Sound Cards - Help/Suggestions needed.

J

joebloggs

Guest
Hi, I just posted this in the newbie producers section.
Any help would be appreciated.

I am building a new fast PC at the moment definatley a good enough spec to do what I want. Software wise.
The main hassle is the sound card.
Thats the part thats causing me headaches.

The way I am thinking at the momment is as follows:

I don't really think a card which has an on board synth
or anything like that would be too usefull as I rekon the
sounds wouldn't be probably any better than using a
software synth anyway so that would be a waste of money. --- Am I right about that?? And on board sounds, well I may as well buy a sample CD if I want
preset libraries --- Am I right about that??

I think the main thing that would be good would be
a card where each track in the track (you know what I mean) can be processed seperatley by the card and have different effects added to each of the channels seperatley and via hardware.

The ability to output each of the channels seperatley
would be good for future use of external mixer if I feel need one. But since I won't to start with I want a card where I can mixdown all the tracks with on board hardware compression on each of the tracks to output
to a stereo mix.... OR DO I NEED TO DO THAT???
IS SOFTWARE COMPRESSION GOOD ENOUGH??

Assuming I need a sound card to do this for me that
I was thinking of getting a Yamaha DSP factory as that seems to do everything I want. But yea, do I need to go to that extreme, has anyone used a Yamaha DSP to be able to tell me if the on-board compression and effects are any good?

Any help appreciated.
 
What are your sound sources? All software synths? Or hardware synths?
 
Joe Bloggs, didn't you flunk the SAT's? hahah... that's a Princeton Review reference from back in the day... :D

I agree with you about the 'on card' synths. My SBLive card sounds cannot compare to Reason's sound bank or my Kurzweil VAST instruments so don't bother with those cards at all.

You might want to check out the Hoontech 24/96 sound cards (www.hoontech.com). They seem like quite a powerhouse in terms of signal processing and are focused mainly on communicating between hardware and your comp. Price is around 500$
 
Some onboard soundcard synths are amazing. Look at Creamware's Pulsar line to see what I am talking about. And since the processing is done on the card your PC power is left to your sequencer and recording software.
 
fitz is right on the money systems like pulsar-scope are based on dsp chips for processing,reason will not compare to host based processing no questions asked.,not saying reason is not good .What i am saying is this....
if u have ever used an access virus / korg ms2000 / nord 123 and modular /waldorf q/ microwave/
novation supernova/ u get the point these synths all run on dsp . the same dsp as in dsp card for comp ,the only difrence most synth run on multiple dsp chips u need a system like pulsar for that ...
if u want the ultimate computer workstation get protools ,each farmcard has multiple dsp chips for audio track-plugins, not the digi001 the (mix systems).
www.digidesign.com
 
Thanks for the great reponse guys,

In my mind I am pretty sure I am gonna be getting an
Access a bit later on...not too much later, it should be definatley within 6 months, thats why I am not too
worried about the on board synth stuff.

Do any of you guys know about how well the compression and EQ on the yamaha DSP card would
be as compared to an external mixer?

To be honest the only compression etc I have used
before has all been software based. I am really hoping
that with purcahsing this card I can get not worry about
that side of things too much for a long time.

Cheers again.
 
soundcards

hi i have been researching what soundcard to buy for a long time... i have a sb platinum at the mo.. and kindof wish i hadnt brought it as it doesnt have multiple outs... but never the less its a nice little card..
everywhere i ask and pry, people tell me that the midiman 10/10 sound card is "THE BEST" it has 8 ins/outs ASIO assignable and 2 SPDIF ins/outs all at 24bit 96khz rate with midi in/out aswell.... its aparently very easy to use and set up .. but has no in built synths or FX....
i will be using this card with a digital mixing desk (desk has midi assignable FX)
if you are buying an external synth then this would be a good bet as it will keep all your sounds nice and clean, the yamaha DSP card is supposed to be very good but.. comes with 2 in/outs and you have to buy more to upgrade it.... s'up to you but after researching for 6 months solid im SURE to buy a midiman delta 10/10 sound card they cost £550 uk, so they are cheaper than your current choice of sound card...
hope this helps
dj dna
 
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