sound card questions

[cakes]

Hi all,

I've decided to buy a new sound card to replace my old Sound Blaster. The main thing I need is something that supports ASIO, since I'll be using it to route audio from Reason into my 001 and need low latency. I've looked around on the DUC, and it seems like the two cards that people are recommending the most are the Audigy and the M-Audio 2496. I've done some research, but I have a couple of questions about pros/cons of these two cards:

1) From what I can tell, it looks like the 2496 has S/PDIF outs on the card itself, while the Audigy only has it on the (more expensive) Platinum expansion unit. Am I understanding things right?

2) The Audigy has a Firewire port, and I'm thinking of buying an external Firewire drive to use as my audio drive, so with the Audigy I would save on having to buy a separate 1394 card. Anyone using it this way?

3) Right now, I'm using Windows ME, but I'm probably going to upgrade to XP soon. Any issues with either card on either OS?

3) Seems like the Audigy is about 1/2 the price of the 2496. Is there a difference in quality with the 2496 that makes the price difference worth it?

Thanks for any insight.

[froyo]

Hello. Maybe I'm mistaken but I thought both cards hovered between $125 and $150. Also, all of them have S/PDIF. Digidesign released a beta version of an ASIO driver, which unfortunately doesn't do MIDI right now. But, the Mbox and AMIII cards can definitely fit the bill. There are others on the lower end price range like an ECHO Mia, a Terratec which the model number escapes me at the moment. If you don't mind going higher in price there is the MOTU 828 and 896 stuff with Firewire, as well as the Digi 002. You have some options, it just depends on if you want to stay under $200. XP is a non issue as far as I can tell, and in my opinion the quality is slightly better on 2496. Good luck.

[cakes]

Okay, well, I guess I'm confused about the Audigy.

I've found Augidy MP3 (~$75), Audigy Gamer (~$90), Audigy 2 (~$120), and Audigy Platinum (with expansion drive, ~$150). Which one are people using?

As for S/PDIF, it's hard to tell from the pictures on Creative's site if the card itself has a S/PDIF out - all the outputs look like 1/8" jacks. The Platinum drive thing definitely has both optical and coax S/PDIF.

And sorry if I wasn't clear - I already have a Digi 001. I just need a sound card to output Reason's audio out of my computer and into my 001. I just edited my original post to make that clearer.

[froyo]

Hello. OK, you want it just for Reason. Well you have at least four options I can think of about the same price range. The Creative Labs Audigy or Audigy 2. The Audigy 2 can do DVD-Audio if that means anything to you. I'm pretty sure it has S/PDIF, but I would suggest to check the specs on the website. The M Audio 2496, Echo Mia and Terratec EWX 2496 all have S/PDIF, ASIO, XP, etc and are around the same price range. I dn't think you can really go wrong with any of these for what you want to use it for. Good luck.

www.soundblaster.com
www.echoaudio.com
www.m-audio.com
www.terratec.net

[cakes]

Anyone else with experience with these sound cards? Thanks for any help.

[pk_hat]

M-Audio, hands dowm...

24-bit record and playback.
Analog I/O
Digital I/O (spdif)
Midi I/O
ASIO drivers

$150

sound quality-->excellent
user reviews ---> excellent
industry reviews---> excellent

Don't know about the new Audigy, but an increasing number of people are staying away from Creative Labs prducts these days. There always seems to be an issue with their cards.

[vonbleak101]

GUYS! Please! Dont even think of getting a sounblaster they are not for pro audio, no matter what anyone tells you they are for gamers and thats it!

I recently ditched my Soundblaster Live for an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and i am sooooo glad i did, this thing sounds amazing, better than the 001 too. If you can live with only 2 analog ins/outs, s/pdif in/out and MIDI in/out then its a great card. It has a direct monitoring mixer pannel that lets you monitor the inputs mixed with the outs for no latency recording, not low latency, NO latency and you dont have to nuge your tracks around to keep them in perfect sync either.

I use mine with Cubase SX, a Focusrite Trackmaster pre amp and a few other bits and i love it!

But even if you go for another card, PLEASE DONT GET A SOUNDBLASTER! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GaryMC1]

Cakes,
One other suggestion. You might look on ebay or Yahoo! Auctions for an Audiomedia III card. If you are moving to XP in the future, there is an ASIO driver for it now available, and it'll also work as a secondary input to Pro Tools LE.

Going prices on ebay for this card are $120+. If you do decide to go this route, verify with the seller that the AMCC chip is Revision "QC" or higher, so that it'll work correctly with the PCI bus in many PCs today.

Gary

[froyo]

Hello. I would just like to clarify and/or qualify some of my remarks. While I personally wouldn't and don't use a Creative Labs card, I know people that do. I recorded to a Sound Blaster some years ago and was very disappointed to say the least. Some people, like da Basstard here on the DUC, use them for playback purposes only, and I think that is what this guy wants it for. Also, Sound Blaster was a long time ago. I haven't tried the Audigy 2. I suspect it may be a hell of a lot better than the Sound Blaster, so that is why I mentioned it as an option.

[cakes]

Hey guys, thanks for all your responses.

Froyo, you're right that I just want the card for playback. Does anyone know if the regular Audigy card has a S/PDIF out? Basstard?

pk_hat, I've seen you posting elsewhere about using Reason with Pro Tools. I'm curious how you have your MIDI setup. I want to Reason as a "sound module" for Pro Tools, and know I can use Hubi's Loopback or somehing similar to get MIDI from PT to Reason, but I'm wondering if it's better just to run MIDI cables from the 001 to the sound card. Or is that just silly?

Gary, I already have the Digi 001, and I don't really need more inputs, so I'd rather get a newer card than the Audiomedia III. But thanks for the thought.

cakes