why soundcards?

[silence_of_stone]

I am running an older amd t-bird, 1 gig, no-name, average run-of-the-mill computer for my pro-tools. Asides from a very recent connection to my home network it is not used for anything but music recording apps. As far as I know, the mobo's built in sound device is not even enabled. All the sounds come out the 001.
This may be a silly question, but why does everyone seem to need a soundcard? I don't even use the one I have.... its alllll digi.
Just curious.
Kev

[Stone Knife]

If you are using software that does not interface with the Digi card (which is the vast majority unfortunately, but improving) then, short of getting a new computer, you must have a second soundcard to export the product.

How many threads do you have going with this same topic?

[Bastiaan]

I am using a seperate soundcard because i have some problems with the wave-driver under win98. It holds off the audio for 2 seconds or so and put out some fart-like sounds. Then it will start playing. I didnt want that anymore, so i got myself a soundblaster 128 PCI for around $15.