Which Soundcard?, new soundcard |
|
|
|
|
Jun 1 2007, 04:13 PM
|
|
I recently got myself a Creative X-Fi Fatality - around 200$ - it has the front panel and big input jack in the front so i can plug in my guitar in it or through the amp without those jack converters and it sounds great - also makes low latency.
-------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
 |
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 1 2007, 05:08 PM
|
|
Hey m8!
Thanks, i am glad you like my lessons! Professional sound cards go much higher than 1000$ so the 200$ for a good soundcard is not much - ofcourse it depends what you are going to do with it! Anyway - good luck picking one!! 
-------------------- "It isn't how many years you have been playing, it's how many hours." -- Prashant Aswani "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!" -- Michael Angelo Batio Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 1 2007, 06:03 PM
|
|
QUOTE (.::MetallicA::. @ Jun 1 2007, 12:03 PM)  Thanks for the fast reply! Ive checked around on the X-FI cards. And there sure are tons of them! They sure sound intressting. Think Ill grab one of those. But. One or a few of the cards up at the 200$ pricerange, feels a little bit to expensive for just a soundcard =X . And Im on a pretty crappy budget at the moment, buying new pickups aswell. Then I saw this X-Fi Xtreme Music, which probably is good enough for just 800 SEK. Doesnt have any "big" inputs though. But thats of a minor consurn since I got converters ready at home. PS. Pavel I love your lessons, keep rockin'! Creative a great cards, they also do a professional line called EMU for not too much more - Latency is the key as Pavel pointed out, you pay a little extra for that but it is one of the big selling points of the higher end cards like the EMU. In the end, a more expensive card will help you with larger mixes and more tracks and virtual instruments. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 18 2007, 03:30 AM
|
|
I should have double checked before posting.. LOL Yes I meant there are several X-Fi models. The one I keep hearing about is the Fatal1ty model.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 18 2007, 09:03 AM
|
|
I've seen this X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Blaster, reviewed here: http://www.guru3d.com/article/content/265/10/
"For gamers and music fans, though, this is the best Creative sound card to date. Musicians looking for something to provide basic recording and effects, the X-Fi will be okay, but not great. I'd wait until Emu puts out their version of the X-Fi." "Without a doubt, the X-Fi is the best Creative sound card to date." I don't know much about soundcards. My only criteria so far have been that they sound. Seems to be a good card for a computer, but if you want to do music serious, there probably is better cards for that. -------------------- Schecter C1 Hellraiser EMG 81/85, replaced with JB/Jazz (SH4/SH2n) w. coilsplit Schecter Revenger HB-105, replaced with EMG 81/85 Stratocaster Deluxe Players Noiseless Ibanez 2550z Blackstar HT5H, Blackheart BH5H w. BH112, Laney LX35D, Line6 Pod XT, Marshall MS-2 Headphones: Sennheiser RS120 Stay tuned... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 18 2007, 03:19 PM
|
|
QUOTE (blindwillie @ Jun 18 2007, 04:03 AM) I've seen this X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Blaster, reviewed here: http://www.guru3d.com/article/content/265/10/ "For gamers and music fans, though, this is the best Creative sound card to date. Musicians looking for something to provide basic recording and effects, the X-Fi will be okay, but not great. I'd wait until Emu puts out their version of the X-Fi." "Without a doubt, the X-Fi is the best Creative sound card to date." I don't know much about soundcards. My only criteria so far have been that they sound. Seems to be a good card for a computer, but if you want to do music serious, there probably is better cards for that. As I pointed out at the top of this thread, for recording you need a good card period. Pavel has reported good results with this card, so it seems that a top of the line regular card is ok, but you may get better results if you go to a purpose designed interface such as one of the EMU ones. There are also many firewire and USB options out there too. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 19 2007, 12:29 AM
|
|
My nephew has one of these. So I went over and tried it out this past weekend. I now have to have one. No need for an awesome sound card with this thing as you plug in your computer speakers to the hardware that is included. He did a backing track and recorded a solo over it in 5 minutes and it sounded great.
