Old 03-28-2007, 11:23 PM   #1
303
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Default What soundcard do YOU use?

I've got an X-Fi Platinum for my next PC build, and it seems some of the software isn't what I had expected (after I actually took some time and read about it), rather, it's bloatware IMHO and frankly it seems like a joke to me. Case in point - the different "modes". I know I have a choice here, but dammit, I don't want to have to change between all these stupid modes just to play a game or listen to music. Fiddling with all these settings seems like it would be annoying.
I love all of the processing power associated with this beast, but Creative - come on and let go of the bloat. It's okay, your customers will love you for it.
I've been reading about a simple card with a chipset that is ASIO compatible - the CMI8738. If I can get a $10 sound card and have it do the basics of what I need without the bloat, that's gotta say something.
As an employee (no, I'm not in support) I've heard from the sales people that we are releasing a PCI-X card... anyone see any benefits of this? Is PCI just not up to par or does this seem like a marketing gimmick?
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Old 03-28-2007, 11:53 PM   #2
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I use a RME HDSP Digiface.

The only reason to go with PCIe over PCI is the disappearing slots.

PCIe is better but PCI can handle enormous amounts of data.
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Old 03-29-2007, 12:03 AM   #3
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I use an RME Fireface 800.
and i have an MBOX that collects dust and keeps issues of sound on sound from falling over on the shelf.

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Old 03-29-2007, 12:27 AM   #4
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I'm using the M-Audio Delta 1010.

hm
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Old 03-29-2007, 04:22 AM   #5
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FF 800 here, love it
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Old 03-29-2007, 04:50 AM   #6
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I use a Phonic Helix 12 FW. It does what it needs to do for me.
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Old 03-29-2007, 08:51 PM   #7
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If I would actually create as much music as I use soundcards for games, then I'd probably be using something like what you guys have - Deltas, boxes, etc.

Believe me, I'm reading each of what you've submitted and doing some research here.
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Old 03-29-2007, 10:13 PM   #8
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I have an M-Audio Delta Series 24/96. It's a pretty good card for the money.
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Old 03-29-2007, 11:54 PM   #9
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Mostly MOTU here.. 896, 896+896HD+BehringerADA8k (24 channels total), Traveler..

Despite what people say about MOTU pres, I like 'em.. and the drivers are GREAT.
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Old 03-30-2007, 02:55 AM   #10
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M-Audio Delta 66 PCI & Line 6 TonePort UX2 USB here. Primarily, I use the Delta 66 when recording/mixing (lower latencies and more efficient CPU usage) except when I want to use Gearbox (with TonePort Direct Monitoring) then I'll use the UX2 USB and record direct from that.


Cheers,

Billy Buck

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Old 03-30-2007, 04:52 AM   #11
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Let's see... RME HDSP 9632, Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic on the other computer and sometimes nVidia onboard audio through Realtek 888 on this one. Looking forward to finally buy an external interface and I got my eyes set on Motu 896HD or RME FF800, not sure yet, still saving the money and

I'm also waiting to see what's gonna happen on the PCI-E front beside RME multiface and Motu 828. I'd like to see some RME, MOTU or Lynx "pro" PCI-E solutions to come out.

Cheers!

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Old 03-30-2007, 05:03 AM   #12
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M-Audio Delta 1010LT.

I'm thinking about adding either another 1010 or a Delta 44. I just need a few more inputs.

BTW, does anyone where I could buy an extension cable for the 44pin d-sub connection? I'm thinking if I could get about a 4-6 foot extension cable I could make a homemade breakout box for my 1010LT.

Last edited by likenokevin; 03-30-2007 at 05:08 AM.
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Old 03-30-2007, 05:39 AM   #13
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MOTU HD 192 - Studio
Terratec Phase 24 (brilliant little box) - Mobile
Terratec DMX 6 Fire - Home

All superb and I'd buy them again.


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Old 03-30-2007, 06:11 AM   #14
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Echo Layla3G. Only wish I could use PureWave with Reaper. ASIO has been working fine though.
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Old 03-30-2007, 10:05 AM   #15
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EMU1820M
Presonus FireBOX
Tascam US-122

All work great with Reaper.

I set up a rig where I use to go to church using a MOTU 24I/O. That was one sweet unit. Direct Outs from FOH mixer, straight into the Line Ins on the MOTU. They had n-Track Studio though... Whatever, the MOTU was sweet!

D
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Old 03-30-2007, 10:30 AM   #16
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MOTU traveler. Swapped a Digi 002R for it last week. Nice little box, the driver is really something (not sure how MOTU gets lower latency than others at the same sample rate, maybe they have magical pixie unicorn math). I think the pres sound really good, I don't know if they are the same pres as the 896 that everyone always rags on. The knobs are annoying and my god I wish it had a mute button.
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Old 03-30-2007, 10:40 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DuX View Post
I'm also waiting to see what's gonna happen on the PCI-E front beside RME multiface and Motu 828. I'd like to see some RME, MOTU or Lynx "pro" PCI-E solutions to come out.
seems RME will bring the their whole line to PCIe: http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=4493





(RME HDSP 9632 here)
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Old 03-30-2007, 05:32 PM   #18
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m audio quattro... eh it works. but its pretty buggy sometimes.
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Old 03-30-2007, 06:31 PM   #19
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RME Multiface. Every day for 5 years it's been flawless
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Old 03-30-2007, 06:39 PM   #20
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RME HDSP 9632 here Driver 3.05.2

UAD for processing, and Marian ADAT converters (I really love them even though it looks like I downgraded from Frontier Tango 24).

Btw Frontier has the best techsupport in the world, I often got answers directly from the people who designed their gear, and always within a few hours).

