I know that probably no one would be able to tell me if this soundcard is good or bad, since probably people here either work with a desktop or if they do have a laptop, they have firewire.. which I don't have...
so anyways, would this be a good investment?
http://www.soundblaster.com/products/pr ... duct=10769
Sound Cards ( some advice needed )
If you are looking for an offboard soundfont engine, the pcmcia Audigy card is sneaky "creative" creativity at work, it really uses a software soundfont player masquerading as the hardware engine found in the other Audigy cards. And there have been reported troubles of all kinds because of it. One fellow gave up and installed the free SFZ software soundfont player and uses it through the card. That ain't right.
I'm flat knocked out by the sound of my EMU 1616M pcmcia card. And with a $20 SYBA adaptor, it works in my desktop too.
Drivers are a bit flakey. So what. I can get it to record through those glorious converters and clock in that thing and that's all I really want. The "M" suffix models contain the very same converters as in the Protool$ stuff. There isn't another prosumer card on the market that can touch the jitter-free audio I'm getting at the price this card sells for. But it costs more than the Audigy. You also get two really nice mic preamps in the microdock, multiple inputs and outputs but because of EMUs weird driver software you can't use multiple inputs with the Windows drivers on the "EMU ASIO" as they call it.
Here is a shot old bubba made of his lady on an EMU M card:
http://www.artistcollaboration.com/~bub ... yNight.wma
Yeh, she's got pipes.
You hear the noise floor on that soundcard?
I can't.
Clock jitter and converter work together to kill the audio in most consumer and a lot of prosumer soundcards.
I used to use an AP 24/96 just like yours but drove it with an external clock. $99 soundcard being driven by a $400 clock. Was superb, though, disconnect the external clock and the mixes sounded so lackluster it wasn't funny.
My EMU 1616M blows that setup into the river.
Soundwise.
Ease of use curve is high, learning curve may be higher.
And EMU is well, EMU.
--Mac
I'm flat knocked out by the sound of my EMU 1616M pcmcia card. And with a $20 SYBA adaptor, it works in my desktop too.
Drivers are a bit flakey. So what. I can get it to record through those glorious converters and clock in that thing and that's all I really want. The "M" suffix models contain the very same converters as in the Protool$ stuff. There isn't another prosumer card on the market that can touch the jitter-free audio I'm getting at the price this card sells for. But it costs more than the Audigy. You also get two really nice mic preamps in the microdock, multiple inputs and outputs but because of EMUs weird driver software you can't use multiple inputs with the Windows drivers on the "EMU ASIO" as they call it.
Here is a shot old bubba made of his lady on an EMU M card:
http://www.artistcollaboration.com/~bub ... yNight.wma
Yeh, she's got pipes.
You hear the noise floor on that soundcard?
I can't.
Clock jitter and converter work together to kill the audio in most consumer and a lot of prosumer soundcards.
I used to use an AP 24/96 just like yours but drove it with an external clock. $99 soundcard being driven by a $400 clock. Was superb, though, disconnect the external clock and the mixes sounded so lackluster it wasn't funny.
My EMU 1616M blows that setup into the river.
Soundwise.
Ease of use curve is high, learning curve may be higher.
And EMU is well, EMU.
--Mac
Best Xmas Song?
MTS seems to be the ideal platform to record "O Holy Night" on.
Whilst teaching someone how to use VST instruments (Roland Sound Canvas, Linplug Albino 3, Arturia ARP2600V and Paax 3) only for recording purposes we had a go at this song as well. Interesting trawling the internet for Christmas based MIDI FILES however. Some great ones out there to experiment and hone skills with......
http://www.phoenixdesigns.org/xmasmusic ... ynight.mp3
Damn shame though we had to make do with "operatic singer" samples and not the real thing
Nick B
Whilst teaching someone how to use VST instruments (Roland Sound Canvas, Linplug Albino 3, Arturia ARP2600V and Paax 3) only for recording purposes we had a go at this song as well. Interesting trawling the internet for Christmas based MIDI FILES however. Some great ones out there to experiment and hone skills with......
http://www.phoenixdesigns.org/xmasmusic ... ynight.mp3
Damn shame though we had to make do with "operatic singer" samples and not the real thing
Nick B
"O Holy Night" was originally written for guitar.
