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Is anybody using a Sound Blaster USB soundcard, and if so, how do they get along with BIAB? I've been looking at the various models available, but I know nothing about them. Does anybody have any advice?

Thanks,
Dennis1945

Budget? For USB look at the EMU 404 ... it's Creative's, the manufacturer of SoundBlaster, pro line.

I don't know about getting along ... I have a high end sound card whose ASIO drivers don't get along.

I could write a small ariticle on sound cards, I've owned so many!

1st ... bus type. In order of highest performance: PCIe, PCI, FW, USB 2.0 and USB 1.1.

2nd ... I/O ... do you want to record a band or just you and a guitar? So, do you need an 8X8, or will a 2X2 do?

3rd ... do you want midi connectivity for keyboard or controller? If so, you'll want one with midi ports.

4th ... do you want built in mic pres (and DI inputs)? Many audio interfaces come with built in mic pres. Again, EMU 1616M (for which you can or soon will also be able to buy a PCIe card) is a pretty decent mid price and mid level audio interface with all the above features.

The high end 'prosumer' brands are RME, Lynx and, if you're on a Mac, Apogee.

Your audio interface is one of your essential links in your digital music chain.

Go to Tweakheadz.com and read the tutorial about selecting an audio interface. As they say, 'buy nice, or buy twice' ... or thrice.

Prado

There is one more company I'd add to the good info you've gotten above, and that is the M-Audio.

The M-Audio Fast Track Pro.

--Mac

Thanks guys, good info indeed. I want to record guitar with BIAB backing, and I use a mic with my harmonicas. I also have a basic midi controller, the M-Audio 25, that I can't get my head around yet. Btw, my PC is 11 years old. No laughing, please.

Quote:

Btw, my PC is 11 years old. No laughing, please.

No laughter, but a caveat -- make sure that whatever sound device you are looking at will run on the older PC and OS, also that there are drivers available for that OS -- before buying.

--Mac

I've got tears in my eyes now. Honest, no sense in putting a ferrari engine in a 40 year old pickup truck with mis-painted fenders. When I need something new I 'un-retire' for a week and make the money. I guess that's a luxury, and I'm always unhappy working, but if it gets me somewhere.....well I do it.

Right now I'm supposed to be writing a risk management plan and manuals for someone who's paying me 2k for the work. It's gonna take at least 4 hours and I'm PRO-crastinating. I'm a PRO at that. Good thing I have the templates and most of the work is to take it to the Kinkos and have them bind the stuff with some changed pics, new company names and shrink wrap it and send it a day late saying it was complicated. They asked me to do 3 more of these and I asked for one a month cause I'm busy, which is BS but who cares. If I needed the cash I'd be do them all faster but if they think it takes 4 hours I'm going to get 2k to do the works.

Nice when the client is totally computer illiterate and so is his staff.

One of the brothers calls me yesterday. I say "You know I charge $100 to talk to me on Sunday, I've got company." He doesn't care.

10 minutes later I have to calculate 60 types of liquor, cost per drink, profit per drink, current price/profit ratio and send him a spreadsheet. $500 for an hours work. These guys are crazy. Never heard of a spreadsheet. I think I'll do it in 4 colours and ask for an extra $100 for ink cartridges. LOL.

John,

Nice work if ya can get it.

R.

Quote:

Btw, my PC is 11 years old. No laughing, please.

I knew a guy who bragged about this axe his grandfather had given him when he was fifteen. "Best axe I've ever owned," he said. "I've put three new heads on it and changed the handle five times. Granddad's axe is just amazing!"

My PC is seven years old, but it's more like granddad's axe, or Frankenstein's monster. The mobo failed just before the warranty was up, so I have a six-year-old replacement. I've replaced the power supply two or three times, the last being this past fall. The $200 gamer video card that I bought at a yard sale for $10 just blew, so I replaced it with a new OEM piece with twice as much RAM for $15. The C: drive--the 60 gig Maxtor with Win2K loaded--failed when I moved in the summer of 08. Its replacement is running a factory-fresh copy of XP Pro SP2 I got from a Microsoft employee for $35. I replaced the D: drive, too, because it seemed a little ridiculous to have an 80 gig 5400 RPM drive backing up a 160 Gb 7200 RPM main drive. Now the secondary is a 500 Gb Western Digital 7200 RPM Caviar Blue server-grade drive. Oh, and the USB bus fried when BIAB 2009 UltraPAK came on a defective HD in the winter of 09, so I installed a new USB IDE adapter.

Best seven-year-old PC I've ever owned!

Be sure you're ready for the demise of Old Paint by having everything backed up and ready to put into a new box.

R.

Yes. I have two, one for my desktop and one for my laptop. Both are Audigy 2 Soound Blaster Cards and both work well with BB. The desktop allows me to record music while inputing midi data via a keyboard and the Laptop I use to play live. The Laptop does not have a midi interface that I am aware of but does have and input and output. I think think the Input is for inputing guitar or mikes directly, haven't used that function. I just plug the output to a mixer and play along with the band. By the way, my operating system is XP on both.

Dennis,
I spoke before I thought about it. I do not have a USB Creative Sound Card. I do have and Audigy 2 Sound card that plugs into the side of the Laptop, not the USB port. It is about 2" X 3" and has a input and output. sorry about that.