Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I have:
Windows XP 2.0 GHz desktop with Turtle Beach Santa Cruz audio card (consumer grade). It's OK, but I assume upgrading to something more professional (24 bit/96K) will yield much better results. I really only need two inputs to use for mixing down from a hardware multitrack recorder, but 4 might be nice to have. I'm looking to keep the cost around $200 or under because this is a temporary solution until I switch to a dedicated laptop platform for audio recording in the next year or so. At that time I will be buying a more capable multi-input interface.
I'm looking at both USB and PCI card interfaces. I like the portability of the USB interface, but don't want to sacrifice quality if I can avoid it. Here are the interfaces I'm considering:
* Alesis io2 (USB) $199
* Edirol UA-20 (USB) $149
* E-mu 0404 (PCI) $99
* M-Audio Audiophile 2496 (PCI) $99
* M-Audio Delta 44 (PCI) $149
They all seem to be comparible, but I'm not sure which manufacturers products might be a better choice. I value the opinions in this forum and followed advice recently to get a Groove Tubes Brick, which I'm very happy with. The only manufacturer I have experience with in this list is Alesis, and I've been happy with their products.
Anyone care to give an opinion on which of these might give me the best bang for the buck?
Thanks,
Krel
Comments
I have a Delta 44 and its doing pretty well for me. It's very ea
I have a Delta 44 and its doing pretty well for me. It's very easy on the CPU, and its got 4 ins and outs which is what you were looking for. For the price, you can't beat it. It has really nice routing software too, and the drivers are written well. I like it :P