USB sound cards

[TimOBrienFlorida]

Basic rule of thumb ---- Creative = Gamer

[theblue1]

Try increasing the HW and/or monitoring buffer settings, as noted. That's typically the source of clicks, pops, and longer dropouts. (The hardware buffer settings are typically set using the device's driver and measured in samples; it provides 'slack' for hardware i/o to and from the computer system. Monitoring/cue buffer is typically set from the DAW and provides 'slack' for delays caused by plug-ins, delay compensation, etc.)


For the record, a twiddly terminology bit: a sound card is a computer audio interface that is mounted on a circuit card and goes in the internal expansion buss inside the case. Both sound cards as well as external converters with ADC, DAC, and computer i/o in the form of USB or Firewire are computer audio interfaces. (There are also standalone converters that have ADC, DAC, and AES/EBU, S/PDIF or ADAT-I/O but don't have a computer interface.)


PS... I've had a few cheapo SoundBlaster add-in cards, the old SB Live, as I recall, and for $30 or $40, they were a good buy for what they were. (Now, of course, almost all motherboards have a SB clone chip built in but in the good old days I would typically put a SB Live in the the box for everyday use -- and for the hardware Sound Font sample player built into the SB Lives. Trying to use a pro interface for everyday use can run between hassle and near-impossible, depending on the unit and drivers.) Creative have bought some good tech companies (like Emu) and now control some very good technology, but the Sound Blaster line is oriented to consumers and gamers, as noted.

[filipv]

Originally Posted by TimOBrienFlorida

Basic rule of thumb ---- Creative = Gamer

Not ALL sound blasters are pos. Many of them are - yes - pos, but not all of them.

For example, SB Live and some other soundblasters have this emu e10k chip which is quite powerful. Single digit latency and rock solid stability at 48/16, three stereo or 6 mono physical outs and a absolutely decent stereo/2xmono line input. The same chip was used in flagship emu samplers of few years ago.

I use two sblive at once in a fast quad core pc and have 12 moro or 6 stereo physical outs AND 4 mono or 2 stereo physical inputs all working simultaneously (one phys chann = one asio channel) with latency of under 10ms. If you're a bit careful with the levels while recording 16 bit - it's absolutely competent and usable audio interface and audio production system.

There are very stable windows drivers with features which will put many modern interfaces to shame.

For a long time I fantasize about blind testing gearslutz with a 48/16 recording done simultaneously on sblive and some modern audio interface. I bet that the ratio of correct/wrong answers will be close to 50:50

[BassDuck]

ASIO4All should fix ya up, I doubt x-fi came with any ASIO drivers so your probably running on MME/Direct X or w.e.

[lws803]

Ah thanks for the views guys! Yeap I have Asio4all installed and it helped alot. Hmm on the side note, is realtekHD soundcard good for live performance? I'm planning to do some dj-ing with my keyboard and synth software. The software Im using now is Reason 5. Hmm and oh, about the 'HW and/or monitoring buffer settings', how do I set it in Reason? Ableton live seems to have more pops and clicks.

[BassDuck]

Reason is probly THE BEST as far as audio processing goes, just for the fact it is completely Propeller head no vst's no plugins, blah, blah , kind of like how mac is reliable because everything is mac certified and compatible. I have a monster of a system and ableton still gives me buffer problems to a point. I wouldn't suggest any kind of realtek or soundblaster card for live djing but if you can get it stable for you then go ahead just put it through some real life stress testing first. Do some sets at home in front of your friends to make sure you wont get any popping noises in the club.

[lws803]

Originally Posted by BassDuck

Reason is probly THE BEST as far as audio processing goes, just for the fact it is completely Propeller head no vst's no plugins, blah, blah , kind of like how mac is reliable because everything is mac certified and compatible. I have a monster of a system and ableton still gives me buffer problems to a point. I wouldn't suggest any kind of realtek or soundblaster card for live djing but if you can get it stable for you then go ahead just put it through some real life stress testing first. Do some sets at home in front of your friends to make sure you wont get any popping noises in the club.

Thanks! Yeap almost no popping sounds with reason and realtek here! I guess I'll stick with Reason for now.

Originally Posted by lws803

I'm currently eyeing Lexicon Alpha USB

Hi, make sure you get a usb 2.0 interface at least. When it doesn't say 2.0 it probably isn't.
I think the Lexicon isn't.
EMU and some of Tascam are, do check it out.

