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What soundcard should I go with?


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I've been out of touch with Sound Cards for the past while, and there doesn't seem to be many topics around the subject... would anyone be able to help me out here? I'm still debating whether I should go with an Internal or External card.

I tend to stick with playing piano and simply editing notes within a program (aka Logic Pro). At the same time, I would like to improve the audio quality coming out of my machine if possible.

Here's the catch: My machine is a Mac Pro. Driver support might be an issue. I was debating going with the Native Instruments Komplete 8 Ultimate + Audio bundle. The only limitation after that would be the system's specs (it's a 2008 machine). But enough rambling.

Thanks for your time.

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It's an Intel machine, driver support is not an issue.

What is your budget? Apogee Duet is praised, as is the RME Babyface.

Ahh yes, Apogee was something I considered. My biggest issue with it is the lack of Windows support. While I compose all my music in OS-X, I have considered going back to a Windows environment with my next machine... Never heard of RME, I'll check them out.

While I have a nice setup of equipment, I don't plan on recording anything too extreme (except the occasional MIDI piano and guitar recordings). I'm thinking $500 should be the maximum amount I spend. It would be nice to have two 1/4" outputs for speakers, and a 1/4 output for headphones (perhaps with a good amplifier built in). Simple volume controls would be nice too.

If I was to buy an external soundcard, would I use it for gaming too? While it's not a priority, I do enjoy PC gaming. :)

Thanks again.

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Unless you need some kind of EAX or surround crud, anything that's called an audio interface should do the job just fine for gaming. It's just that with an external interface you shouldn't forget to switch it on, too.

The RME unit is quite a bit ($250) over your budget but is supported both in Windows and OS X.

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Unless you need some kind of EAX or surround crud, anything that's called an audio interface should do the job just fine for gaming. It's just that with an external interface you shouldn't forget to switch it on, too.

The RME unit is quite a bit ($250) over your budget but is supported both in Windows and OS X.

I've checked it out. It looks very nice. Would you go with the Babyface or the NI Audio 6?

Final question: I own a receiver unit (Onkyo). If I connected the optical out of the soundcard to the receiver for entertainment purposes, do you think it would work fine? How about surround sound? None of this is too important, but it's nice to have.

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