Seeking help on sound card !

Seeking help on sound card !

Hello to everyone !

I am here to seek advise from all the gurus here.

I am in the process of building my own intel core-4 machine, and I am
thinking of getting a brand new sound card for it. My current
soundcard, the one in my old machine, is Creative Soundblaster X-Fi
Elite Pro.

My budget for the new sound card is $750, while I can get anther X-Fi
Elite Pro, I do not see the point. What I am looking for is a sound
card that is at least as good as X-Fi Elite Pro, can do input and
output at 48-bits / 384 KHz.

I compose music, and that is a very taxing stuff for sound card. I
need the best sound card that I can afford so I won't have to worry
about anything when I do music composing. I need your advise as to
which sound card I should purchase.

Please help !

Thank you !

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

"pg" <penang@catholic.org> wrote in message
news:7825478d-b4a6-49cd-9aea-7d90292d279b@n22g2000prh.googlegroups . com
> Hello to everyone !
>
> I am here to seek advise from all the gurus here.
>
> I am in the process of building my own intel core-4
> machine, and I am thinking of getting a brand new sound
> card for it. My current soundcard, the one in my old
> machine, is Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Elite Pro.
>
> My budget for the new sound card is $750, while I can get
> anther X-Fi Elite Pro, I do not see the point. What I am
> looking for is a sound card that is at least as good as
> X-Fi Elite Pro, can do input and output at 48-bits / 384
> KHz.
>
> I compose music, and that is a very taxing stuff for
> sound card. I need the best sound card that I can afford
> so I won't have to worry about anything when I do music
> composing. I need your advise as to which sound card I
> should purchase.

If you are like the other composers I know, you are a heavy user of
MIDI-generated sounds.

Gaming-type sound cards such as the X-Fi are a good choice for you, because
they generally have the best MIDI synths of most kinds of audio interfaces.

Another option is to use software to generate the musical sounds that you
use for listening to your compositions. These can be as simple or as
complex as you might imagine. AFAIK, software MIDI generators will work with
the simplest, cheapest audio interfaces around.

Bottom line, I really can't see any benefits to an audio interface that
delivers audio at 48 bits and 384 Ksamples per second for your, or any other
audio purpose.

BTW, when you say 384 KHz, do you mean 384 bits per second, or 384 samples
per second?

Re: Seeking help on sound card !


"Arny Krueger" <arnyk@hotpop . com > wrote in message
news:zbWdnYcXs8aaOQXanZ2dnUVZ_t6onZ2d@comcast . com ...
> "pg" <penang@catholic.org> wrote in message
> news:7825478d-b4a6-49cd-9aea-7d90292d279b@n22g2000prh.googlegroups . com
> > I am here to seek advise from all the gurus here.
> >
> > I am in the process of building my own intel core-4
> > machine, and I am thinking of getting a brand new sound
> > card for it. My current soundcard, the one in my old
> > machine, is Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Elite Pro.
> >
> > My budget for the new sound card is $750, while I can get
> > anther X-Fi Elite Pro, I do not see the point. What I am
> > looking for is a sound card that is at least as good as
> > X-Fi Elite Pro, can do input and output at 48-bits / 384
> > KHz.

Good luck finding a card with that extreme level of overkill. No card can
yet deliver a genuine 24 bits resolution, and it's extremely unlikely any
will any time soon.
And unless you are using the card to make measurements, (you say it's for
music) why on earth would you need a sampling rate of 384kHz?!!!!!!!!!!
Even dogs can't hear 192kHz frequencies, I'm not sure anything can.


> > I compose music, and that is a very taxing stuff for
> > sound card.

Not at all, even your SB X-Fi can manage it, if you have the rest of the
necessary equipment, software, and technical skills.

I need the best sound card that I can afford
> > so I won't have to worry about anything when I do music
> > composing. I need your advise as to which sound card I
> > should purchase.

> Bottom line, I really can't see any benefits to an audio interface that
> delivers audio at 48 bits and 384 Ksamples per second for your, or any
other
> audio purpose.
>
> BTW, when you say 384 KHz, do you mean 384 bits per second, or 384 samples
> per second?


