Soundcard Recommendation

[DigiSquirrel]

Looking for Soundcard recommendations. My new system has an Aureal Vortex 1 -- which looks very low end to me. The card in my old machine is an ISA Soundblaster AWE 32, which has always worked great. Don't mind getting a new card, but if my old Soundblaster is the best choice, I will stick with the tired and true.

[JPDuV]

I have been making music (techno / rap) with my old Sound Blaster AWE 32 for a long time now and it works great as you say. Sound Blaster has a new Sound Blaster Live board, and a "value" edition. I think the regular is $200 and the value $100 (not positive though). I can't imagine spending less than $100 on any card i put in my computer these days. But i haven't compared cards or anyhing. Sound Blaster has (as far as i have been concerned) a solid track record the last few years, so start your search with them, and compare every thing to your "old" AWE 32 as a reference point.

And let me know what you find, as I will be soon looking to upgrade to a computer to do video as well as audio production, and will need a decent sound card.

-Jon Paul

[This_Idiot]

Digi,


If your AWE has the daughtercard adaptor on it (some do, some don't), try to get your hands on SBs wavetable card to plug in. I'm told that its the bees knees. In fact I've got one but can't find a damned SB16 or 32 to plug it into. I know that I've got one lying around with one of the relatives, so I'll go on searching for a while yet.

Meanwhile I invested in a Yamaha Waveforce XG192 which works fine and has given me no compatibility problems with any of the RRs or Marvels that I have tested. On the other hand, how much better than an AWE is it ? Unless you are into midi, probably not a lot. But having a working PCI device makes IRQ allocation a whole lot easier

[DigiSquirrel]

Thanks for the recommendations. My AWE 32 is a single card (no daughtercard). As I say, it has never caused me a problem. However, many people seem to urge the switch to PCI. I just don't think this Vortex 1 gismo is the ticket.

[Pertti]

Hi DigiSquirrel,

Just ignore the ones drooling over a PCI one, they don't know what they are talking about

Pertti

[GinoCyber]

I'll agree with Pertti. Stick with the ISA. I'm sure Doc will also agree but Rick won't

Besides, the quality of the sounds from any sound card is coming from the quality of the sampled waves. There are a few ISA cards out there that have good quality sampled waves over any PCI card.

Like the ole beast ISA Turtle Beach.

Ciao

[DrMordrid]

Not to mention the venerable AWE64. And yes I agree that PCI audo is, as Shakespeare said, much ado about nothing....

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by DrMordrid (edited 09 November 1999).]

[DigiSquirrel]

Based on the comments, I guess I will reinstall the AWE 32 from my old system. The only card I was seriously considering as an upgrade was the SB Live. Does it really do anything for me if am not a gamer or musician? Guess I'm really looking for the best sound card for video editing and basic multimedia stuff (Illuminatus). If that's my good ole AWE 32, then I've just saved a hundred bucks.

[Palliator]

The thing to remember here is that the biggest advantages of PCI audio devices are 1) support for multiple audio streams, 2) use of system memory for "Soundfonts" as opposed to interfacing the host card with costly SIMMS, and 3) easy Plug n Play with shared IRQ support. As newer cards have emerged, I think the DACs on these are capable of much cleaner audio. You can buy an inexpensive Creative Ensoniq Audio PCI for less than $30 for the retail version. It has decent MIDI, good OS support (even Linux!), and good recording / playback. Don't knock the Vortex 1 based cards, most of those used the Sigmatel chip which is quite capable of decent playback. I think as far as the AWE32 is concerned, if it suits your needs quite fine then there is no need to switch. After all, support for multiple audio streams is mostly useful for games with 3D audio support (A3D, EAX, DS, and etc.). Even if you listen to MP3s and have some wav sounds effects going from your web browser, this is perfectly acceptable for the ISA bus. Manufacturers make it sound as if CPU utilization for these simple tasks is very high and the PCI bus is the answer; it's not.

