Sir_NutS Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Hello fellow remixers. I want to get a good sound card and I am looking for advice on this matter. I am ashamed of this fact but... I've never had a quality sound card, all I've ever worked with has been onboard crap. Anyways, yeah I'm a cheap bastard, but really I've invested a lot in all my computers but have never thought of getting a good soundcard, until now, and I would like to hear some recommendations. I don't want something uber-expensive, as I don't mix a lot (or at all) lately, but I would like a Vista-compatible sound card, because that's what I'm using right now and I don't feel like formatting my PC and installing XP as long as its working. Any recommendations? (also preferably something I can get in one of OCR's sponsors, to support the site) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hy Bound Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Well, I love my M-Audio Mobile Pre. It works as a preamp as well as a great sound card. 's very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoozer Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 Your post lacks all the vital information 1) nobody knows what you mean with cheap or not expensive, so specify a budget in actual numbers 2) tell us what you want to use it for. You want to record vocals, guitar, keyboards, you just need it for low latency and softsynths - we can't guess what! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted September 8, 2008 Author Share Posted September 8, 2008 Your post lacks all the vital information 1) nobody knows what you mean with cheap or not expensive, so specify a budget in actual numbers 2) tell us what you want to use it for. You want to record vocals, guitar, keyboards, you just need it for low latency and softsynths - we can't guess what! Mostly something that won't go for 190 bucks or more. I saw some cheap-ass creative stuff at around 60-150 but I dunno how good are those. About what I want to use them for, I don't mix a lot anymore, I just do it casually now, or when some competition interests me. I don't work with vocals, most of the work I do is with Reason, but I do have a midi controller (M-AUDIO Ozone). I don't know if getting a relatively good soundcard will enhance my mixes, but I am guessing that's the case. I also game a lot, and well as I said I have Vista right now, and the sondcard being compatible is one of my major concerns because I hate formatting and as much as I dislike Vista, I don't really feel like backing up hundreds of gigs for a format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoozer Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Actually, there's an ASIO soundcard built in in the Ozone and there are Vista 32 beta drivers on the M-Audio website. I don't know if this comes as a surprise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted September 9, 2008 Author Share Posted September 9, 2008 Actually, there's an ASIO soundcard built in in the Ozone and there are Vista 32 beta drivers on the M-Audio website.I don't know if this comes as a surprise? No surprise . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoozer Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Okay, just asking. So why is that one not usable? (again, anything new that has to be cheap also has to be better than what you have now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 Okay, just asking. So why is that one not usable? (again, anything new that has to be cheap also has to be better than what you have now). Well, I will make an assumption here, but since this sound interface in my MIDI controller is mainly to enable control and easy plugin of wires and stuff from the controller, I will assume this sound card is as good, if not worse, than any onboard soundcard I might be using. Since I want something to improve the quality and performance of my mixes and music programs, as well as the output and output options I might have when it comes to music and games, using that wouldn't help at all. Now, anyone out there has a recommendation? I've been asking some remixers out there and I kinda have an idea of what to go for now but some more advice and recommendation based on experience would be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nase Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Would be nice to hear an educated opinion on this. I've never connected my notebook with onboard sound to my speakers, so I haven't made a direct comparison, but I thought that the difference in actual sound quality was marginal unless we're talking about recording quality. Isn't it more about low latency? And as far I know, the audio interface is kind of what the Ozone is about. If you just needed a midi controller, the Oxygen would've saved you a hundred bucks or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Wulvik Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Would be nice to hear an educated opinion on this. I've never connected my notebook with onboard sound to my speakers, so I haven't made a direct comparison, but I thought that the difference in actual sound quality was marginal unless we're talking about recording quality. Isn't it more about low latency? It depends on the quality of you onboard sound card, but mostly, there is a great difference, due several things, like noise picked up from your fan, processor etc., and the fact that the D/A-converter probably sucks. On my PC, the onboard sound card has so poor output that it is a true pain listening to it, especially after I've been using my NI Audio Kontrol 1 for so long, which has really good outputs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted September 11, 2008 Author Share Posted September 11, 2008 Would be nice to hear an educated opinion on this. I've never connected my notebook with onboard sound to my speakers, so I haven't made a direct comparison, but I thought that the difference in actual sound quality was marginal unless we're talking about recording quality. Isn't it more about low latency?And as far I know, the audio interface is kind of what the Ozone is about. If you just needed a midi controller, the Oxygen would've saved you a hundred bucks or so. When I bought the Ozone I wasn't actually looking for a MIDI controller, it just happened that a friend had this unused Ozone and she wanted to sell it, so i bought it off from her, but I wasn't exactly looking for MIDI controllers at the time, or really knew what the advantages of this one over others were. Anyways I checked another thread and saw that the emu 0404 is a good choice overall, and I've heard great things about it from other remixers, so I might be going with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animae Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 The internal or external 0404? I have the Emu 0404 USB 2.0 external soundcard, and I don't think that has any Vista drivers available yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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