He obviously means 8 times 48kHz. 4 times 96kHz, or twice the usual maximum
sample rate of 192kHz IMO.

He's either a totally clueless "spec junkie" or just another troll.

MrT.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:43:20 -0500, "Arny Krueger" <arnyk@hotpop . com >
wrote:

>> I am in the process of building my own intel core-4
>> machine, and I am thinking of getting a brand new sound
>> card for it. My current soundcard, the one in my old
>> machine, is Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Elite Pro.
>>
>> My budget for the new sound card is $750, while I can get
>> anther X-Fi Elite Pro, I do not see the point. What I am
>> looking for is a sound card that is at least as good as
>> X-Fi Elite Pro, can do input and output at 48-bits / 384
>> KHz.
>>
>> I compose music, and that is a very taxing stuff for
>> sound card. I need the best sound card that I can afford
>> so I won't have to worry about anything when I do music
>> composing. I need your advise as to which sound card I
>> should purchase.

Let's stop picking holes in the question, and try to find what he
really needs!

If his method of "composing music" requires considerable computer
power, I think we can assume he uses a sequencer with lots of software
synthesizers/samplers and plenty of plug-in effects. This is one of
the few activities where getting near the cutting-edge of computer
performance CAN be a real advantage, and a quad-core CPU is not a
foolish choice.

He'll need an efficient soundcard with ASIO drivers. He MAY need
multiple inputs and outputs. He MAY need microphone inputs and MAY
prefer these to be integral to the soundcard.

I think he's confusing bits, bit rates and sample rates. Software
samplers generally perform best at 44.1KHz. A modern card will
doubtless have 96KHz and maybe even 192KHz available, but I've yet to
find a need to use them :-)

If he wants a one-line answer - get a RME Fireface 400 or 800. They
cover most needs a home studio might come up with and the company seem
to know what they're doing.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

On Jan 25, 5:27 am, Laurence Payne <NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex . com >
wrote:
> Let's stop picking holes in the question, and try to find what he
> really needs!

Exactly! But this is Usenet. It's rare that someone who needs such
basic advice ever asks the right question or gives enough information.
And it's common to ridicule the poster in an attempt to show him that
he didn't ask the right question.

Maybe we'll hear more from him, or maybe not. I think he gets the idea
that this isn't the place to find support for his concept that a high
powered SoundBlaster card is a good choice for serious music
production, and that's a start.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

"Mike Rivers" wrote ...
> Laurence Payne wrote:
>> Let's stop picking holes in the question, and try to find what he
>> really needs!
>
> Exactly! But this is Usenet. It's rare that someone who needs such
> basic advice ever asks the right question or gives enough information.
> And it's common to ridicule the poster in an attempt to show him that
> he didn't ask the right question.
>
> Maybe we'll hear more from him, or maybe not. I think he gets the idea
> that this isn't the place to find support for his concept that a high
> powered SoundBlaster card is a good choice for serious music
> production, and that's a start.

Of course, since he cross-posted to such a wide variety of news-
groups, he likely doesn't know that "here" is rec.audio.pro.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !


"Richard Crowley" <rcrowley@xp7rt . net > wrote in message
news:5vultqF1o877iU1@mid.individual . net ...
> Of course, since he cross-posted to such a wide variety of news-
> groups, he likely doesn't know that "here" is rec.audio.pro.

Only if that's the group you happen to be reading it from! :-)

MrT.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

On Jan 25, 12:51 pm, "Richard Crowley" <rcrow...@xp7rt . net > wrote:

> Of course, since he cross-posted to such a wide variety of news-
> groups, he likely doesn't know that "here" is rec.audio.pro.

Eeez not my problem.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
> Let's stop picking holes in the question, and try to find what he
> really needs!
>
> If his method of "composing music" requires considerable computer
> power, I think we can assume he uses a sequencer with lots of software
> synthesizers/samplers and plenty of plug-in effects. This is one of
> the few activities where getting near the cutting-edge of computer
> performance CAN be a real advantage, and a quad-core CPU is not a
> foolish choice.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that if he were that
sophisticated, he would have included a few of those facts
in his question.