Key of E -- and easy.
Elvis and the boys used that to great advantage and the rest of the guitar world took notice at the time.
Seems that the classical boys an girls had relegated that folk song to their domain and had forgotten or ignored where it came from.
Another great "guitar" Christmas Carol is Silent Night.
Based on an old German Drinking Folksong, it came about on Christmas Eve in Germany somewhere when the church pipe organ broke down and was deemed irreparable in time for the Christmas service.
The Pastor quickly penned some lyrics to go with the folksong that the organ player could already play on the guitar.
And a classic was born.
Gee, I wondered why they made me study all that crap in Composition class.
Finally get to use it. (grin)
Nice sequence, nickb -- ya fooled me with the opener.
I like surprises that end well.
--Mac
Key of E -- and easy.
Elvis and the boys used that to great advantage and the rest of the guitar world took notice at the time.
Seems that the classical boys an girls had relegated that folk song to their domain and had forgotten or ignored where it came from.
Another great "guitar" Christmas Carol is Silent Night.
Based on an old German Drinking Folksong, it came about on Christmas Eve in Germany somewhere when the church pipe organ broke down and was deemed irreparable in time for the Christmas service.
The Pastor quickly penned some lyrics to go with the folksong that the organ player could already play on the guitar.
And a classic was born.
Gee, I wondered why they made me study all that crap in Composition class.
Finally get to use it. (grin)
Nice sequence, nickb -- ya fooled me with the opener.
I like surprises that end well.
--Mac
Christmas Carols
Thanks Mac....
Didn't know the story behind "O Holy Night". Must admit to only have discovered the tune about 3 years ago, but is my fave. Nice lot of structure in there that allows for interpretation.
"Silent Night" :I seem to recall mice or rats chewing through the organ pipes thus precipating the guitar playing. Although judging by some of the church organists I've heard perform, it's a pity there aren't more musical rodents out there
On the soundcard front have to confess to using a External Soundblaster Live! 24. Teamed up with ASIO 4ALL drivers results have been pretty good. Not a bad Soundfont Set (Strings, Harpsichord, Voices in particular) Never one to grumble at a latency of 3ms as well.
Nick B
Didn't know the story behind "O Holy Night". Must admit to only have discovered the tune about 3 years ago, but is my fave. Nice lot of structure in there that allows for interpretation.
"Silent Night" :I seem to recall mice or rats chewing through the organ pipes thus precipating the guitar playing. Although judging by some of the church organists I've heard perform, it's a pity there aren't more musical rodents out there
On the soundcard front have to confess to using a External Soundblaster Live! 24. Teamed up with ASIO 4ALL drivers results have been pretty good. Not a bad Soundfont Set (Strings, Harpsichord, Voices in particular) Never one to grumble at a latency of 3ms as well.
Nick B
Technology gets in the way?
I quite like the (much maligned?) Soundblaster Cards. Especially when teamed with MTS. Zero problems as we speak. I have decided not to go back to bouncing signals between two cassette recorders and telephone exchange wiring for all of my recordings. Anyway, way let technological worries get in the way of the creative processes? I did hear Elton John in a recent TV bio state it took them 2 weeks to write and record "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". First takes were used on some of the tracks. He then said, today, you might have to take 2 years to get it just right 
When the original Soundblaster Live! full card came out back in '98, I was one of the first in line.
I used that card for three years, creating jingles and industrial musics for TV, Radio and other video soundtracks and stuff.
Sold 'em.
My audio kept up with the stuff from studios that spent thousands of dollars on digital solutions -- Protools, Paris, etc.
But I never told any of the clients or anyone else that it was all done on a Soundblaster Live! card.
