Is an external soundcard important?

[stefevr]

hey guys, I hope this hasn't been asked before but uh I'm getting a new laptop (don't know which one though, I just want good autonomy and memory) but anyways
I have 2 krk RP5s and the RP10 subwoofer. It might seem that, with these, I have a fair bit of cash but it's not the case Right now, all I have is a mini-jack cable (that goes directly in the laptop) that splits into 2 XLR cables. They go in the sub, and from the sub I have 2 XLR cables going to the RP5s. It's working fine with my current laptop, but I'm kinda worried that what i'm doing is bad for the speakers. I mean it works fine, I don't get feedback, or anything. I was just wondering if I should get an external soundcard, like a m-audio fast track or something of the like. If it's REALLY necessary, are there any good ones?

Cheers for the help, love you guys

[blinx]

I would HIGHLY suggest purchasing and external audio interaface (soundcard). Tascam make decent low cost units (i once had a us144 and it wasnt bad) and now i use a Tascam US1641 and i like it alot.

It should help your monitors reach there full potential and your overall sound signal become cleaner and more precise.

[stefevr]

Thanks man. But thing is, right now they sound fine. And when I check the external sound cards, I just see RCA outputs mostly, and one XLR, for mics and stuff I guess. Buying an external seems like it'd put me back, since i'd have to get additional cables. I'm not really trying to achieve perfection or anything, but I heard directly connecting my speakers using a simple xlr to jack cable is bad for the speakers. I dunno if that's true, but lets say i'm just confused about the whole thing. How would I connect my laptop to the speakers? Is it sent using the USB? Sorry for asking noobish questions

[Grime Syndicate]

I use the Tascam US144 mentioned above, and you're right about the RCA's. I just use cables that are RCA to 1/4", and it seems to work fine. The nice thing about having an external soundcard is that it frees up your internal for other things (Like watching tutorials while producing, doing A/B track comparisons, etc etc.) That being said, it seems that when I'm producing thru the external, it seems to eat up some of my CPU, so when my track is getting further along and I've got 50 channels running, I usually start using my internal (routed to some decent bookshelf speakers or some cans) to free up CPU Power. Which is good in a way. I think hearing your track on a multitude of different systems helps u clear up mix issues you may not hear on just one system. (same thing goes for different rooms. My tracks always sound rather different in different spaces. Each brings out various flaws and strengths in the mix.) I wouldn't recommend Tascam all that highly though, cuz from what I've read and experienced, the drivers are fairly buggy, and the software isn't open source, so no one has written more stable ones. Nor will/can they. I've heard good things about the focusrite Saffire. My next step is gonna be a 4 to 8 channel mixer/audio interface though, as they seem to be of a bit higher quality and obviously offer more routing and hardware options. Alesis and Roland seem to have some nice ones that run thru USB. If you're gonna use a condenser mic, be sure and find an audio interface with phantom power. Most have phantom power as a stock option, but I'd be pissed if I overlooked this and wasn't able to use my mic as a result. Hope this helps you make a decision.

[blinx]

Your right having real digital sound processing and a set of REAL A/D D/A converters really will set your sound quality backwards.. not to mention ASIO drivers are a joke so f(*k it right... you better stick with a crappy onboard stereo mini jack setup that has a shit ton of white noise and computer noise already running through it.. you are the expert who needed to ask the question in the first place so better listen to your own advice.... NOT!!!

Buy a freaking interface man jeez your really not even using the krks to there full potential, true it probalby wont damage them but you are putting some crap signal into them.. onboard stereo mini jacks dont have a very wide frequency range and they favor the lower frequencies more often than not. ON top of that they have a whole computer practically sitting on top of them so there is a bunch of white noise and electric interference. Sure it sounds OK but compared A/B to an ASIO driven sound device you will look like a chump.

True windows driver for tascam can be buggy.. my mac has had 0 problems at all. If you have 50 tracks you need to be freezing them anyway.

I would NOT switch speakers during any part of my production. Thats like switching whose ears you are using. You will end up remixing your track rather then finished the track in the first place.

[stefevr]

Your right having real digital sound processing and a set of REAL A/D D/A converters really will set your sound quality backwards.. not to mention ASIO drivers are a joke so f(*k it right... you better stick with a crappy onboard stereo mini jack setup that has a shit ton of white noise and computer noise already running through it.. you are the expert who needed to ask the question in the first place so better listen to your own advice.... NOT!!!

Buy a freaking interface man jeez your really not even using the krks to there full potential, true it probalby wont damage them but you are putting some crap signal into them.. onboard stereo mini jacks dont have a very wide frequency range and they favor the lower frequencies more often than not. ON top of that they have a whole computer practically sitting on top of them so there is a bunch of white noise and electric interference. Sure it sounds OK but compared A/B to an ASIO driven sound device you will look like a chump.

True windows driver for tascam can be buggy.. my mac has had 0 problems at all. If you have 50 tracks you need to be freezing them anyway.

I would NOT switch speakers during any part of my production. Thats like switching whose ears you are using. You will end up remixing your track rather then finished the track in the first place.

Jeez man calm down xD I wasn't saying that what you said was wrong, I'm just making sure I get everything right... I'm just trying to understand why it's necessary and all, but it seems like a good choice to get some. I might be getting the MIDITECH AUDIOLINK II (it has phantom too), or the BEHRINGER U-CONTROL UCA 202 which is dirt cheap...I dunno if it's a good one but like I said I can't afford that much yet Thanks for your help everyone

[Grumblex]

focusrite saffire 6

[benjam]

^ Agreed buying shit gear just means youll have to buy again. Save for a saffire 6 or similar and make do with your inbuilt one for the time being.