As for those Waveblaster / MIDI daughtercards: you can buy a MPU-401 ISA card like that from Roland to host the card. I have a Yamaha DB50XG that I use this way. It's GM / XG MIDI playback is much nicer than any of the default sounds on most newer cards on the market nowadays.

[inperson]

I have an awe64. It rocks, and is is a good card for music and games too. But when I watch dvds on my tv out it snaps, crackles, and pops every once in a while. Im just saying that because if you get one you may have the same problem while outputing to tape. Anyone else have issues like this?

[fluggo99]

I had the same thing happen on mine, but I thought it was just the speakers or the circuit breaker. I don't think it happens anymore now that I've moved the AWE64 to a different room. ???

P.S. - I agree, the AWE64 rocks. I've had some trouble with the Live!.


[This message has been edited by fluggo99 (edited 12 November 1999).]

[Keith Wiebe]

Don't get the Ensoniq PCI card, that's for sure. I got the Creative labs PCI 64 which turns out is the Ensoniq card and it caused considerable dropping frames and out of sync. sound. I gave up on it and got the AWE 64. If not doing any midi work just be happy with a SB 16 as the audio is the same as the AWE 64 but unfortunately it's usually around $50 for just the SB 16.

[Elie]

Hi Guys,

I have 2 PC's one with an AudioTrix 3D-XG ISA card which includes the DB60XG card (the best midi in it's class) and the least problomatic card for me to date.
I also have the Turtle Beach Montego II PCI with the Digital I/O daughter card.

When it comes to sound quality, my AudioTrix beats the crap out of the Montego II when it comes to digital (wave/mp3) and midi.
The AudioTrix 3D-XG is based 100% on the Yamaha chipset, so when it comes to THD and Dynamic Range my Yamaha card is the best in it's class.

Yamaha is comming out with a new card AC3 and all, if you can wait then great, if you need a card now then the Yamaha Waveforce 192XG Digital is a great card for the money.

Regards,
Elie

[This message has been edited by Elie (edited 13 November 1999).]

[Palliator]

Elie: I used to have one of those Audiotrix 3D-XG cards. Very cool. Besides the usual XG DSP effects that can be applied via systex to MIDI, you could apply the effects to almost any input like the SW60XG (e.g. microphone, wav, line in, and etc.). Besides the serious stuff, it was a fun card for karaoke. It's too bad the DB60XG daughtercard was only used for this card. Really the daughterboard is the same as the DB50XG, except it had a line in input on the Waveblaster interface. In fact, you can plug the board on any card with with the 26-pin header and it works (I've used in on my MX300). Mediatrix said they were working on a PCI card, but I haven't heard anything since (the AT-3D was based on Yamaha's OPL3-SA3 chip).

I haven't had any trouble with the Ensoniq cards. The SB PCI 64 is based on the 1370 while the Ensoniq Audio PCI is based on the 1371. Still they are nearly the same, so I cannot understand why that card is dropping frames.

[This message has been edited by Palliator (edited 13 November 1999).]

[Brian Ellis]

Hi, guys,

I bought a Live! about a year ago. On my computer of that time, it worked mediocrally, but video would not, no matter what I did. It was a PII/350 64 Mb RAM with Asus P2B m/b. I could not use it (or SB16) for continuous voice recognition on that computer.

I then changed the computer, added Live! and Marvel G200 AGP, updating the Live! drivers to v. 2 (a fantastic improvement). This machine has a Bravo Baby m/b and 128 Mb RAM. Since then, no looking back. I can use Live! for everything I want (I don't play games), including video work with never a hitch.

So I conclude that mixing video and PCI sound cards is probably very m/b-dependent. There is only one way of finding out: try it and see. In my case, I took the two cards to my friendly dealer and we spent an afternoon trying them out together and, when I saw they worked, I bought the computer. Oh! and I have good voice recognition, as a bonus.

------------------
Brian (the terrible)