The reason to "downgrade" was because Tango converters really sounded so flat and revealing, that I couldn't enjoy any of my works in progress (add to this that I used NS10 for nearfield monitoring at the time).

Marian has warmer sound (maybe it's the narrower frequency bandwidth), and the built-in pres sound quite good (sort of a SM7 radio announcer sound). The result is very natural, musical sound, even if your equipment is not very expensive.

On the other hand, you cannot change from -10 to +4 separately per input or output, like you can with Frontier Tango.

Last edited by sebas777; 09-13-2007 at 04:36 PM.
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Old 03-31-2007, 03:00 AM   #21
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2xYamaha DSP factory running LUI. Hard to recommend these days.
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Old 04-01-2007, 01:13 AM   #22
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3xCreamware Pulsar2 working great and offer pro quality effects and instruments and plenty of i/o options. As a guitar player I specially dig the Dynatube tube guitar amp simulator because no other software amp sim that I know of is capable of latency free monitoring of the simulated amp sound.
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Old 04-01-2007, 06:25 AM   #23
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m-audio delta 1010. the buglessest piece of hardware i've ever seen.
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Old 04-01-2007, 07:03 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ike_Boffo View Post
Echo Layla3G. Only wish I could use PureWave with Reaper. ASIO has been working fine though.
I use the same card. I never could understand the benefits of purewave though - Purewave uses the WDM drivers right??
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Old 04-01-2007, 08:03 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amberience View Post
I use the same card. I never could understand the benefits of purewave though - Purewave uses the WDM drivers right??
Actually no. It's designed to bypass WDM. With PureWave, it's audio software to PW driver to hardware. I used it with Vegas and still use it with SF when I cut to two-track, but Reaper doesn't like it.
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Old 04-01-2007, 03:30 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by happymonkey View Post
I'm using the M-Audio Delta 1010.

hm
Me too!
I like the card but canot get the hang of the mixer they give you.
Bardo
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Old 04-01-2007, 03:50 PM   #27
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I have a i88x and a EZbus. I use the ADAT from the EZbus into the I88x. I also have a spirtfolio mixer I use for extra pres. They sound pretty good.

I just bought a 01x to replace (or augment) the EZbus with. I will be up to 24 channels but I still will only have 18 pres.
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Old 04-02-2007, 05:54 AM   #28
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E-MU 1616m. Working great.
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Old 04-02-2007, 09:10 AM   #29
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MOTU 484-based 24I/O.

I think the new Motu stuff is probably the best bang-for-buck solution if you can't afford Apogee or Lavry, EXCEPT....

Their support SUCKS imo, for a number of reasons.

.. and they appear bent to never support Linux. Which I guess doesn't matter, since I'm using Reaper anyhow.

Lynx is probably the only other stop-gap solution to get, IMO. I don't know how their stuff plays with Reaper, though...?
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Old 04-02-2007, 04:12 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ieso View Post
RME Multiface. Every day for 5 years it's been flawless
ditto, i love my RME
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Old 04-02-2007, 07:58 PM   #31
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RME Hammerfall 9652 (The old one)

I love it.
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Old 04-03-2007, 12:42 AM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chip mcdonald View Post
MOTU 484-based 24I/O.

I think the new Motu stuff is probably the best bang-for-buck solution if you can't afford Apogee or Lavry, EXCEPT....

Their support SUCKS imo, for a number of reasons.

.. and they appear bent to never support Linux. Which I guess doesn't matter, since I'm using Reaper anyhow.

Lynx is probably the only other stop-gap solution to get, IMO. I don't know how their stuff plays with Reaper, though...?
Judging by the Samplitude Pro forum, MOTU stuff is not used as much as RME.
The few that have MOTU are not complaining - since the arrival of the PCI424 card theres been no cause to.
Rock solid and stable.

Lynx on the other hand is having no end of trouble with lost buffers etc.


Cheers

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Old 04-03-2007, 05:32 AM   #33
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I use a TC Electronic Konnekt 24D. The integrated FX (channel strip and reverb) are sweet and you can set it up in such a way that you can monitor them through the headphones but record a clean, unprocessed signal.
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Old 04-03-2007, 06:35 AM   #34
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I use three soundcards currently...

M-Audio 2496
M-Audio Delta 44
M-Audio Delta 66

I probably should of just bought one big soundcard that would give me all the inputs that I needed, but I couldn't afford it all at once, so I bought them in pieces.
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Old 04-03-2007, 02:15 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bardo View Post
Me too!
I like the card but canot get the hang of the mixer they give you.
Bardo
I came here from Sonar (and Vegas long before that) and the Cakewalk site had instructions on how to configure the 1010. I did what they told me and have not had to change those settings yet.

I just did a quick search on both the m-audio and cakewalk sites and can not find this info anymore. Nice, huh?

Basically all input faders are all the way up, no channels muted, and the H/W out 1/2 is set to "monitor mixer". the back of the 1010 manual shows a few other options, but I've never used them.

hm
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Old 04-03-2007, 08:54 PM   #36
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RME Multiface
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Old 04-04-2007, 05:26 AM   #37
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I use Terratec EWX 24/96
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Old 04-04-2007, 07:15 AM   #38
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Thanks Dandruff for the RME link! RME HDSPe will be sweet.

Cheers!
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Old 04-04-2007, 08:31 AM   #39
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I use 2 of the older Echo Layla 24/96 interfaces. They sound good and have always worked fine. Very low distortion and low noise, and they don't have extra crap like mic preamps which I don't need or want .

The cards are PCI; fortunately, I'm building a new computer that has 3 PCI slots, so I should be good for 3 or 4 years.
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Old 04-04-2007, 09:20 AM   #40
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emu 1820m for 2 or 3 years.
2 decent preamps
6 line in
2 sets of midi
sp/dif
and adat connection if I should ever need more I/O.
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