Soundcard suggestions

NBee

NBee

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Ok when I'm using CubaseVST I'm having problems. When I try and play a plug-in VSTi, there is a massive gap between when I play the note, and when it sounds. I understand this is latency. I have tried the ASIOforAll driver, but it makes the problem worse as the recording is then all out of time. It also crashes the program when I try and edit the instrument settings.

Basically I've come to accept that my soundcard (despite its good looks) doesn't support ASIO and no tinkering with it is going to solve the problem. Does that sound reasonable? It's a Hercules GameTheatre XP which I guess was never designed for music production in the first place, more for gaming and films and general dolby stuff.

So it looks like I'm going to have to get a new soundcard. I want one that has the external interface for easy audio connections, and it must have midi in/out. I also don't want to fork out a fortune.

What can you guys recommend? What are the tried and tested cards?

Cheers for any advice.
 
Finally found some information on the Hercules support pages which states that my soundcard is not ASIO compliant, and that they have no plans to change that.

Bastards.

So it looks like I'll be forking out. I only want something that works, I'm not going to make top quality professional stuff, just playing around. So if anyone has upgraded and has an old (but working and stable) card to offload, give me a shout!
 
Note that quite a few of us have followed in Ott's footsteps and bought an Echo Gina (or a few) off eBay UK - the old 20-bit models (which sound absolutely lush) usually go for between £50 and £80-ish. If you have an external MIDI interface for your Hercules, you should still be able to use that. :)

J.
 
I've seen it mentioned a few times that people use more than one card - or a few of the same one as you suggest above.

I don't really get the principles of that - care to expend please?
 
Well, I'm only using one at present (any more and I'd start running out of room on my mixer). I'm using a little Edirol UM-2 (£45) for external MIDI, since my SBLive (which I used to use for external MIDI) doesn't like working with the Echo Gina.

Basically, your computer tells your sequencer how many external MIDI ports it can detect, and provides it with a list of the sound card drivers it can use.

Many pro-audio cards allow you to use more than one physical card (of the same type) inside your computer, but use the same driver to control it, so if a single card has 2 audio ins and 8 audio outs, doubling up would give you 4 ins and 8 outs, and so on...

Don't think that's what you're after just yet though ;)

What I meant earlier was that your computer should work fine with both an ASIO audio card in there plus the Hercules (except maybe an Audigy or E-mu, which sometimes don't like sharing) as a MIDI/Windows Audio card. One shouldn't stop the other from working.

J.
 
Oh really? That sounds interesting, cos despite its deficiencies, I love my GameTheatreXP it looks fantastic!

So what you are saying (sorry to repeat but I want to make sure...!) is that I can keep my current card for the phyiscal midi instruments and sampler (and in Cubase set the instrument to work with this card).... and also have an additional card which I use with all my VSTi's and audio tracks?

This sounds the perfect solution if it was to work, as I can buy a relatively cheap soundcard without the breakout box, and route the audio into my 4-track mixer to meet up with the existing card.

I'm just slightly dubious as to whether this really will work. Will Cubase be able to use the two in parallel correctly?
 
Well, I'd go with a card with a breakout box (like the Echo Gina or M-Audio Delta 44/66 - both of which can be got pretty cheaply 2nd hand) , but essentially yes. VST Multitrack Audio and external MIDI are handled completely separately by the program.

J.
 
JPsychodelicacy said:
Well, I'd go with a card with a breakout box (like the Echo Gina or M-Audio Delta 44/66 - both of which can be got pretty cheaply 2nd hand) , but essentially yes. VST Multitrack Audio and external MIDI are handled completely separately by the program.

J.
Click to expand...

It's annoying - the Delta 44/66 is almost my ideal solution for a complete replacement to what I have - except it doesn't have MIDI I/O ports! The latest Echo Gina does but is a bit out of my price range.
 
Well, the M-Audio Midisport 1x1 (1 in, 1 out) USB is about 30 quid, the 2 x 2 and Edirol UM-2 are about £40-45 - if you got a second-hand Delta, that'd be a complete replacement for not much, I'd wager...

J.
 
I've got a Delta 44 for sale if anyone is interested.

Also, the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 has midi, and isn't very expensive - £60 "buy it now" on ebay.
 
Just thought I'd pipe up and declare that the Delta 44 and SBLive cards co-exist quite happily, so the SB can do Midi i/o duties whilst the Delta does a stirling job on the audio front.

I've got a spare SBLive if you want it.

If you are not fussed about balanced connections, the Terratec DMX6FIRE is a nice all-in-one card for doing both midi and audio. Also has phono pre-amp for moving magnet pickups, which might or might not come in handy. About 115 quid from DV.



EDIT: I spelled something wrong.
 
Hey thanks Warwick, that Terratec is a nice looking option. In fact it's just like what I already have, except it'll work! :unsure:

Also I think that the M-Audio 2496 will actually do all I want - but it's just a bit more inconvenient that there is no breakout box, hence I can't just stick my headphones in easily.

I think the price for a new M-Audio, or a 2nd hand terratec, is about the same, £50-60, so I may try the terratec first.
 
Zaven said:
What about the Tascam USB one. Seems ok? Is it reputed to be quite shit?
Click to expand...

I don't 100% trust the bandwidth of USB 1.1 - USB 2.0 should be fine, but I don't know if your or NBee's computer has USB 2.0.

Having said that I have yet to use a bit of Tascam kit that's bad (i've mostly only used their analogue stuff though), so I reckon if you've got USB 2.0, it should be great, and may even be OK with 1.1.

J.
 
Slightly off topic, but do you know if two Delta 44s can run in parallel? THe manual says nothing about it, and the software mixer thingy doesn't appear to support it, but I haven't actually tried it yet.

ANd if it did, how would Logic deal with it, considering that there is only one ASIO driver that you can click on?

Cheers.
 
Rorymonster said:
Slightly off topic, but do you know if two Delta 44s can run in parallel? THe manual says nothing about it, and the software mixer thingy doesn't appear to support it, but I haven't actually tried it yet.

ANd if it did, how would Logic deal with it, considering that there is only one ASIO driver that you can click on?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

The delta ASIO driver supports up to 4 cards. So you'd select the ASIO driver, restart logic, and logic should present you with the correct number of In's and Out's.

Syncing the cards together is the main concern. With the Delta 66 and 410's, for example, you could do this using the SP/DIF connections - setting one card to use it's internal clock, and subsequent cards to lock to the signal coming in the SPDIF. The Delta 44 doesn't have SPDIF, so you can't do it this way, but I believe that it is still possible to sync multiple cards if you are using XP. Best to check MAudio website for help on that.

In fact, it mentions multiple Delta 44's :

The Operating Systems Windows 2000/XP support "KernelSync" and do not necessarily need the external connection using S/PDIF. Delta 44 can only be stacked in these Operating Systems, since this card does not have a S/PDIF connector.
Click to expand...

KernelSync? WTF is that?
 
Warwick Bassmonkey said:
The Operating Systems Windows 2000/XP support "KernelSync" and do not necessarily need the external connection using S/PDIF. Delta 44 can only be stacked in these Operating Systems, since this card does not have a S/PDIF connector.
Click to expand...

KernelSync? WTF is that?
Click to expand...

I have no idea!

Otherwise, cheers mate, I'll try putting both my 44s in my computer tonight.
 
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