opting for a new soundcard.

[labelwhore]

Still using an EMU 1212m with an ADA8000, suits me fine, never, ever had any problem with it, latency around 2 to 10 ms on my projects with a AMD Phenom x4 920 and before with a Intel Q6600. That Hammerfall looks pretty tasty to me though!

Wow dude, we have exactly the same setup. I'm upgrading my motherboard and processor tomorrow to a AMD Phenom II x4 965 though.

[mHz]

I bought one 1212m , and i like it thanks for the tip.
Using it with a brand new mpd 26.. hihi
It really murders my mp3 collection, but when im playing on it it shapes my mixing to a perfect result.

[trogluddite]

murders my mp3 collection

I thought that was what mp3's always sounded like!

[mHz]

hehe, my last one had some cheapassed filter running on the top end.
Not the cergical knife this is . It`s really unflattering.

[TomC]

Also the EMU has the same A/D converters as a digidesign HD 192 Protools interface. The ADA8000 is very good but not the best around. For the price you get more then you pay for. It is one of those pieces where Behringer actually did a very good job. I never, ever will buy a mixer from them (again), unless I get a full set of extra faders and a truckload of canned air.

If you need lots of inputs there's a little soundcard from Tascam called DM-4800 which has very good and clean AD converters and faders that won't get stuck after a while. I highly recommend it

Tom

[flamingRedDingo]

When I look for a sound device I have to consider the following (roughly in order of importance)

1. COMPATIBILITY!! Check ONLINE FORUMS BEFORE YOU BUY! I can't stress how important it is to ensure that your audio device will in fact properly function with the DAW and other software you are using. Check first. Just because something says ASIO compliant for example, doesn't mean it doesn't behave badly with your software. Before you plunk down $300 see if someone else has tried it first...

2. Enough Inputs and Outputs? (also phantom power support?) SPDIF doesn't count either - but some devices (such as the M-Audio FastTrack Pro) have an extra input and output, but they are SPDIF only! - useless, in many environments. Read the fine print Turns out I can do better w/ an ancient a SB Live! card than a fasttrack pro in terms of # of IO ports - I use a headphone-only rehearse out for live stuff so the extra out is critical (for me at least). A fast track pro won't work for a guy in my shoes. Make sure you have enough "true" IO ports...

3. The bus interface device isn't incredibly important in my opinion. I prefer USB3 when possible because of the flexibility and availability of USB on many devices... Firewire is okay too, but it only really stands out as great if you have a mac studio setup.. of course external over PCI is nice, but you can't use it with a laptop...The speed of the interface doesn't matter too much, because every device is going to be fast enough to support its IO - BTW usb3 rates faster than firewire anyways - not that I care, but anybody that screams about bus performance is selling something, IMO..

All in all, I like the m-audio product line, but I can't recommend the FastTrack Pro, because it doesn't have enough analog IO...Get something with more in's and out's I don't really think 2x2 is enough, personally - unless you have SPDIF as well in which case I think it is 4x4...

[nix]

Firewire is faster than USB 2.
Generally you need a Texas Instruments chipset to ensure compatibility though I think.
I run both, firewire(Mackie Onyx 1220) and USB(Access Virus TI).
regardies, Nick
Perhaps PCI though?

[trogluddite]

From my experience - I've used USB, PCIand currently FW over the years - the biggest single factor is the quality of drivers. The various maximum bus speeds are just that; the maximum available in theory! - and that can all go up in smoke if the drivers are badly implemented. So once you know what features you need, follow Dingo's advice - get scanning the forums etc. to see what issues other users have had.

[flamingRedDingo]

"I need to find another cheap temporary sound solution "

If you have a PCI bus interface and you can find an old SB Live! EMU10k1 based soundcard (very common, very old) or even an Audigy, you can then google "Kx Audio Project" for the WinXP and Win7 drivers that enable 100% true low latency ASIO support. I've ran them at 2ms latency on a modern dual core system without problems. They don't sound quite as good as the "real deal" but they do sound okay, they are very cheap ($10 or so, if not FREE), and the ASIO support is good - it works with flawlessly major DAWS... So well in fact, that I have always kept an SB Live! card running in my studio machines... if nothing else, then as a backup to my high priced breakout...

You would do well to consider getting one - it's one of the best kept secrets in home studio PC-based digital recording, IMO...just remember to get the KX audio package, and don't dink around with Creative Labs drivers or OEM drivers...