Also remember that *composing music* doesn't involve the use
of synthisizers, simple or sophisticated. Most of this planet's
great music was *composed* with little more than an old,
rickety piano. Yes, I will be the first to admit that is is very
gratifying to hear your composition played back, bar by bar,
instrument by instrument (or tutti), on a great synthisizer, but it
is not *required* for music composition. And lack of a good
synthisizer cannot be logically argued to "limit" a composer.
A great synthisizer is a "nice to have" at best.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:13:53 -0800, "Richard Crowley"
<rcrowley@xp7rt . net > wrote:

>> Let's stop picking holes in the question, and try to find what he
>> really needs!
>>
>> If his method of "composing music" requires considerable computer
>> power, I think we can assume he uses a sequencer with lots of software
>> synthesizers/samplers and plenty of plug-in effects. This is one of
>> the few activities where getting near the cutting-edge of computer
>> performance CAN be a real advantage, and a quad-core CPU is not a
>> foolish choice.
>
>It doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that if he were that
>sophisticated, he would have included a few of those facts
>in his question.
>
>Also remember that *composing music* doesn't involve the use
>of synthisizers, simple or sophisticated. Most of this planet's
>great music was *composed* with little more than an old,
>rickety piano. Yes, I will be the first to admit that is is very
>gratifying to hear your composition played back, bar by bar,
>instrument by instrument (or tutti), on a great synthisizer, but it
>is not *required* for music composition. And lack of a good
>synthisizer cannot be logically argued to "limit" a composer.
>A great synthisizer is a "nice to have" at best.


You're starting from the supposition that his question was stupid.
Therefore your responses are mere mockery. You seem to do that quite
a lot round here. Whatever floats your boat :-)

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
> You're starting from the supposition that his question was stupid.
> Therefore your responses are mere mockery. You seem to do that quite
> a lot round here. Whatever floats your boat :-)

And you appear to spend as much time criticizing
other posters as you do actually contributing anything
to the discussions. Guess we know what floats YOUR
boat, as well.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:25:15 -0800, "Richard Crowley"
<rcrowley@xp7rt . net > wrote:

>> You're starting from the supposition that his question was stupid.
>> Therefore your responses are mere mockery. You seem to do that quite
>> a lot round here. Whatever floats your boat :-)
>
>And you appear to spend as much time criticizing
>other posters as you do actually contributing anything
>to the discussions. Guess we know what floats YOUR
>boat, as well.

I'll take that as "Sorry, I'll try to help rather than mock in future"
shall I? :-)

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
> You're starting from the supposition that his question was stupid.

OK, Mr. Payne. Explain what is NOT stupid about a request
for "input and output at 48-bits / 384 KHz". And for "music
composition", yet! This should be fascinating.

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

In article <5vurneF1oafoiU1@mid.individual . net >,
Richard Crowley <rcrowley@xp7rt . net > wrote:
>"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
>> You're starting from the supposition that his question was stupid.
>
>OK, Mr. Payne. Explain what is NOT stupid about a request
>for "input and output at 48-bits / 384 KHz". And for "music
>composition", yet! This should be fascinating.

I strongly recommend reading Kornbluth's story "The Marching Morons,"
with the cars that go 600 miles an hour by virtue of redefining the units.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Re: Seeking help on sound card !

"Scott Dorsey" <kludge@panix . com > wrote in message
news:fnddqt$pse$1@panix2.panix . com ...
> In article <5vurneF1oafoiU1@mid.individual . net >,
> Richard Crowley <rcrowley@xp7rt . net > wrote:
>>"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
>>> You're starting from the supposition that his question was stupid.
>>
>>OK, Mr. Payne. Explain what is NOT stupid about a request
>>for "input and output at 48-bits / 384 KHz". And for "music
>>composition", yet! This should be fascinating.
>
> I strongly recommend reading Kornbluth's story "The Marching Morons,"
> with the cars that go 600 miles an hour by virtue of redefining the units.

One of my all time favorite stories! It's funny that you should mention it
now...my wife brought it up the other day...probably has to do with all the
brilliant people we meet daily.