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Sound Modules. Are they worth the money?


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I'm considering getting a sound module very soon, it will help free up some cpu and supplie me with a bunch of good sounds as well.

I have one question though, exactly how do you listen to the sounds it's making on playback without having a mixer to plug the balanced outs? =| All of the audio interfaces I look at on Zzsounds have a couple, are a very large amount of in/out, but only a few have them labled (L/mono R) but those are for main outs, so that gets me supicious, if I were to get one of those interfaces, I'm looking at "Moto MKII" it would record two channels/tracks wouldn't it? =|

Are there adaptors to make up for this? to turn two outputs into one? If there is, what kind of problems can come from it? I really need something that makes sounds outside of my computer.

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I would also like to say that I'm on windows vista and there is no going back because my entire computer was built from the ground up to be optimized for it. So I think alot of software plugins are out of the question for me, Native instruments, being one of them. I've always wanted to try out absynth and spectra sonic atmosphere. :(

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i assume you mean MOTU 828 mk2? that might be overkill unless you are looking into a ton of sound modules.. i might recommend the echo audiofire or indigo i/o if you only want a pair of inputs. as far as plugging your new toy into the computer, you can get a stereo to mono y-cable or adapter to merge your l/r signals.

oh wait.. not sure if echo has vista drivers yet. <checking>... appears to support vista...

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If vista gets in your way, then downgrade to XP. Just because your PC was built for Vista doesn't mean that it won't run XP well. The hardware doesn't care provided there are proper drivers. Due to XP not being anywhere near dead yet, I am pretty sure you would be able to find XP drivers for all of your hardware. "Optimized for Vista" only means that there are proper drivers in place for the hardware.

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A MOTU 828 mkII is not a sound module. It's an audio interface.

Sound module is the name for a Roland JV-1080 or Motif Rack - it's a synthesizer minus the keyboard.

Why get it? Well, usually they have better drivers which means your audio gets a lower latency, and they have far better input/output possibilities and other connections besides the minijack in/outputs.

because my entire computer was built from the ground up to be optimized for it.

Which is the biggest bullshit I've ever heard. "Optimized" doesn't mean anything else than checking the box with "Best performance of background processes" and choosing hardware that has at least beta drivers instead of no drivers at all.

With XP, you should be just as well off.

Howto? If you have Vista Business or Ultimate, you have the full right to "downgrade" to XP. If you don't have those, you should get yourself XP (an older copy or a new one). Stick in the disc, tell it you want to format your C-drive (of course, after you've backed up everything), and follow instructions. XP doesn't have out of the box support for RAID drives, so you should have a disc or floppy handy with those on it - it'll tell you when to take action during the installation.

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I'm not quite sure I understand the question.

You definately do NOT want to sum a stereo output into mono. For one thing you're losing the stereo output of your module, and for another you could run into trouble with phasing.

So are you worried that you won't be able to hear the sound module in your monitors if you're running it into the audio interface? Most audio interfaces are going to let you monitor the inputs (at least the audiophile 2496 does) by sending them directly to the output. This gives you very low-latency monitoring of whatever's coming out of the sound module at the moment...

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