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Audio Sound Cards for digital recording?

Discussion in 'Recording Gear and Equipment [BG]' started by Ifrit84, Dec 1, 2005.

  1. Dec 1, 2005 #1
    Ifrit84

    Ifrit84 Inactive

    Aug 27, 2004
    London, England
    I need help, my band is recording a demo, and I've read forever on digital recording and the like, and I can have (borrow) some software suites (Acid 4.0, N-Track, Samplitude) and I was wondering what would be the best, cheapest card I could use for this? I would be running thru a mixer (so alot of inputs aren't really needed, but a few). So what sound card would you recomend, we are really on a tight budget, no one would happen to know where one could find used sound cards? I would need a slot card/usb 2.0, I have no firewire on this computer. I'd like for there to be next to no lag in the playback (live playback).

    Thanks for all the help.
     
  2. Dec 1, 2005 #2
    bassguitar

    bassguitar

    Apr 25, 2005
    T-Dizzle fo shizzle
    There's lots available, but what's your budget?
    How many ins/outs do you want?
    Do you need MIDI on the same card?
    Do you want optical in/out as well as balanced?


    MOTU
    Echo
    M-Audio
    etc. are all ones that quickly come to mind.

    Certainly get one with balanced ins/outs (usually 1/4").

    I've got and Echo Gina that I quite like. Balanced 4 in 4 out, SPIDIF, ADat, headphone out. It's a PCI card with a breakout box.
     
  3. Dec 1, 2005 #3
    Tash

    Tash

    Feb 13, 2005
    Bel Air Maryland
    http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOAP2496+

    Probably the best cheap card out there. Only does 1 stereo channel at a time, but can do 24/96 with very low latency. I used one for a couple years before moving to a multichannel interface.
     
  4. Dec 1, 2005 #4
    Ifrit84

    Ifrit84 Inactive

    Aug 27, 2004
    London, England
    Thanks for the posts, one stereo channel at a time is fine, we a running thru a mixer (bootleg I know, but we work with what we got). I see it's only 99 bucks on sale right now though, might jump on that.

    EDIT: Nevermind, Musicians Friend has it for this price always, good looking out!
     
  5. Dec 1, 2005 #5
    Tash

    Tash

    Feb 13, 2005
    Bel Air Maryland
    Zzounds has had the 2496 at $99 for over a year now. Take your time doing your research, its not going anywhere.
     
  6. Dec 2, 2005 #6
    The Owl

    The Owl

    Aug 14, 2005
    GA
    I got an M-Audio 2496 Audiophile card in my new PC, GREAT value for the money, has analog in/out, S-PDIF in/out and MIDI in/out, plus it comes bundled with Ableton Live4-LE. All for $99, very difficult to sneeze at!
     
  7. Dec 2, 2005 #7
    Ifrit84

    Ifrit84 Inactive

    Aug 27, 2004
    London, England
    Now if I can convince the drummer (a gearhead....but knows nothing of recording, his idea of recording = borrowing a protools LE setup and using his powerbook that does not have enough memory to run protools and crashes while running it + a mike in the middle of the room = recording) to let me record it, I'm off! I guess this will be a solid investment.


    EDIT: Also, this card would be able to hook up quite well with a mixer for all the mic drums + anything else I have hooked up right?