Hey, I wanted to know some opinions, I want an external recording device to record for my laptop. And this one looks really great M audio FastTrack Pro (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro-main.html) but I would like to know if using the outputs for some speakers it will sound better than the onboard soundcard, meaning will it work as an external soundcard too? which is what I'm most interested at.

Thanks in advance.

You might also consider one of these.
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1901

Got one from "early Santa" and just set it down on a sweatshirt on my side of the stage at a gig. AMAZING 4+ hours of CD quality hearing EVERYTHING. You can bounce tracks, have FX, etc....but I bought it simply to record CD quality ANYWHERE. Just get a 1GB or 2GB SD chip and you're good. Also takes external mics if you like..

Dumps via your USB port and comes bundled with decent software.

Hm... sounds pretty good. But almost all my friends recommended me M-audio. But what I'm more interested in right now is to know if it can also be used as an "external soundcard"

I've never heard of an external soundcard and/or am not sure what you mean.

It does have an earphone jack which could be plugged into some powered speakers OR into a power amp > speakers.

I've never heard of an external soundcard and/or am not sure what you mean.

It does have an earphone jack which could be plugged into some powered speakers OR into a power amp > speakers.
I would CALL Samson/Zoom and talk to the tech/engineering folks. It's what I've done with Tech21 SansAmp, QSC, and Sennheiser when I had a non-FAQ issue. They are more than happy to tell you the truth than a ....music store or NON-company person would be.

Sure you can, these things are basically a replacement for a sound card on steroids, you get multi inputs, outputs, MIDI and more in a box that connects to your computer by a single cable. If you look at the pic bellow, there are balanced outputs on the back that you would plug your monitors. This is actually a really nice unit.

http://www.m-audio.com/images/en/callouts/big/fasttrackpro_front-rear.jpg

M-Audio Ozone is great for a portable unit, since it features:

XLR input (w/ phantom power)
1/4" input
2 octaves of MIDI keys, pitch wheel, mod wheel, slider, 8 MIDI-assignable knobs
It'll work as an external soundcard, too, with ASIO (2.0 I believe) support
and more

Anyway, it's just a handy, portable unit that'd work great with a laptop. It's USB. I know the best external soundcards are Firewire due to the method of data transfer (stream), which makes Firewire ideal for external soundcards, but the Ozone seems to handle audio and small recording projects just fine.

[I would like to know if using the outputs for some speakers it will sound better than the onboard soundcard, meaning will it work as an external soundcard too?]


Yes it will work that way, and it will have much better sound quality than any PCI type sound card, which tend to be noisy and have other issues making them not suitable for HiFi sound. Go for it.

Ultimately, internal soundcards are better than external ones, they can get better noise levels and better latency.

Check out www.presonus.com
I have a firebox and it works great.

Another quick question do you think these M audio Studio Pro4 (http://www.thomann.de/gb/maudio_studiopro_4.htm) will sound better than my Creative Megaworks 2.1?

Or these M audio BX5a (http://www.thomann.de/gb/maudio_bx5a.htm)

If you get the Fast track I would recommend BX5a since they have balanced inputs therefore you'd get rid of any interference creeping in through the speaker cable. And of course they'll sound much better then any comp speakers.

Hm... ok. thanks, what actually bothers me a bit on the BX5a are the volume knobs on the rear on each speaker... Why has it to have 2 knobs? and in the rear? : \

Hm... ok. thanks, what actually bothers me a bit on the BX5a are the volume knobs on the rear on each speaker... Why has it to have 2 knobs? and in the rear? : \

You set those once, I have them set at max, and use the volume knob on the FastTrack which you'd normally have at an arms reach.

Anything that converts a signal from a/d and d/a is a sound card as such external or not.

What interface you use can come down to a couple of things the first one being what software are you going to use?????

How many tracks are you going to record at any one time?

seeming that m-audio is in bed with Dididesign the interface in Q. is very similar to an Mbox.

It has to channels of i/o and s/pdif and analogue outs for you yuor monitors.
The fact that it also has midi is a great tool as well.

The other cool thing it has is a "mix" knob which allows you to combat latency..

With out hearing the converters and the Pre's it ain't a bad looking little box...