-------------------- Had a guitar hanging, just about waist high, and we are going to play these things until the day we die. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 19 2007, 06:36 PM
|
|
QUOTE (Kaneda @ Jun 18 2007, 01:31 PM) I'd go for one of the midpriced or higher X-Fi's (and I probably will get the X-Fi Elite Pro at some point myself). My "soundcard history" goes from SoundBlaster 16 over SoundBlaster 32 AWE and SoundBlaster Live to dedicated cards - some M-Audio card and my current (by now ancient) Terratec DMX 6Fire - at that time the alternative was SoundBlaster Audigy, which I really didn't like (especially not its illegitimate claim of 24 bit recording). And, as mentioned, for my next one, I'll return to Creative. I got the dedicated cards because I wanted something "good for recording". What I gained in sound quality, I lost in versatility and productivity. I quite like the Terratec, but if I wanted to have a "quick and dirty" listen to a MIDI file on the AWE or Live, I just played it through a soundbank. With the Terratec, I have to set up a software synth (which usually sounds inferior to the simple soundbank), set up GigaStudio with all the samples needed, or go through an external synth. Meaning I rarely get it done. I'm the kind of person who wants things to "just work". Creative has impressed me with ease of use and setting up - and third party (users, mainly) support. The X-Fi line has better recording and playback quality by now than my Terratec - which is already as much as I need. In addition to that, it takes a burden off the CPU - the Terratec doesn't. All it lacks is GigaStudio GSIF drivers, which I expect users will provide at some point, if they haven't already. To me it seems that these days, a lot of "dedicated" sound cards are bought without even checking if the "mainstream" card is good enough - or even better. Skipping a good choice - "since it's mainstream, it can't be good" The biggest problem with mainstream cards is latency - higher end cards have lower latency hence work better. This can become an issueif you are working with many tracks and lots of software effects, especially important if you are playing soft synths, probably not so imprtant if you are recording Drums bass and rythm guitar to solo over. I wouldn't consider a mainstream card for the reaons above, since I do a lot of recording. Dedicated recording cards are not super expensive for the entry level ones, but of corse there is no sense in spending money of you don't have to. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 20 2007, 01:10 AM
|
|
QUOTE (Kaneda @ Jun 19 2007, 03:21 PM) You're absolutely right, of course, except low latency isn't a given for a higher end card - for the old Creative cards from the 90s, it's certainly true (to start with, they didn't support ASIO at all). But I need to do a lot of tweaking to get the Terratec (which was hailed as if latency issues were now a thing of the past, when it came out) to get below 10ms for 16 bit 48kHz sound - but then, it's an old card by now. On a friend's system, comparable to my own, I've easily gotten an X-Fi below 5 at any samplerate - below 2 for higher ones. More often that not these days, the problem lies with CPU, harddisk and RAM when it comes to latency rather than the soundcard itself. Heck, ASIO4ALL lowers latency on even very low end cards to below acceptable levels. Then again, I wouldn't guarantee that experience for everyone.  There you go then - sounds like the X-Fi would be great if you can get the latency that low - that was really my only concern - high end creative cards have always been good, and the ASIO4ALL drivers work great with Reaper for example. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jul 22 2007, 04:18 PM
|
|
For monitoring the sound though the card is one part of the chain - albeit an important one.
What you hear on playback also however depends on the monitors/headphones you use. Basically you are unlikely to get the quality of playback you need for recording with a set of desktop pc speakers. You need to get good studio quality monitors I'm afraid. These start from about 150 UK sterling and can easily exceed 2000 for a pair. One thing to note - recording monitors are spec, voiced and built for zero colouration to deliver as close to as possible exactly what was recorded. This can result in them sounding a bit clinical until you get used to them. Other bit - if you dl/line out a guitar amp into a pc, desk etc you are pretty much bypassing the guitar amp's speaker and cabinet. Part of the tone we get used to hearing involves not just the amp head but the speaker and cab and how they all interact. This is one reason why Native Instrument's Guitar Rig and IK's AMplitube (NI is recommended by someone somewhere) includes speaker cab emulation as part of their software suite. It's also a reason why guitar amps still are often recorded full tilt via a microphone in to a desk... Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
|
|
|
|
 
|
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