BTW: anyone that wants to know how to re-program the hardware DSP on the SB Live! to allow 4 outs at super low latency (yes! you can!), then download the attached config I've provided. I've got a nice direct routing with b2b 15.5bit correction (see SB Live hardware errata) ... It makes the card in to a 4x1 (or possibly 4x2) config instead of 2x1 (or 2x2). Also, since they are directly routed asio lines and don't route through any mixing or other processing, this configuration is great for pure- lowest latency possible recording and playback...It works with any EMU10k1 based SB Live! (most of them, except the Live! 24bit)... and maybe even the EMU10k2 based audigy cards ..
To use this config, it should be loaded into the DSP panel of the KxMixer UI.. once loaded, no panning or level adjustments can be made through the mixer - just rely on your DAW's levels instead... To revert, just right click, and choose "Reset DSP" (or similar) from the menu...

[flamingRedDingo]

whoops.. I forgot to finalize the attachment I mentioned in my previous post. Here it is:
Remove the ".osm" extension at the end of the filename once you download it (the forum said I couldn't upload it otherwise)

You must have an EMU10k1 based SB Live! (or possibly an Audigy card) and Kx Audio Project drivers installed in order to use this file.

[flamingRedDingo]

Firewire is faster than USB 2.

And USB3 is faster than Firewire...*shrug*
And all the speed ratings are theoretical though anyways...*yawn*

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter which is faster.

Only that the bus is fast enough handle the # of IO ports it has. Since every single audio interface ever produced fulfills that requirement, it ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT MATTER AT ALL - AT ALL - AT ALL, which bus is faster.
At. All.

Firewire interfaces are great if you use a mac... But if you use a windows machine, beware - you are almost guaranteeing problems . Different devices are better than others, but Firewire support is dodgy on windows...

And I can plug my usb breakout box into my Playstation 3

overall, USB is more widely available, generally cheaper, and often more stable than a firewire counterpart. So if I wanted a sound device that is most likely to work decently with potentially ANY environment (PC/Mac/or other), I'd have to recommend usb over firewire. A lot.

[Nu Audio Science]

USB better than Firewire = rubbish
Firewire on windows bad problems = rubbish
KX being able to do 2ms = Was going to type rubbish but just to be more specific it is reported latency not round trip latency, Round trip latency is the only important figure

As has already been stated it is all about the drivers and as i already stated earlier the best drivers you can get are RME and MOTU, MOTU have bouts of crappy releases every six months or so but normally fix within a few weeks (There is a reason that MOTU and RME are used in so many studios)

I have owned the EMU mentioned above and it was OK but compared to my RME or MOTU (I have FW and PCI and PCMCIA) it used way too many resources to get low latency performance and the round trip was always and i mean always at least double the reported

I would guess that most soundcards would be just fine if you want to just run some synths an play stuff via MIDI, I however am recording upto anywhere near 32 tracks at a time (I have recorded 60 using my Scopes but those are maybe a bit hi end for this discusion hahaha) and when you are recording track counts that high you get to know the best drivers
RME and MOTU are the only FW worth having full stop, The rest are mainly based on DICE II which is useless (Use google if you don't believe me)

My own personal preference currently is RME PCI (Or PCIe) cards using ADAT converters (The Behringers are actually amazing for the cost, The pre's are even usable)
Like is said earlier though if you just want to trigger VSTi and so on then any old card will do

NAS

[nix]

How do you like the Scope stuff NAS?
I've been thinking about them for years.
Is XCite USB or FW?

[flamingRedDingo]

"KX being able to do 2ms" - I was reporting based on the size of my ASIO buffer. I haven't used a loopback to test round trip... seriously, does anybody actually do that?... again, I was reporting based on the size of my ASIO buffer... I bet you could have assumed that..

"Firewire on windows = Bad Problens" - umm, actually in the "real world" most musicians would rather things "just work"... If you use a firewire setup on windows, you are asking for problems. I never meant to imply that you will ALWAYS have problems. What I was saying, is that you are playing against the odds. You must be very careful, and you will almost certainly be tied to very particular setups or risk problems. That is the point I was making, and I stand by my statement.. and that statement comes from hard won experience. For every smooth FW setup you can show me on a PC, I'll show you two that have problems...

"USB is better than Firewire"... read my posts carefully. I never made that statement unqualified. In fact, I said that the bus you use really doesn't matter that much...

I'd send you a box of tampax and a bottle of "no more tears", but it turns out that I can't encode them as an attachment...Dry your eyes mate

Regards

[flamingRedDingo]

One more thing regarding the SB Live/KX setup.. if one were to configure the SB using the attachment I provided, then very little DSP is being performed... the 2ms latency (each-way, based on the buffer size) is pretty close to the mark... save an infinitesimal amount of additional latency for the tiny amount of DSP, and the DACs and ADCs.... 2ms (each way) is damn close to the mark.. i'm out on a limb here admittedly, but it's possibly more accurate of a projection than most, because I've eliminated the mixer leveling code (which almost every other audio setup does not)