Pros and Cons - Audiophile 2496, DiO 2496, or something else

[Mark_Knecht]

Hi,
I'm looking to pick up an additional sound card to go in my second PC, not my PTLE box. This second PC has an OasysPCI which I'm happy with, but I'd like to be able to run a sample player like GigaSampler and I can't get the right drivers for it. (I have a copy of GigaSampler, so I'll need to check their site for card support what ever I do.

Currently I'm using a MidiSport 2X2 to get MIDI into this machine.

Especially important is that it needs to coexist happily with the Oasys. The onboard Yamaha sound chip would not, but when disabled the Oasys ran just fine. I do not want to repeat that experience with whatever card I get.

I might add that I currently make NO use of any of the analog inputs on the 001, other than 3&4 for monitoring my PC's sound card, so I can plug into those or stream audio back over the ADAT lines through the Oasys.

These two cards have been mentioned a number of times. They aren't significanly different in price. The Oasys already uses the optical interface on the 001, so I'm not able to use that feature on the DiO 2496.

Anyway, for my purpose, what is the best card under $200, AND WHY?!?!

Thanks,
Mark

[FUMoney]

Mark,
I'm currently running Gigastudio on a second computer with the Audiophile2496 card. The reason I picked the card was it had SPDIF IO's and was fairly cheap. (about $145) I run it into my Digi computer through the SPDIFs and it works great. The card also has MIDI IO's. Any specific questions feel free to email me.

Ed

[Mark_Knecht]

FUMoney,
I talked to Guitar Center. They told me they weren't going to carry the DiO, and for $149, I just went ahead and picked up the Audiophile. I'll plug it in this evening.

Thanks for the response. I'll write you if I have any trouble. I'm sure it will be fine.

Thanks,
Mark

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by FUMoney:
Mark,
I'm currently running Gigastudio on a second computer with the Audiophile2496 card. The reason I picked the card was it had SPDIF IO's and was fairly cheap. (about $145) I run it into my Digi computer through the SPDIFs and it works great. The card also has MIDI IO's. Any specific questions feel free to email me.

Ed<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[FUMoney]

The one thing I found odd about Guitar Center is that they stopped carrying Gigastudio even though it's owned by Tascam. And they are a Tascam dealer.

Let me know how you make out.

Ed

[pk_hat]

Mark,

the M-Audio 2496 is an awesome card. I've had it about 5 months and I can't say anything bad about it.
24 bit, Midi I/O, analog I/O and SPDIF I/O.

The sound is crystal clear and the ASIO drivers bring it's performance with Reason down to a mere, inaudible 11 ms. latency.
A sheer delight to work with.

pk

[Mark_Knecht]

Ed & PK,
So what apps are you guys running on top of this card today?

Mark

[pk_hat]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mark_Knecht:
Ed & PK,
So what apps are you guys running on top of this card today?

Mark<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Sound Forge 5.0, Reason and Recycle mostly.

It's compatible with most any software, even Gigasampler (the LE version and GigaPiano comes with the bundle, which I never bothered installing).

I wouldn't stress about it too much, at $159 you can't go wrong, unless you just want more I/O.

pk