Sound card recommendation

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gabriel

The Heatwave
i'm looking to get a fairly cheap, simple soundcard so i can set up an m-audio oxygen8 keyboard with my laptop at home, i wonder if anyone's got one they'd like to recommend?

it needs to have:

* USB connection, preferably powered from USB
* low-latency ASIO driver
* stereo in and out
* possibly SPDIF digital in and out
* possibly MIDI in and out

thanks in advance

gabriel
 
G

gabriel

The Heatwave
great, thanks paul

i had an maudio one before and it never really worked properly, then broke, so was reluctant to get one again even though a couple of peopel have recommended them to me recently...
 
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noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
That looks really good, doesn't seem to be quite available yet though? If you can do Firewire it does tend to be a bit more reliable, but USB should be absolutely fine for stereo stuff.

I use an E-MU 1616 which is nice, very flexible routing and sounds excellent. It's PCMCIA which works great for lots of audio, but now most newer laptops have gone ExpressCard. I guess I'm on the lookout for something as well.

Have heard good things about the Echo Audiofire boxes. And E-MU have a few newer USB things. One nice thing about E-MU is you get a really good software bundle, if that means anything to you.
 
N

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
Yeah they've been largely subsumed into Creative Labs now which isn't a particularly good luck. I think the stuff still sounds really good though. Picked mine up for a nice price anyway.

I shall be keeping an eye on that Presonus as an option I think.
 
N

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I've found it's very useful to have a couple of extra outs for stuff like:

* Triggering analogue things.

* Processing audio through external hardware.

* Monitoring when doing mixes.
 
R

ramadanman

Well-known member
not usb (Firewire) and a bit more expensive...but i can't recommend the focusrite saffire LE enough. completely badman

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Chef Napalm

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
Grievous Angel said:
I use the Presonus firebox - it's firewire, but presonus gear sounds great and is built well - better than edirol or m-audio stuff. When you look in forums like soundonsound, they're seen as a cut above.
Click to expand...
OTM. Not only do Presonus make fantastic gear, but Firewire is a far better conduit than USB as well.
 
N

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
It should be pointed out though that for what gabriel seems to need here, a lot of PC laptops will not be able to provide power over firewire whereas they all can over USB.

6-pin firewire has power, most PC craptops only have the 4-pin data connection.
 
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