Oct 21, 2005 02:20 pm what I read:
Creative blahblahblahblahblah
what I suggest
M-Audio Audiophile or ESI Juli@, both will meet your needs FAR better than a SoundDisaster.
Creative X-Fi Elite Pro Sound Card
Posted on Oct 21, 2005 02:14 pm
kamikaze
Member Since: Sep 11, 2004
Hi all!
I'm looking at getting a new sound card for my computer, and have looked at MANY different options. I'm currently using a Digitech Vx400 which is a vocal pedal, as well as a USB interface. It does the job quite well, but has a few shortcomings.
As silly as it seems for home recording, I'm thinking the new X-Fi Elite Pro from Soundblaster is my best bet. Would this card color my sound for any reason, giving me innacurate mixing?
Heres my setup, and what I need:
S/PDIF Input (for guitar/bass pedal)
RCA Jacks in (for drum machine)
MIDI In/Out (for guitar/bass pedal)
Stereo Analog Outs (for Monitors)
I'm a one man band, so in most cases I dont need to record more than one thing at once. I do occasionally have friends over, but we can usually make due without(I usually just premix with the digitech pedal).
I dont like the external USB/Firewire idea, but i DO like the breakout box idea. Also, the X-Fi has a master volume knob, as well as headphone output(which i need).
Can anyone think of another card that would suit me?
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Oct 21, 2005 02:20 pm what I read:
Creative blahblahblahblahblah
what I suggest
M-Audio Audiophile or ESI Juli@, both will meet your needs FAR better than a SoundDisaster.
Oct 21, 2005 02:25 pm Holy crap, that much for a soundblaster?!? That's insane.
Oct 21, 2005 02:29 pm How do i plug headphones into these cards? Do they have a sound out header that I can plug my case ports onto, or am I to do without headphones (which is unreasonable)?
Oct 21, 2005 02:30 pm You have a headphone amp between the card and the cans...or a mixer, or a preamp or whatever. Don't waste THAT much money on an SB just cuz it has a headphone out...spend 1/3 of that on a decent recording card get a headphone amp and save the rest for beer to celebrate not wasting $400.
Oct 21, 2005 02:46 pm Sorry kamikaze, I almost made the same mistake m'self...
For the cost of that non-pro card you could get a pro card, a mixer, and all the chords you need to hook everything up... AND beer .
Oct 21, 2005 02:48 pm what about this Emu card setup? it looks pretty damn good:
www.emu.com/products/prod...mp;product=9870
What's with all of the outputs though? why would you need that many?
Oct 21, 2005 02:51 pm EMU is still creative, but a semi-pro line from them, much better reports about them.
Multiple outputs are nice, a set for a headphone amp, a set for a set of speakers, a set going to maybe a tape deck or back into a mixer...routing options are always good.
Oct 21, 2005 02:52 pm semi-pro? How is it any "less pro" than m-audio?
Plus it has a headphone amp built into this sucker!
Oct 21, 2005 02:57 pm I didn't say it was less pro than m-audio now did I...
Oct 21, 2005 03:01 pm My bad... I should've said SEMI-pro . Sorry 'bout the confusion generated .
That is actually my job, though . : )
Oct 21, 2005 03:03 pm Semi-pro and pro-sumer are just terms for this class of audio device. Not consumer grade, not pro grade, but a compromise that yields much better fidelity than consumer products, but at price points that are far lower than gear aimed at professional applications.
M-audio falls into the same semi-pro category. They just have a much better price-to-quality ratio for recording than Soundblaster does. But if you want to play a PC game in 7.1 surround and have it knock your socks off, the SB will win hands-down. they just don't have a very high quality recording system in place yet.
EMU is definitely SB's call to arms to get into the recording arena and be taken seriously. I like the looks of those cards a lot.
Oct 21, 2005 03:06 pm It looks like the most viable option yet!
I wonder what their drivers are like...Never heard of anyone using Emu, so not sure, but i've heard m-audio drivers are rock solid.
Oct 21, 2005 03:07 pm Yeah, I have tried to get my hands on an EMU to check out and review for the site, but apparantly HRC isn't worth EMU's time...one of only two companies that has completely blown me off...Creative/EMU and Steinberg, so I plan to never buy another product from either.
Oct 21, 2005 03:08 pm I like ESI's drivers better than M-Audio's, much cleaner and lower latency. There is a couple EMU users here, hopefully they will chime in, I know they have been very happy with them though.
Oct 21, 2005 03:12 pm My good friend has worked for Creative for several years now, and one thing that I've learned is that they definitely have their collective heads up their asses.
but, at the end of the day, they did set the standard for PC audio, and they've at least recently tried to get into higher-fidelity audio solutions instead of trying to be the Behringer of PC accessories like they have been for years. Maybe in the coming years they'll finally give us a reason to shed that stigma.
But Kamikaze, I think that the cards that dB mentioned will do a fine job for what you need. with the money you save, you can buy an outboard preamp (not sure if those cards come with preamps), or a small mixer, or at least a headphone amp.
Oct 21, 2005 03:15 pm I dunno, my M-Audio's ASIO drivers yield about 4-6ms of latency, which is pretty darn good if you ask me. I've never been anything but happy with M-Audio's drivers. No crashes, no lag, but their control panel interface is about as intuitive as chinese algebra.
I think that every M-Audio user goes through that period of clicking every radio button once or twice while yelling curses at the top of their lungs and asking "why can't I hear what I'm recording?!?" :)
Oct 21, 2005 03:17 pm yeah, I got 5.8 with ASIO with M-Audio, I get 2.7 with ESI in ASIO and WDM (I said ESI was better, not the M-Audio was bad, big difference). My other issue with their drivers is what you stated, their control panel sucks *** like a Viking on a boat...oh, wait, I didn't say that.
Oct 21, 2005 03:23 pm LOL glad to see you're finally laughing about that :-D
Oct 21, 2005 03:27 pm Whats to laugh about is that it's actually news here and people are upset that the owner had a closed door meeting and chewed the players out and ::gasp:: used profanity! ::double gasp::
I'll tell ya, I am so sick the thin skinned whiner media pinkos...that ain't news, that's expected, I hope he used LOADS of profanity!
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