About upgrading my soundcard

[simlight]

How do i tell if i am able to upgrade my soundcard or not in my computer? Do i have to open it up and look in it or is there possibly a program that could tell me how many free pci slots i have? By the way, i am wanting to do this because some sounds crackle on fl studio.

 

[JLD]

Look up for specs based on your PCs model. Use google and it'll tell you how many pci slots you have.

As for upgrading your sound card just buy an audio interface and it'll take a lot off the pc and use the interface's drivers

 

[simlight]

Any certain interface you would recommend?

 

[bandcoach]

I did post this before, but somehow, the server went awol before it could add it (it disappeared about 1pm local time (4:30am GMT).

Check your buffer size/latency inside Fl first - what you describe is a classic buffer size is too small problem, so you may not need to update your soundcard.

As for identifying your PCI slots, get either Belarc Advisor or PC Wizard. they will tell you a lot about your machine including any lost/unknown passwords with PC Wizard.

 

[JLD]

What are you planning on doing? What are your specs? What is your budget? There's a lot of questions before anybody can really recommend...

 

[simlight]

I'm getting a job this summer taking pictures for this guy's cars, i'd say about 200-400 would be my budget. I don't need nothing too fancy just something to get my started. And about this interface, is it something that i could plug my guitar into and record or is it not like that?

 

[JLD]

In that case I would recommend the m-audio profire 610. Look it up on sweetwater or eBay and they'll have them for a reasonable price. I see one right now for $289 and I paid $499 for my a couple years back. Definitely worth it for something to start on. It's FireWire though and you need a specific FireWire TI chipset. Or you can go on the lower end $200 and get an m-audio solo or something. And spend money on other things.