I ain't stupid.
They are.
Ethan Winer was using the same card for the longest time, too.
Then, when the APS-in-Live project came to be, followed up by the KX driver project, new life was breathed into the old consumer soundcard -- I was amazed that the driver and software change actually yielded a lower noise floor as measured on external test gear I have here, plus there was added headroom! Evidently Creative/EMU wasn't pushing the hardware to its limits. And they still don't.
I once desoldered the clock modules on two of three SBLive! cards and connected them to the clock on the first one, installed all three in one pc and had a 6-input multichannel system that ran dead in sync for 19 dollars/stereo pair.
Have also experimented with removing the clock module entirely and clocking these cards with external variable-rate clock generator, yielding a speed control that acted much like the hardware vari-speed knob on the old analog tape decks. Like Geils emulates in MTS today. Used it to easily match up problems in files made elsewhere, tweak up a mix or master, etc. Turn the knob and the file instantly changes pitch (grin). There is a limit though, just as there is in overclocking. Too fast and no more EMU10K chip. Smoke. Glue a heatsink to the 10K1 with thermal conductive adhesive and you can push the limits a bit, though.
One of the biggest single factors in the sound of digital audio, other than the converter choice, is the clock.
Internal clocks in soundcards are usually not up to the task and it is the clock jitter that can make your audio sound gritty.
Clocking the old lowly Soundblaster Live! card (or most other soundcards for that matter) with a good external clock source can be a real ear-opener. Assembled external clock can be costly. I built mine from scratch. Because I can, and because I'm a cheapskate. (grin)
I still keep that old Live! card up and running in a box that at one time was the DAW, PIII 450 o'clocked under Win98SE with WDM driver add-on, I use that box for the occasional Mastering to this day, also it serves as a standalone "sampler" machine where soundfonts, gigastudio and a few other things live. The Live! card also makes an excellent effects unit in this fashion, coupled to the main DAW via SPDIF. Bypasses the DAC entirely and the noise floor falls considerably. Only caveat is that you have to work at 48KHz only, because it is the native speed of the EMU10K1 and 2 chips. No big deal, convert when the thing is done.
--Mac
I used that card for three years, creating jingles and industrial musics for TV, Radio and other video soundtracks and stuff.
Sold 'em.
My audio kept up with the stuff from studios that spent thousands of dollars on digital solutions -- Protools, Paris, etc.
But I never told any of the clients or anyone else that it was all done on a Soundblaster Live! card.
I ain't stupid.
They are.
Ethan Winer was using the same card for the longest time, too.
Then, when the APS-in-Live project came to be, followed up by the KX driver project, new life was breathed into the old consumer soundcard -- I was amazed that the driver and software change actually yielded a lower noise floor as measured on external test gear I have here, plus there was added headroom! Evidently Creative/EMU wasn't pushing the hardware to its limits. And they still don't.
I once desoldered the clock modules on two of three SBLive! cards and connected them to the clock on the first one, installed all three in one pc and had a 6-input multichannel system that ran dead in sync for 19 dollars/stereo pair.
Have also experimented with removing the clock module entirely and clocking these cards with external variable-rate clock generator, yielding a speed control that acted much like the hardware vari-speed knob on the old analog tape decks. Like Geils emulates in MTS today. Used it to easily match up problems in files made elsewhere, tweak up a mix or master, etc. Turn the knob and the file instantly changes pitch (grin). There is a limit though, just as there is in overclocking. Too fast and no more EMU10K chip. Smoke. Glue a heatsink to the 10K1 with thermal conductive adhesive and you can push the limits a bit, though.
One of the biggest single factors in the sound of digital audio, other than the converter choice, is the clock.
Internal clocks in soundcards are usually not up to the task and it is the clock jitter that can make your audio sound gritty.
