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anonymous 18 November 2004

to buy a better pc soundcard?

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anonymous Thu, 11/18/2004 - 10:18

more information

Most firewire interfaces already have a "sound card" built into them. By "sound card", I mean analog to digital converters. The data (i.e., the zeros and ones) are then piped into the computer via firewire.

So I don't understand what you're asking. I need more info. What kind of firewire interface are you talking about?

anonymous Thu, 11/18/2004 - 10:32

im talking about a presonus firepod or a motu 828mkII (my two interface prospects)..... what i am asking i guess is.. what will i hook my computer speakers up to.... right now they are hooked up to the crummy card that is on my mother board.... the way im thinking is that the music will be capture on my pc then listened to over the crummy motherboard soundcard and suck....so do i need a new better quality pc sound card?

anonymous Thu, 11/18/2004 - 11:58

One more thing . . . make sure the store you buy from has a fantastic return policy. I've heard plenty of horror stories about MOTUs being incompatible with certain systems. In fact, my MOTU did not work with my original setup; I had to purchase a firewire card with a particular chipset to get it working. Once I had it working it performed just fine. Not spectacularly, but fine.

Let me also warn you that MOTU has a history of awful technical support. I mean just awful. At least that was the case two years ago. Why don't you try calling MOTU's home office to see if you can even get someone to pick up the phone? Maybe they've improved their game in the past few years.

Contrast that with Lynx. When I called Lynx to ask them a few questions about their products, I was immediately transferred to the company's owner! How's that for tech support?

Clayphish Thu, 11/18/2004 - 12:41

michaeltk wrote: One more thing . . . make sure the store you buy from has a fantastic return policy. I've heard plenty of horror stories about MOTUs being incompatible with certain systems. In fact, my MOTU did not work with my original setup; I had to purchase a firewire card with a particular chipset to get it working. Once I had it working it performed just fine. Not spectacularly, but fine.

Let me also warn you that MOTU has a history of awful technical support. I mean just awful. At least that was the case two years ago. Why don't you try calling MOTU's home office to see if you can even get someone to pick up the phone? Maybe they've improved their game in the past few years.

Contrast that with Lynx. When I called Lynx to ask them a few questions about their products, I was immediately transferred to the company's owner! How's that for tech support?

With that said, look into RME. They make some really stable systems, that really perform. They even have a section on their website which deals with problem chipsets, software, etc.

anonymous Thu, 11/18/2004 - 13:32

The MOTU is probably about right for what you're looking for.

But you might want to consider getting something cheaper (like the M-Audio Delta), and spending the extra cash on RAM and on a new hard disk. If you don't have at least 512 Meg RAM and at least two hard disks, one of which is 7200 RPM, then you'd better invest in that first before buying an expensive soundcard. Trust me, you're really going to be pushing the envelope if you try to record 8 tracks simultaneously on anything less than that.

frob Thu, 11/18/2004 - 15:51

i would sujest the M Audio Delta 1010 (make sure its the 1010 and not the 1010LT) as the 1010 has the converters in a breakout box that is rack mountable and offers 8io analoge and 2io digital and yes spend the rest on the DAW, a lot of ram 1GB min and at lest a 7,200rpm SATA harddrive, although a pair of 10KRPM SATA running mirrord would be best.

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