Sound blaster audigy 2 platinum

Tyler Dupont · #1 06-22-2003, 12:35 PM

ok, I just ordered a sound blaster audigy 2 platinum.. give me the lowdown .. I was gonna get an audiophile but I like the front panel idea on the sound blaster. So far reviews I've read haven't been very good.. I'd like to hear what some musicians have to say.

CrawlingEye · #2 06-22-2003, 02:17 PM

What reviews have you read?

I think the Audigy 2 is by far the best consumer grade card out there. I'm using one ATM. I haven't recorded with it, but it gives me damned near a true flat output with my Megaworks THX 550's.

Tyler Dupont · #3 06-22-2003, 07:17 PM

that's the thing.... it's apparently awesome for everything but recording.. I guess I'll just have to try to push its limits as soon as I get it so I can take it back if need be.

JMX · #4 06-22-2003, 07:27 PM

Don't, I repeat don't buy it for recording.
It can't hold up against the Audiophile, and the front panel isn't that great either.

The SB can only do 48kHz(nothing else!) with ASIO, and the record in is crippled (only 16 bit).
Drivers suck, so does support.
Creative tries to market a gamer card as a audio recording card.

CrawlingEye · #5 06-22-2003, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JMX
The SB can only do 48kHz(nothing else!) with ASIO, and the record in is crippled (only 16 bit).
Drivers suck, so does support.
Creative tries to market a gamer card as a audio recording card.

No, actually the Audigy 2 can do true 96KHz recording and the Audigy 2 has head-way'd a new slew of drivers for Creative.

If you can backup something contrary to this, I'd like to hear it. Otherwise, I suggest you go to Creative.com and take a look at all the driver releases.

I'm not going to disagree that it's not the best recording card, but to say it's stuck with 48KHz is quite behind the times. I think you're comparing a Live! or Audigy to the Audiophile, not the Audigy2, which comes with significant changes over the Audigy. One of the main changes is the 96KHz true recording capability.

Johnalex · #6 06-25-2003, 01:50 AM

I had trouble with SB's Audigy Plat EX the first. It was the biggest waste of money. If this cardand works fine for you then great, after all it is your money. I know a lot of pepole like SB's for there soundfonts, vut then again you can always get soft synths. Just make sure if you are not pleased with it you return it ASAP.

JMX · #7 06-25-2003, 05:48 AM

OK, I was still thinking of the Audigy 1 specs, but still the ASIO capabilities are not up to par, and that's what matters for audio recording:

Quote:

Though the Audigy 2 has 24-bit/ 96 kHz compatibility, the ASIO drivers on the CD are ASIO 1.0 and not ASIO 2.0. They are limited to 16 bits/ 48 kHz for recording, so there is no difference with the Audigy 1. And the effects engine is in 48 kHz only. So you can do 24-bit/ 96 kHz recording but not stay in this resolution to apply effects because if you do, the flow will be resampled in 16 bits/ 48 kHz. You can resample it in 24 bits/ 96 kHz later, but you'll have all the quality defects that resampling implies. With regard to latency times, we noticed no special improvement compared to the Audigy 1, which was, in any case, quite up to the mark in this respect. So you can work with latency ranging from 10 to 15 ms on an Athlon XP1800+. We should just add that with ASIO multimedia drivers, you can do 24-bit/ 96 kHz recording, but you will lose the advantage of the very short latency time.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/video/2...udigy2-16.html

Fleckbass211 · #8 06-25-2003, 05:01 PM

that sound card is THX certified, youll be hearing good sound out of that no matter what anyone says on any cnet or anything. I've used one before, very rich content I must say.

Now, other things are a different story....
I'm just giving input on sound, not how it handles or anything.Although it did great with me... I enjoyed it, but im currently still using my SB live.

JMX · #9 06-25-2003, 05:04 PM

But THX is useless for audio recording.
For that you need good converters and low latency drivers, preferably ASIO 2.0.

I never regretted switching from Creative Labs to M-Audio.

Fleckbass211 · #10 06-25-2003, 05:06 PM

I said he will be hearing good results. The sound quality is good, I did not say anything about recording with it. As I agree, it is generally useless for the recording process.

Good point

Rock on

Bryan_G · #11 06-25-2003, 05:21 PM

It is also useful to note that the THX certification is owned by creative labs. I wouldn't purchase anything based solely on THX cert. You should also consider what your weakest link will be. Is the rest of your recording hardware pro grade? I assume that the Audigy2 is cheaper than an M-Audio card(though I'm probably wrong). If that is the case and unless you are prepared to pay the difference, I think the Audigy2 will produce an acceptable result.

Tyler Dupont · #12 06-27-2003, 12:11 AM

thanks for the input, I've heard enough bad stuffis about creative... I went out and bought a tascam US-122 instead... quite a bit more money but it seems to be pretty kickass.

Anyone have anything to say about the US-122 ?

ole Jason · #13 06-28-2003, 04:58 PM

Why are ASIO drivers so important if you're recording real instruments w/ hardware processing? The only time I've ever felt crippled by the poor ASIO drivers (btw there are new ones w/ latency around 27ms http://www.hammersound.net) is when I've tried to use software effects or synths in real time. I'm probably missing something here so help me out haha

Bernie Connors · #14 07-09-2003, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ChronicPain
It is also useful to note that the THX certification is owned by creative labs. I wouldn't purchase anything based solely on THX cert. You should also consider what your weakest link will be. Is the rest of your recording hardware pro grade? I assume that the Audigy2 is cheaper than an M-Audio card(though I'm probably wrong). If that is the case and unless you are prepared to pay the difference, I think the Audigy2 will produce an acceptable result.

THX is owned by Lucasfilm. George Lucas owns it and just about everything else associated with it.

GreyBeard · #15 07-11-2003, 06:44 AM

I can't remember the exact model number. It didn't work well with my computer [ Dell Dim. 4300 ] The stock SB that came with it sounded better when playing back my Cool Edit mix downs. It added a lot of ticks and pops. I tried every trick the manual suggested for getting rid of the noise and nothing worked. I ended up taking it back to Circuit City and got a full refund. I hope you have better luck.