External Soundcards

elgato · Post by **elgato** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:41 am

ive got a decent laptop, but the soundcard is fucked, as is the headphone socket

ideally i'd like to sort something out for less than about £100, but am willing to pay more if its really worth it

i use reason, and when using a usb device one time, found that reason wouldnt operate through it (this is obviously something i'd like to avoid with any purchase!)

advice would be MASSIVELY appreciated, i dont really know anything

mudda · Post by **mudda** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:59 am

Have a look at Edirol's range, around the £100 mark.

In Reason you might have to re-select the audio driver from some menu if it doesn't offer you the choice automatically.

insine · Post by **insine** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:27 pm

how about this one for £84.99?

indigo makes a pcmcia interface as well but its more expensive.

ekstrak · Post by **ekstrak** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:53 pm

M-Audio (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=pro ... interfaces) have a few you'd probably be interested in. The audiophile is pretty cheap and i used it for loads of live shows before upgrading. Try ebay, there's usually a few kicking about. http://musical-instruments.search.ebay. ... QsacatZ619
you'll want the FireWire version

ramadanman · Post by **ramadanman** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:12 pm

im gonna get the focusrite saffire LE soon - 230£ so a bit over budget

ether · Post by **ether** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:16 pm

ramadanman wrote:im gonna get the focusrite saffire LE soon - 230£ so a bit over budget

these are really nice, focusrite made all the preamps in the first protools mbox's, surrposed to be the shit. saw plaid using them i think when they where playing live.

narcossist · Post by **narcossist** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:38 pm

obviously a bit over budget but i got an emu 1820 for £300 new and its the bollocks, not had a single prob with it and theres more in/outs than your average porno.

just wanted to offer a word of warning against those little m-audio usb things [dunno the name but its just a little box with one input and a gain control]. I had one and it was unreliable as fuck [like most usb things in my experience] so defo get a firewire one if you go for an m-audio imo.

elgato · Post by **elgato** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:56 am

thanks for all the advice...

had thought about m-audio but had heard such rumour, think the echo indigo might be the choice for me, apparently very reliable and (for the price) high quality

anyone have any experience of it?

dynamixuk · Post by **dynamixuk** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:02 am

fella come down club on friday like..i got a old external extigy sound card u can have a shot off see if u like, works a treat. its only out of use coz i aint got a laptop no more.

pz

elgato · Post by **elgato** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:51 am

safe man ill speak to you about that

to anyone who knows, im intrigued, what are the tangible differences between something like the indigo and something higher end? what impact will that difference have on the quality of my production?

i978 · Post by **i978** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:24 pm

elgato wrote:safe man ill speak to you about that

to anyone who knows, im intrigued, what are the tangible differences between something like the indigo and something higher end? what impact will that difference have on the quality of my production?

I use an indigo i/o in my shitty laptop. The sound quality is pretty impressive - no hiss, pops or crackles - in fact silent apart from whats going in and out. No problems with latency etc.. I did look into the Audigy 2 before I bought the indigo but, as with all soundblaster cards, I found it a bit noisy. It's still a good card but more for gamers market if you ask me.

The main difference between the indigo cards and something a bit more pricey is mainly one of connectivity. There is only one input and output on the indigo i/o (two outputs, no input on the indigo DJ) and they are the small headphone jack type (can't think of the proper name). More expensive cards will have more ins and outs and they will be of a more useful kind to high end audio production. Some cards, esp those with breakout boxes, will have midi ports. Some cards will have onboard synths and FX and other such stuff. On Really expensive cards the D/A A/D converters will be a hellovalot better. If you're using Reason alone there's not much call for multiple ins and outs tho.

External Soundcards

External Soundcards

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