Express Slot Sound Cards For Notebooks

[Faustt]

Hey all. I recently got into recording myself playing guitar and adding it to a few (shitty) songs. I use my laptop 99% of time time so I need some advice on what to do about sound input, or is it even viable on a laptop?

I've been using the microphone jack... but thats just shit obviously. Something like this would be perfect, if it was made for an express slot rather that pmcia http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=205&product=10769

I google'd around for a bit and came up with nothing that was really tailored to music production with features I would like (ASIO, Multiple inputs, Low latency).

Or should I just get a USB external sound card? How well do they work? I've had a lot of lag issues with USB sound devices... but these were years ago. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Sole Signal]

Apparently this is pretty decent. I've never used it, but I've only heard good things. I used to use the USB version of that card you linked to a while ago, but never for recording. It was decent; latency was only manageable but my laptop wasn't so great either.

[Moseph]

I second the 0404. I haven't used it for anything really heavy-duty, but I haven't had any problems with it.

EDIT: Make sure your computer supports USB 2.0 before getting a USB interface, and make sure the interface is also USB 2.0 (which the 0404 is).

[Faustt]

Thanks for the info. Will have to check that out. It's a little more than I wanted to spend, but what I have at the moment is really holding me back.

[SnappleMan]

USB is not a good way to go for mobile pro audio. If your PC has a firewire port, then get a firewire device, if not, get a firewire adapter for your Express Card slot. Express Card soundcards will happen someday, but for now there's only one that I know of, and it costs over $1000...

[Fray]

Do not bother with Creative stuff for recording purposes. They're gaming/listening soundcards that are only decent (at best) for recording, no matter what they tout themselves to be. Unless you're really wanting it for gaming purposes too, get a dedicated audio interface -- you'll get better recording quality for whatever you decide to spend.

Honestly the stuff I've read lately seems to indicate that the USB 2.0 stuff isn't bad at all. I.e. the latency and jitter are only slightly worse than what you get from PCI or firewire devices. I don't have any firsthand experience with them though. But yeah I too would go with firewire if you've got the port for it.

Express card is really going to limit your options too much, imo.

[statas]

i'll second the "use firewire instead of usb" statement.

and while i'm at it, i hate the express card slot.

[zircon]

Wait, isn't express slot PCMCIA? If so, there are a number of options for less than $1000... come on guys!

http://www.sweetwater.com/c709--PCMCIA_Audio_Interfaces

http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?q=pcmcia&button=search%2Fheader&form=search

I wrote about this in my soundcard guide too, which is in the Guides & Tutorials forum.

[Fray]

Wait, isn't express slot PCMCIA?

No, it's not. It's the replacement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Express_card