Clocking the old lowly Soundblaster Live! card (or most other soundcards for that matter) with a good external clock source can be a real ear-opener. Assembled external clock can be costly. I built mine from scratch. Because I can, and because I'm a cheapskate. (grin)
I still keep that old Live! card up and running in a box that at one time was the DAW, PIII 450 o'clocked under Win98SE with WDM driver add-on, I use that box for the occasional Mastering to this day, also it serves as a standalone "sampler" machine where soundfonts, gigastudio and a few other things live. The Live! card also makes an excellent effects unit in this fashion, coupled to the main DAW via SPDIF. Bypasses the DAC entirely and the noise floor falls considerably. Only caveat is that you have to work at 48KHz only, because it is the native speed of the EMU10K1 and 2 chips. No big deal, convert when the thing is done.
--Mac
-
NystagmusE
That's pretty amazing Mac. I love it when people hack their machines into doing interesting things.
I don't know about the Audigy, but I used to use a SoundBlaster Riviera card. The noise levels were audible at about -51 dBfs, so I had to use CoolEdit's noise reduction algorithm on most of my recordings. However that did help a lot.
Then later on I got an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 for 90 dollars. The Audiophile is better because it supports low latency ASIO unlike the Riviera. The noise is inaudible, and the pro bit resolution and sampling rates are great.
The only thing good things about the Riviera was that it also ran under DOS, had an ok General MIDI synth and was a bit louder.
I don't know about the Audigy, but I used to use a SoundBlaster Riviera card. The noise levels were audible at about -51 dBfs, so I had to use CoolEdit's noise reduction algorithm on most of my recordings. However that did help a lot.
Then later on I got an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 for 90 dollars. The Audiophile is better because it supports low latency ASIO unlike the Riviera. The noise is inaudible, and the pro bit resolution and sampling rates are great.
The only thing good things about the Riviera was that it also ran under DOS, had an ok General MIDI synth and was a bit louder.
Thanks Mac,
For all of the info and advice. Much appreciated on all fronts. Lucky nowadays that a lot of hardware limitations can have software solutions. We are using the Kjaerhus GAC VST plugin most of the time. A piece of software that just seems to add that extra spark and quality, and at a pretty lot price in terms of procession power and cost.
"The Cheaper Solution": A approach I like myself. In a previous life we used to design large websites. About 1500 page types with about the same number of FLASH animations. A US internet magazine did a small interview about one of the sites. The "technophobe" type interviewer raved about Macromedia's FLASH program and high-grade HTML design software. We had to admit to using the 10 times cheaper SWISH FLASH animator and a HTML program we gleaned off the front of a $5 computer magazine CD that was 9 years out of date. Interestingly no web visitor noticed this "cheapskate" approach.
Nick B
For all of the info and advice. Much appreciated on all fronts. Lucky nowadays that a lot of hardware limitations can have software solutions. We are using the Kjaerhus GAC VST plugin most of the time. A piece of software that just seems to add that extra spark and quality, and at a pretty lot price in terms of procession power and cost.
"The Cheaper Solution": A approach I like myself. In a previous life we used to design large websites. About 1500 page types with about the same number of FLASH animations. A US internet magazine did a small interview about one of the sites. The "technophobe" type interviewer raved about Macromedia's FLASH program and high-grade HTML design software. We had to admit to using the 10 times cheaper SWISH FLASH animator and a HTML program we gleaned off the front of a $5 computer magazine CD that was 9 years out of date. Interestingly no web visitor noticed this "cheapskate" approach.
Nick B
I can dig it.
My grandfather was a very skilled old-school carpenter.
He could do more amazing things with wood and a carry trough of old fashioned hand tools than my dad and I could pull off with a basement full of power tools.
And sometimes faster, too.
Well, with power tools I can make mistakes twice as fast...
--Mac
My grandfather was a very skilled old-school carpenter.
He could do more amazing things with wood and a carry trough of old fashioned hand tools than my dad and I could pull off with a basement full of power tools.
And sometimes faster, too.
Well, with power tools I can make mistakes twice as fast...
--Mac