How important is a sound card?

nervecell

New member
Hi Im going to be building a custom computer soon, mostly for music production / games / chillen...

I want to know the significance of a good sound card for a computer, how important is it? I want to know how much money to invest in one, like 100? 50? 200?

What does a sound card do?

Since im going to be producing music, on fruityloops, im assuming a sound card is important?
 
There are different types of soundcards. But basically what they do is convert computer data into electrical audio signals and convert electrical audio signals into computer data. (digital to analog converter: DAC, and analog to digital converter: ADC).

The electrical audio signals are the same type that you would find on line level inputs and outputs of CD players, stereos, cassette decks, etc.

Some of them can also use microphone level electrical audio signals and bump them up in volume and then convert them to computer data.

So if you have a microphone, you'll need a sound card with mic imputs and possibly phantom power to power it if it's that type of condensor mic that needs it. Also if you are recording a lot of different things simultaneously you'll need more inputs. This would be the case if you were going to record a whole drum set, say, from a mixer with multiple outputs.

The soundcard is also important if you work at higher sampling rates (48, 88.2, 96 KHz). The sound card will be able to play those higher sampling rate files while a plain old built-in crappy soundcard might fail. Also the bit resolution on a soundcard should be 24-bit so you can record without hiss noise and also have more headroom without clipping the top of the waveform if it's loud.

If you are on a laptop, you'll most likely need a USB or Firewire interface. If you are on a desktop computer you can use an actual soundcard (PCI type). The PCI soundcard is basically a type of printed circuit board that goes into a PCI slot in the computer and does the work of converting the audio.

Also most modern interfaces and soundcards have MIDI inputs and outputs which you'll need if you're sequencing MIDI hardware gear that uses the 5 pin DIN MIDI plugs.

I only do MIDI composing so I just use the M-Audio Audiophile 2496. It only has a few inputs and outputs but it's good and useful. Also it has digital outputs (SPDIF) for connecting to my monitors without risking hiss noise getting into the cables.

I kind of abbreviated and simplified these explanations but I hope it gives you a wider perspective.

Be prepared to spend from 90 dollars on up. And avoid SoundBlaster cards/interfaces. They have a long history of troubles for pro audio folks. Go with something that can do 24-bit and 96 kHz. 192 kHz is overkill and isn't needed.
 
A good sound card will have its own processor and will take significant load off your PC's CPU, thus freeing it up to perform other tasks. A lot of people think they can jump into serious music production with the run of the mill Soundblaster card that came stock with their PC or the one that's embedded on their motherboard... no! To get quality beats, you have to invest in an aftermarket soundcard that was made to do what you intend to use it for.
 
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