I really like my emu 1212m card. it is internal but I don't have any noise problems. you can also check out the emu 1820M which comes with a breakout box. they both have the same converters.
Emu claims that the converters are the same ones that come with protools. IMO They sound killer! You can't beat it for only $200.00

http://www.emu.com/products/category.asp?category=754&maincategory=754

I would go with AMD because they are cheaper and run just about as good if not better than Intel.

hope this helps[/url]

thanks mcmilliron.

i was looking at e-mu previously, and i did like the 1820m a lot, but i wasnt sure if it is the best product in that price range or not, which is why i came here. it does look great in a lot of ways, so i may end up going with it, but i would still like to see some other people's opinions and suggestions.

thanks again!

My dear friend from your post i am very much feeling that we are in the same boat, actually a week ago i started here with my first post asking the same question about the best audio interface as my budget is 1000$.
i had an option of Aardvark direct pro q10 too which costs 800$
a pretty good external rackmount pci interface a friend of mine has it, he is a pro. it has a good sound quality.

after my post a few angels appeared here and gave me different advices on what i needed. one of them if i am not wrong named
"Arrowfan" suggested me of the MOTU 896HD audio interface
i looked their website for its
all good features. kept search for all day and night for other cards.
but i was convinced that this is the thing i need, because i want it to be with me for a long period. it costs about 1000$
its features are very appealing to me. it has a firewire interface and it has no latency.

Please check out their web site "http://www.motu.com"

another card was suggest a Lynx 2 pci sound card that is also 1000$.

you said about the pc noise i am also very frustrated with that, besides i need a pro quality setup for my homestudio.
i've ordered for this card and soon i'll get it.
i am now also looking to build up a good pc.
8-)

If you can afford it, the Lynx stuff is top-notch from what I hear. I can recommend the RME Multiface + PCI card ($700-800). A little more dough and you could get the RME Fireface and have their best converters and a couple extra mic pres if you don't have any. I looked real hard at the MOTU 896 when I was shopping too. For budget soundcard, I think some people are happy with the Presonus Firepod.
I personally trust Intel Pentium IV (not Celeron, not VIA chipset anything). A lot of techies like tweaking their AMD's though.

wow thanks you two- those were great posts. extremely helpful! you know exactly what i am looking for and you recommended fantastic products! i thank you immensely! i havent fully made up my mind, but i will post here again when i decide which product to go with, and then i will post again to let you know the results.

this place rocks.

-Fintan

i think im going with the 896HD- it is the most appealing to me at the moment. im also going to go ahead and get a copy of digital performer, and i think i may simply go with a new g5 now. opinions? thanks everyone for your posts.

-Fintan

I don't think you can go wrong there. 8-) Many people have that exact setup, so you won't be going it alone. You will probably want to get a good preamp or two for your main tracks. And so the ball rolls.......
Happy shopping.

happy ending :D

No, it's just the beginning
Good luck 8-)

I'll add my two cents to the E-MU audio interfaces, any of them as having incredible quality and value for the money.

I have own >MANY< soundcards EMU, MOTU, RME, CREAMWARE, LYNX... And I can recommend you 2 things :

1 : Intel Pentium is the way to go ( like said Reggie, no VIA chipset, take a real big motherboard )

2 : In my experience EMU is not stable, MOTU is not working at all ( on PC, great on Mac though ), RME / CREAMWARE are incredible : stability / quality / price etc...

And I know what I say : I'm in the computer business, I program stuffs. All I could say about EMU is that their drivers are not as mature as for the others products.

i understand why an e-mu product would be very appealing, but in my case, the motu 896HD took the cake. it is a very professional interface with plenty of options and mic pres as well, which is why i chose it over a more budget oriented e-mu card.

aksel, i have decided to go with an apple g5 system instead of a pc for many reasons, but i thank you for that advice. i personally do not like the new intel processors which is why if i were going with a pc, i would have gone with amd. my question was which one is supposed to be better for audio/video.

the 896HD is compatible with both pcs and macs, so im not sure what was wrong with your product, but i havent heard any issues such as that before

rme and creamware products are very nice, but i chose the 896HD because i am also going to purchase digital performer, and i might as well just stick with one brand as much as i can.

i have been meaning to talk to my friends over at http://www.crystalphonic.com for advice on this kinda stuff also, but i havent had the chance

thanks everyone!

i'll keep this thread updated

-Fintan

agree... 896hd.. bang for your buck with nice converters ie s/n ratio and dynamic range :)

if you dont need features? apogee mini or mini DAC :)

that would actually be nice to have for recording live on a laptop based system, which could happen in the near future- so thanks for the suggestion, i'll have to look into apogee more sometime down the road.

thanks fontane

-Fintan

just out of curiosity - what's wrong with VIA chipsets?

-eric.

You won't regret it !

If you stay with a mac, then you cannot get better than MOTU... it's reliable on those systems.

VIA chipsets just are cheap chipsets...
...And we don't want cheap chipsets for audio/video huh ?
the problem is the IO connectivity of the VIA chipsets aren't fast enough / reliable enough ... So with greedy PCI card ( for instance I had a problem with a Creamware card ), the PCI just lack of ressources ( band pass MB/s ).

[quote=aksel]

VIA chipsets just are cheap chipsets...
...And we don't want cheap chipsets for audio/video huh ?
the problem is the IO connectivity of the VIA chipsets aren't fast enough / reliable enough ...quote]

I've recently read several articles on the new via chipsets (from places like tomshardware.com, pcstats.com, hardcoreware.com, etc.) that seem to contradict the above statements.

yes you are probably right, I wrote that a bit quickly. VIA has surely improved their chipset recently, I was speaking of the previous generation, sorry for that.
( I would not buy one though )

I have one of the previous generations of the VIA chipsets (VIA KT133) 2001, and it has indeed been a disappointment. I am currently building a new machine and was looking at the AMD + Socket 939 motherboards. I will do more research before buying, however.

hey shelltones, i just built (as in, this week) a new setup with an athlon 64 3200+ socket 939 and abit AV8 mobo. it uses the VIA K8T800 Pro chipset. That's why i was wondering why people are down on it. the reviews i read prior to buying all seemed positive.

Setup was easy, but I couldn't tell you performance-wise yet, because i'm waiting for my ddr in the mail. I've been using 1 crucial stick of 512 MB ddr 333 during setup. 2 sticks of 512 MB ddr 400 are on the way, so then i can really check it out.

i'll let you know what happens-

-eric.