[safeandsound]

I suggest if you are even just interested in making music as a hobby stretching to something like an
EMU USB interface would be a worthy thing to do. They dont hum, they don't hiss, they have a headphone output
and they are nice and clear.

That is a good start.

[FuzionDubstep]

I swear buying all this equipment is useless, I produce on a laptop and some headphones nothing more nothing less yet I can put fairly good tracks out so I don't see why its neccasary to buy all these stuff :/

[hifi]

I swear buying all this equipment is useless, I produce on a laptop and some headphones nothing more nothing less yet I can put fairly good tracks out so I don't see why its neccasary to buy all these stuff :/

it's not necessary at all no one said it was. it's not about what you have it's about what you know and how you use it. but a decent soundcard is good i wouldn't say you definitely need it but if you want 32 bit sound quality then go ahead and buy an apogee duet. i have one but have never used it.

[Grime Syndicate]

True windows driver for tascam can be buggy.. my mac has had 0 problems at all. If you have 50 tracks you need to be freezing them anyway.

Oh, they're frozen. Or resampled/bounced to audio. Maybe my compie just sucks, but regardless of what I try, my cpu gets bogged down toward the end of producing a hefty song. Never fails.

[DoWork]

focusrite saffire 6

I've heard it been said that this is a good card. I've also heard of people that have a lot of trouble with Tascam drivers.

Listen don't get a cheap piece of shiz, like some Maudio or Behringer. Don't do it. It is not worth it. It is just going to make producing negative for you. Save, and spend what you need to when you are capable.

[nowaysj]

You may find this helpful:

electronic music production setup guide.

[gen_]

Okay, I'm not on the fence about this at all, but I will probably give you the most direct answer.

Buy what you need.

There will be a lot of people here saying spend big or go home, ask them what they've got. They may have a focusrite saffire 6 or a Lexicon, but they have never recorded in using it or actually utilised everything they claim to have it for, except 'quality', and 'quality' is subjective. It changes like the weather. If they really spent big or went home, they would all have Firefaces or some other 'serious' interface.

I'm not saying don't get a card, I'm saying buy a card that has what you need. AD/DAs are decent on even the worst branded interfaces and will be plenty. The only true reason you need an interface is twofold. 1. You cant work with ungrounded cables and a Rokit, as this allows external noise (radio waves, your phones 3g signal etc) to affect the sound as it travels from the cable. 2. The internal card is sitting below a magnetic hard drive and several million transistors, and its a hive for external noise anyway (as the DA converters on some of these things aren't even describes as DAs in the brochure, they are electrical signal converters built for control voltages and waaaay noise prone.)

So to be short and sweet, get a card that has balanced TRS out, or XLR for best results, and everything else is convenience. I chose Lexicon Alphas for my community center's media suite. They are a like $80/£50 and sound sweet, they are also plug'n'play so you can use them for movies etc if you wanna quickly switch to a laptop and have an all important headphones port at the front. I would recommend something like this unless you're a digital DJ, then you want something capable of 4 output (to send a different signal to the headphones.)

Hope you find what you're looking for (and don't break the bank lol)

[mikeyp]

posting to read later

[stefevr]

Okay, I'm not on the fence about this at all, but I will probably give you the most direct answer.

Buy what you need.

There will be a lot of people here saying spend big or go home, ask them what they've got. They may have a focusrite saffire 6 or a Lexicon, but they have never recorded in using it or actually utilised everything they claim to have it for, except 'quality', and 'quality' is subjective. It changes like the weather. If they really spent big or went home, they would all have Firefaces or some other 'serious' interface.

I'm not saying don't get a card, I'm saying buy a card that has what you need. AD/DAs are decent on even the worst branded interfaces and will be plenty. The only true reason you need an interface is twofold. 1. You cant work with ungrounded cables and a Rokit, as this allows external noise (radio waves, your phones 3g signal etc) to affect the sound as it travels from the cable. 2. The internal card is sitting below a magnetic hard drive and several million transistors, and its a hive for external noise anyway (as the DA converters on some of these things aren't even describes as DAs in the brochure, they are electrical signal converters built for control voltages and waaaay noise prone.)

So to be short and sweet, get a card that has balanced TRS out, or XLR for best results, and everything else is convenience. I chose Lexicon Alphas for my community center's media suite. They are a like $80/£50 and sound sweet, they are also plug'n'play so you can use them for movies etc if you wanna quickly switch to a laptop and have an all important headphones port at the front. I would recommend something like this unless you're a digital DJ, then you want something capable of 4 output (to send a different signal to the headphones.)

Hope you find what you're looking for (and don't break the bank lol)

Dude thanks so much for this, definitely helped me... I really didn't want to spend hundreds of bucks on external soundcards I wouldn't even use to the full potential. Will look at the Lexicon Alpha, thanks again mate, big ups!

[Teknicyde]

I swear buying all this equipment is useless, I produce on a laptop and some headphones nothing more nothing less yet I can put fairly good tracks out so I don't see why its neccasary to buy all these stuff :/

you work on headphones, very slight curve favoring the low end makes sense now.

you dont need monitors to learn, but once your at a level where your confident in your, musicality, structure, and sound design, they'll make a world of difference on minute details.

Basically, someone in your shoes... time to worry that your shit is all it can be, and not giving yourself a clear signal response isnt doing yourself, or your tunes, justice man.

[Divane]

So the Focusrite Saffire 6 and Krk's are basically the standard now?

[blinx]

Chad uses them they must be the standard :p