Creative - Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Sound Card vs. apogee duet

cmike9783 · 17th August 2009

I'm sure this has been posted before, but I am wondering if it is necessary that I purchase the apogee duet for my home studio, or can I get a significantly cheaper sound card. The reason I ask, is because I will not be recording vocals, or playing live instruments, just a midi keyboard, with all of the "high end" vsts, like omnisphere, east west quantum leap vst's, vienna, symphobia, etc. I really do want the best sound there is. No matter what the cost. But is it necessary if I'm not playing a live instrument or recording vocals? I know vienna costs alot, so I'm wondering if I need a highend sound card to "correspond" to the high quality sounds, or does it matter?

The reason why I ask is because I just went to best buy.com and saw this sound blaster sound card that was 40 dollars. It says its x.fi surround 5.1 which sounds good.

I know apogee duet is more expensive, but is it necesarry if I'm just going to be using VST's/plugins?

I will most likely hire an engineer to do a final mix anyways with all of my tracks....

Thanks for listening!

gussyg2007 · 17th August 2009

Simple really .... you get what you pay for .... $40 sound card is gonna sound like $40
soundblaster ......dfegad
apogee .....

allencollins · 17th August 2009

Can we block Ethan from this thread? Before I jump off the Tobin Bridge?

This is gonna leave a mark

Da Bears

allencollins · 17th August 2009

Well maybe Ill just jump off the Annisquam River bridge. I bungee corded off it when I was 15 and lived so maybe not

John Eppstein · 17th August 2009

The soundblaster is designed for gaming and is not adequate for serious recording. It has no mic input (a "computer mic" is not a real microphone and has totally different electrical characteristics) and no real line input - the "line input" is a low grade consumer spec in and will not work properly with recording quality equipment. It is noisy and has crap A/D converters as well.

If you want a cheap interface, get a Presonus Firebox.

17th August 2009	#1
cmike9783 Gear interested Joined: Jun 2009 Location: NYC Posts: 13 Thread Starter	Creative - Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Sound Card vs. apogee duet I'm sure this has been posted before, but I am wondering if it is necessary that I purchase the apogee duet for my home studio, or can I get a significantly cheaper sound card. The reason I ask, is because I will not be recording vocals, or playing live instruments, just a midi keyboard, with all of the "high end" vsts, like omnisphere, east west quantum leap vst's, vienna, symphobia, etc. I really do want the best sound there is. No matter what the cost. But is it necessary if I'm not playing a live instrument or recording vocals? I know vienna costs alot, so I'm wondering if I need a highend sound card to "correspond" to the high quality sounds, or does it matter? The reason why I ask is because I just went to best buy.com and saw this sound blaster sound card that was 40 dollars. It says its x.fi surround 5.1 which sounds good. I know apogee duet is more expensive, but is it necesarry if I'm just going to be using VST's/plugins? I will most likely hire an engineer to do a final mix anyways with all of my tracks.... Thanks for listening! Last edited by cmike9783; 17th August 2009 at 07:22 AM.. Reason: spelling errors

17th August 2009	#2
gussyg2007 Lives for gear Joined: Sep 2007 Location: Birmingham/UK Posts: 1,180	Simple really .... you get what you pay for .... $40 sound card is gonna sound like $40 soundblaster ......dfegad apogee ..... __________________ www.thegrangestudio.co.uk www.myspace.com/campbellproductions

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17th August 2009	#3
allencollins 3 + infractions, forum membership suspended. Joined: Oct 2004 Location: Rosedale Cemetery Singing Beach, MA Posts: 4,873	Can we block Ethan from this thread? Before I jump off the Tobin Bridge? This is gonna leave a mark Da Bears

17th August 2009	#5
John Eppstein Gear Guru Joined: May 2009 Location: San Francisco, CA. Posts: 10,213 51 Reviews written	The soundblaster is designed for gaming and is not adequate for serious recording. It has no mic input (a "computer mic" is not a real microphone and has totally different electrical characteristics) and no real line input - the "line input" is a low grade consumer spec in and will not work properly with recording quality equipment. It is noisy and has crap A/D converters as well. If you want a cheap interface, get a Presonus Firebox.