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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Best cheap sound card?

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3/17/1999 9:07 AM
fet	Best cheap sound card? You guys are great - the Ampage is the best audio education I know. Thanks for your comments re MiniDisc. Another IYHO question: what's the best low-buck (under $150) PC sound card suitable for digital multi-track recording?

3/17/1999 9:36 AM

FET

I am a believer that the problem is the A/D and D/A once the signal is digital it should not matter (yes I know about p/s noise,jitter and and sound cards not having a flat freg response) when I have time I am going to work on modding some cheap cards. I think you get what you pay for at the present time IMHO. The Sam Ash by me has at least one knowageble sales person next time I am at the store I will ask him.

Gus

3/17/1999 10:28 AM
Roger	I've had good luck with the Ensoniq Soundscape. It is reliable and syncs up to multitrack software well. I bought a Voyetra Daytona because it was PCI... piece of trash. It will not hold sync. #Roger

3/17/1999 11:22 AM
GFR	I use a Soundblaster PCI 64. I think it's made by Ensoniq (OEM). It syncs nicely with Cakewalk 6, and it's hardware full duplex. The review at http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/ is a good one, and indeed I've got some good sounding results. The only problem is that it only records two tracks at a time. PS My graphics card is AGP so it doesn't compete with the sound card for the PCI bus.

3/19/1999 6:12 AM
Roger	The Ensoniq AudioPCI is available for as low as $24. It should perform admirably. Check prices at: http://www.pricewatch.com/ The 20-bit or 24-bit cards will give better performance but they're not available under $150 that I can find. #Roger

4/2/1999 1:15 AM

Roger:

I just saw the SB/Ensoniq AudioPCI card for $29.95 today- with a mail-in rebate of $20.00 (for a net price of $9.95). How would that card compare to the Ensoniq Soundscape that you mentioned in another post?

I'm asking because I have an ancient SB AWE64 Value Edition that cost me almost $200 maybe 5 years ago. Assuming that I have a PCI slot to spare should I "dump that chump" and put in the Esq. AudioPCI card for better A/D? (An Event Gina card is on my wish list, but that may take awhile to happen...)

Steve Ahola

4/29/1999 11:10 AM

I have been really happy with the two Turtlebeach cards that I've used. The Maui is a 64-voice wavetable card with very clean converters IME. We actually use one of these at work to record EKG signals and it's amazingly low noise. We now have one of the world's most advanced EKG recording systems (most digital EKG's collect at 100Hz, using 12-bit A/D; we collect at 6000 Hz, using 16-bits) and it costs us a whopping $24 for the card. It puts our existing polygraph system to shame and that costs $30K.

By comparison, I tried this system with an existing CL SB16 and it was INCREDIBLY noisy. That's probably why Creative labs doesn't make their S/N figures very easy to find out (try to find them on the website... they're around 78dB). The TB card's is >90dB.

I was so happy with the TB at work that when I had to buy a new card at home I chose the Montego (next step up from the Maui; it's an 18-bit card). So far I've been really happy with this card as well and it only costs $27 through Compu-U-Plus (found via www.pricewatch.com).

I cannot speak for the quality of audio quality of these cards though since I use a Gadget Labs 8/24 for my actual recordings at home and the one at work obviously isn't used for audio (though noise is VERY obvious in the EKG signal if it's present).

For the original poster: If you want the next step up, look at the Gadget Labs wave/4. It does 4 ins and 4 outs (obviously 4 ins is better than 2), and is only $250 new. It's gotten a LOT of positive reviews and very few complaints. It can also work with your existing soundcard since it's primarly job is A/D and D/A.

MJ

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