Good luck.

[lws803]

Originally Posted by electricthing

Hi, make sure you get a usb 2.0 interface at least. When it doesn't say 2.0 it probably isn't.
I think the Lexicon isn't.
EMU and some of Tascam are, do check it out.

Good luck.

Thanks, I'll have a look at some good sound cards, probably the M-audio fast track.

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by filipv

Not ALL sound blasters are pos. Many of them are - yes - pos, but not all of them.

For example, SB Live and some other soundblasters have this emu e10k chip which is quite powerful. Single digit latency and rock solid stability at 48/16, three stereo or 6 mono physical outs and a absolutely decent stereo/2xmono line input. The same chip was used in flagship emu samplers of few years ago.

I use two sblive at once in a fast quad core pc and have 12 moro or 6 stereo physical outs AND 4 mono or 2 stereo physical inputs all working simultaneously (one phys chann = one asio channel) with latency of under 10ms. If you're a bit careful with the levels while recording 16 bit - it's absolutely competent and usable audio interface and audio production system.

There are very stable windows drivers with features which will put many modern interfaces to shame.

For a long time I fantasize about blind testing gearslutz with a 48/16 recording done simultaneously on sblive and some modern audio interface. I bet that the ratio of correct/wrong answers will be close to 50:50

How anything that internally resembles to 48k is suitable for music I don't know.

Creative cards, when I used to have a pc, were fine for what they were - they had a couple of useful pieces of software,and the front panel interface was cool in a pre USB era. But the outputs were noisy, and generally there's just much better options these days!

[filipv]

Originally Posted by psycho_monkey

How anything that internally resembles to 48k is suitable for music I don't know.

Well, just record at 48k and that's it. Nothing wrong with recording at 48k! No internal conversions whatsoever. Fine, native resolution, the recordings are beautiful. No noise, great fidelity.

From then on, the sound card is irrelevant anyway. Except for monitoring, but even for monitoring, noisy as it is, sblive is fine. It's not that noisy. It is certainly quieter than any analogue devices one might be using!

For monitoring the inferface just needs to be quieter than the amp and that's it.

Yes, of course there are better sounding options (but not THAT much better, mind you!), and still IF you want to match the sblive level of stability, reliability and ASIO compatibility, it will cost an order of magnitude more. I still don't ever dare to take anything else than a sblive in front of live audience! For what it is (48/16 ASIO compatible very-low-latency interface with arbitrary signal routing) it is practically flawless.

I'd buy USB e10k based sb box in an instant so I won't need to carry around my pci-compatible desktop computer (!) for gigs. No such product, unfortunately...

[lws803]

Hmm what about line 6 sound cards? Are they good. Just tested out one of my friend's line 6 amps today, its pretty good actually for piano amplification, even though it is a guitar amp.

[big ol shea]

I will still swear by all E-MU recording devices, USB and PCI/PCMCIA to this day.

They may not be producing equipment right now, but it's still in heavy demand because of how good it is. Just make sure you get an 0404 or 0204 (they have the nicer Asahi Kasei DAC chips), and make sure it's in good physical condition, because anything that looks rough is probably damaged.

E-MU devices all go to 192kHz, but it's really not necessary to go above 44.1/48kHz.

I'd stay away from Creative devices, but E-MU gets an exception because they're only rebranded by Creative.

[filipv]

Originally Posted by cyberlurker

I had a SB Live 1024 many years ago, but I remember the outputs were extremely noisy. I don't know if it was like that when I first got it, because I remember I was very impressed with it when it was new. Is it possible for sound cards to get noisy after years of use?

That's actually is a good question. I wonder if it is possible to have an electronic fault which would manifest itself solely as an increased noise?

Originally Posted by lws803

does the external soundcards really process the sounds, or does it mostly come from the CPU?

To the op question: it mostly comes from the cpu. vsts, src, blah, blah... it is all done by the cpu. Luckily, modern cpus are so astronomically fast that basic audio processing for them is a piece of cake. The cpu delivers final ones and zeroes and there's no further processing: the interface is simply a d/a converter and nothing more. There are some audio interfaces with audio processing capabilities within themselves, but DSP audio interfaces are expensive (except sblive). Most audio interfaces are just a/d+d/a.