Question about audio interfaces

S

s.o.t.s

New member
Hi, I have a laptop I use for music production when I'm not on my pc. For my Pc I upgraded the internal sound card for my music production, however for my laptop I'm confused about this. I think I need an audio interface, and I was looking at some - but my question is, if I'm not recording vocals, which audio interface will be good for me? Basically I just want better sound quality when I'm messing about in Reason, Fl and Cubase with Komplete. My current sound card is what the laptop came with and so I guess this is why I sometimes get crackling sounds etc, especially in Fl.

So will I benefit from an external sound card/audio interface? (I'm not recording vocals, just using an M-audio keyboard/controller) If so, which sound card will be best for music production using just programs and keyboard controllers?

(Sorry if this is a stupid question, but music production on a laptop is new to me!)

Many thanks!
 
It sounds like your only need is a good audio playback. You just want to be able to hear your stuff well, and you want it to run smooth with no cracks.
To my understanding, the audio interface doesn't have too much to do w/ how your program runs, that's a job more meant for your CPU, RAM and the speed of your hard drive. However, it does effect the playback in regards to the audio driver.

However.. I wouldn't advise you to buy an audio interface just for the driver. You could just get ASIO4All. It's a free driver that's actually very good (you'll get low latency, and should see less cracks)... and your programs should play audio back much more smoothly than the default drivers of your computer. http://www.asio4all.com/

I'd recommend the audio interface ONLY to hook up some good studio monitors. However... you might be able to get away with not buying the interface and just buying the monitors, and getting two 1/4"-to-1/8" converters and a 1/8" splitter for both monitors to plug straight into your soundcard. I'm not 100% sure if this would work b/c i haven't tried it, but i wouldn't see why not. I honestly think an interface would be a waste of your money... unless you can't find a way to hook up monitors like i mentioned.

so yeah... download ASIO4All and see if that improves your setup. If it doesn't... your programs aren't skipping b/c of the soundcard, you should just need either a faster CPU or more RAM.
And definitely look into getting some studio monitors. They make a HUGE difference in making music. The better you can hear your song.. the more excited you get lol, and the creativity just starts pouring out.
 
Thanks very much for the reply. The thing that confused me was, (and this wasn't in reason or cubase, it was in fl studio) that whilst I heard crackles and stuff the cpu monitor was no where near full - that's why I thought maybe it was my audio driver? I already have some studio monitors for my Pc, I tend to use headphones on my laptop.

I will try Asio4all I think I already use it, although I'm not too sure. lol I understand what you say about studio monitors, but with the laptop I need it to be more portable, you know?

So you think It would be a waste to buy a interface? If the crackling in sound really is my cpu and ram, maybe I just need a new laptop...although I'd like to avoid that as Reason runs well on my laptop, It's just recently when I started to use komplete (I normally use it on PC) through fl that I got problems during playback.

Thanks very much for the advice, if the problem definitely isn't the sound card then you have just saved me some money ;) thanks!
 
FL comes with ASIO4All, so you probably already have it lol. Just check your settings in FL to see if you're using the ASIO4All as your driver. I don't use FL anymore so i'm not 100% sure how to change the audio driver setting, but it should be easy to do.
If you're already using it, then it's more than likely your computer specs.

what speed is your CPU and how much RAM does your laptop have?

I highly doubt it's the lack of an interface (so yeah.. don't waste the money lol). I say that w/ confidence b/c I'm producing something right now on my couch w/ my laptop. I don't have the laptop plugged in to my audio interface b/c it's downstairs. I'm working in Cubase, on my headphones plugged into my built-in soundcard, and i'm using the ASIO4All driver b/c the default drivers suck @ss. I have a single core 2.0GHz CPU and 2GIGs of ram.... and I can run about 4 VSTs, along w/ many instruments in Reason all at once before my system starts to skip.
 
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Oh... you know what... your latency might be set too low.
Once you make sure you're using ASIO4ALL (you'll see a little box for it in your system tray when it's being used)... double click that icon for it and check the latency. It's probably set too low.. so your computer can't keep up. Keep raising it until you don't hear any cracks.
 
So do I get that right, that audio interfaces don't improve sound quality.
But what about latency?
Is there any improvement in latency with the use of a USB keyboard?
Or does this also just depend on the CPU and memory?
Thanks, Ian
 
A dedicated audio interface will be light years ahead of an inbuilt computer sound card .
It's essential to hear as much as possible when tracking/mixing and this comes from AI , monitors and room .
 
ianaudley said:
So do I get that right, that audio interfaces don't improve sound quality.
Click to expand...

It depends. If you're recording (ie. vocals, guitars, etc).. the interface has everything to do with sound quality. If you're not recording anything, but using sounds already recorded to make ur musiq, then it may indirectly effect your sound quality, but there's ways around it... You need to hear your mix well to have good quality



But what about latency?
Is there any improvement in latency with the use of a USB keyboard?
Or does this also just depend on the CPU and memory?
Thanks, Ian
Click to expand...
If you have an audio interface that has midi... the results are usually similar to a USB keyboard.. depending on the hardware one could yield slightly better results than the other, but there's not much difference IMO. For example I have a FW 410 which has midi capability.. and they actually recommend hooking my controller up via USB instead of the interface to improve latency issues. That might not be the same w/ all interfaces.
Latency more depends on your audio drivers, CPU, memory, and i think hard drive speed can effect it too. Always use an ASIO driver. If u don't have an ASIO driver option, get ASIO4All.
 
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If you are using a laptop you don't want to tie it down and use it the same way as a desktop you only want to use the headphones, what you need to do is improve the machines efficiency as much as you can...XP has some greedy effects that can and should be switched off and even little things that seem insignificant such as stopping the cursor from moving across the screen during playback will help.
 
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