M-Audio Delta 1010 (pci card and breakout box) at $600, the Delta 44 (pci card and breakout box) at $150 and lastly the Delta 1010lt (pci card with the signal breakouts on a many headed hydra cable) for $200.

My recommendation - if you've got the money and don't mind an external box, go for the MOTU 2408 mk3. Plenty of I/O, nice controls on the front panel, and great sound. With the proper drivers from MOTU their stuff works great on a Windoze machine. They're not just for Macs (never were).

Pcie will get you the fastest, lowest latency sound I/O out there.

Jack

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: Randini

Date:12/5/2011 1:20:02 PM

Thank you everyone for your comments. Jack that is a very interesting response and now I will research it.

Cheers,
Randini

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: drbam

Date:12/5/2011 10:39:14 PM

Motu and RME units have the shortest round trip latency. RME's converters sound better than Motu's IMO but either brand will give you excellent results.

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: collinsylex

Date:12/7/2011 3:47:05 PM

if i were you i'd avoid the m-audio delta 44/66/1010 family... actually i would almost totally avoid an internal card at this point...

why? well, here's what happened to me... I bought a delta 1010 like 5 years ago when PCI cards were the going thing... the next computer i purchased only had 1 pci slot and the rest pciexpress... the next desktop computer i purchased after that had ZERO pci slots in it... i also own a delta 44 which i purchased to run on a secondairy machine... at this time, the delta 44 and the 1010 are sitting here collecting dust while i use a RME card connected via USB which has been fantastic. PCI devices are going extinct IMO, if you wanna get a card to stick with you thru the ages, avoid standard PCI...

Honestly, on windows or mac, nothing runs well at 32sample buffers! (does it?? never for me EVER with any config LOL)


if i had to start over yet still on a budget, i'd skip all the others and jump directly to the RME babyface. It has enough I/O for me and i can expand it with my motu 8pre if i ever need to record a drumset or a group... Totalmix FX is also really great!! you get all these virtual channels that can be routed anywhere... recording windows or mac system audio is super easy and you even get a recordable (or not recoreded) eq on every channel!! I also have the fireface UC which has the extra IO which is handy in the more complicated studio situation but doesn't have the eq and reverb that the babyface has... the Babyface is also like half the price of a Fireface UC.

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:12/8/2011 2:52:03 PM

There are still current mobos for the very latest processors that do feature PCI slot/s . But you need to search. An 'over-the-counter' PC is unlikely to feature PCI now.

geoff

Subject:RE: Best Sound card

Reply by: deusx

Date:12/15/2011 11:07:30 AM

RME. There may be something better out there, but for under $2000 you can't beat RME. Good sounding preamps, good drivers, good specs/sound.

I can go down to 64 samples on win XP machine with no internet, antivirus or any other crap not necessary for audio recording. Usually use 128 which gives me latency of 2ms. But even with connected machines and antivirus running it works fine on win 7 ( latency 2 - 5 ms )