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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I'm planning to get a new excellent desktop computer. My current "old" setup has utilized an external Creative Audigy sound card and it has done great but I'd like to get away from an additional box taking up desk space.
I know there's been tons of discussion about sound cards, but I'm hoping to hear any very latest info about a sound card (i.e., an internal sound card) that would be ideal for a desktop setup. I have BIAB, PT2010, RealBand, and Sonar 8.5 Producer....the only goals are: 1) to record and 2) to listen to music. I also already have a Behringer mixer....but wouldn't mind eliminating that as well. OR, maybe there is some fantastic external setup (because of its quality) that is out there as well....just hoping for any recent excitement about such on the part of anyone!!!
Thanks much,
cchallum
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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IF your computer has a PCI slot, hands down, get the M-Audio 2496.
IF your computer had a PCI slot, and you want to go to a totally mixerless enviroment, go to a M-Audio 1010LT and hook everything up to the card.
I recommend the 2496 and sticking with your mixer.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I also have the 24/96 card and love it, 8 years and going strong. I have a Yamaha mixer on it, after having a smaller Behringer to start with. I understand the free up the desk thing, but you need preamps in front of the card, and a nice mixer to adjust stuff and get a great mix. The otehr option is to use a good preamp in front to save space.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Gary and Robh,
The info you've provided is precisely what I needed to hear about.
Thanks very much,
cchallum
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hi cchallum. Good advice from Gary (as always) about the M-Audio 2496. Like Robh, I have one (in my backup machine). No problems; it just works.
Interesting aside: I went to my regional Guitar Center last week to get another one. They do not stock ANY internal soundcards now! It's all online orders only.
There is a purist school of thought that external break-out boxes serve to get the sound out of a very electrically-noisy environment - the inside of your PC - but certainly, current internal soundcards have ridiculously low noise levels.
One question for Gary. I think he may have meant to say, if you have a PCIe slot (PCI express), get a card for that. I'm pretty sure that's the form the M-Audio card comes in now. It is very likely your new PC will have a few PCIe slots, but maybe only one or two (older) PCI slots.
Last, I know some here get solid results with Behringer mixers, and that's great. All I can say is, in my experience, they are noisier than Mackie mixers, which I use now. It was a noticeable difference on recordings. Or maybe my Behringer was defective...
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Matt,
I reviewed my post, and then I went back to M-Audio. At this time, M-Audio is not producing a PCI-e based sound card. If you need a PCI-e sound card, Creative is making one, I have an Asus Xonar D2X which I'm not really using for audio, but for standard computer stuff, and it's very good. You can also go very high end and look at Lynx and RME for both PCI and PCI-e.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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For multitracking the M-Audio Delta 1010lt is still going strong here, as long as you get the PCI slot.
I thought they were fading away (PCI) but last week bought a win 7 64 bit machine with a couple PCI slots in there, so I guess they'll be around for a bit longer (happily).
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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In looking at motherboards on NewEgg, I notice most of them still have at least a couple of PCI slots.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Again, thanks to each of you.....I'm soaking this up!!! It's greatly appreciated.....
You make this the "greatest forum possible"!!!
ccchallum
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Gary, many thanks for checking. I just looked up the card on Sweetwater, and it says this:
"Works with PCIx-equipped Mac and PC"
I thought the "x" meant it was for the PCIe generation of slots. That may be a wrong assumption. I don't think PCI and PCI express cards are compatible. Or could this just be a typo in the product description at Sweetwater?
Does anyone here know if there is any advantage, sound-wise, to a PCI express card over a straight PCI? Or is it just data transfer speed?
The RME card I would love to have, the HDSPe AIO, is PCI express only. That was a surprise.
Bob & John, yes, I agree PCI should be around for awhile. Let's hope so, anyway, for the sake of equipment we already have.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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PCI, PCIe, no real gain as to audio spec, that is a function of converters, etc. As for bandwidth, PCIe has the capability to do more, but so far I haven't seen one that actually does more.
I use the AP2496 card here in one machine also.
You get not only decent audio specs, but a level of simplicity that is nice.
--Mac
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