EggXpert

hi all,

 i currently use asio4all to have asio drivers for live playback, but oh do i hate it. it is laggy crashes like it was meant to. what sound card would be good for recording, and live playback - most likely one with in asio drivers.

thanks!

this card has been very well received

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

do you have a budget of any kind...?

around the 100$ mark

thanks for the help btw guys, i had another question. how will i know if a soundcard is capable of live playback in programs such as Audition? 

Wow, there is a post about this on the very first page of this forum.  Please take my word on this: M-Audio.  Anyone who says Soundblaster doesn't run a DAW.

 http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/546842.aspx

Hey Stroonzo, i was looking at the forum... the link you posted for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829121120 outputs to rca? is that adapter for normal speaker jacks or do I have to use my onboard sound card along with that. I'm confused as i have never seen that before.

Thanks!

Step 1: Disable your on-board sound.  If you really want to run a Digital Audio Workstation, you will not use on board sound so you might as well just disable it.

The RCA out on the M-Audio AP2496 can be connected to a pre-amp via RCA Cables, Powered Monitors, or even a set of plain 'ole powered computer speakers.  If you need an adapter cable (i.e. Stereo RCA to 1/8" stereo headphone) to feed your computer speakers, you can buy this at any radio shack.

Does anybody know if the Audiophile 2496 has ASIO drivers?  It is part of the Delta series, so I assume that it does, but the Newegg listing does not specify ASIO drivers for the 2496 as it does for the 1010LT.  As Stroonzo described, connectivity should not be an issue.  Click here for M-Audio's illustration.

Audition is also compatible with DirectX.  The HT Omega and AuzenTech do DirectX, but I'm not acquainted with anyone that uses them for studio work.  I like my Audiophile 192, although I haven't used it for recording, just MIDI I/O and music synthesis.  Within the $100 price range for studio work, M-Audio Audiophile 2496 would be my pick as well.

Based on what has been said so far, I still think the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 for $99.99 should be a good fit.  But that is just a guess since not much is known about how you will be using it, other than you mentioned Adobe Audition which would imply some sort of DAW work:  Recording what?  Playing back what?  MIDI Synth?  Multi-track?  Mono?  Stereo?  5.1?  Output to powered speakers?  Headphones?  Stereo Hi-Fi?  etc.

When you said speaker ports, did you mean something you can hook up a speaker to, or something you can plug into your Hi-Fi?  Most sound cards have line-level output that will plug right into your Hi-Fi or powered speakers, usually either a 1/4" stereo mini-jack or two RCA connectors.  The M-Audio Audiophile 2496 has two RCA line-level output connectors that would plug straight into your left and right channels on your stereo.  If you are not doing MIDI or digital audio, you don't even need to hook up the breakout cable.  Illustration:  M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Audio Interfaces

On the other hand, here's a list on Newegg with 9 sound cards between $75 and $100  Some of those cards have DirectX support which Adobe Audition also supports, so you are not locked into ASIO driver sound cards if you don't want to be.

Bottom line?  In order to be more helpful, it would help to know a little more about your application and how you want to hookup the sound card.

Hope that helps some anyway,
Bill

I don't know if this will help anybody else, but to satisfy my own curiosity, I scanned Newegg for sound cards with ASIO or DirectX or WDM support:

1. ENCORE ENM232-8VIA ($10.99) (DirectX)
2. PPA 1424V 8 Channels 24-bit 96KHz ($17.49) (ASIO, DirectX)
3. StarTech PCISOUND5LP ($30.99) (WDM)
4. StarTech PCISOUND7 ($33.99) (WDM)
5. AuzenTech AZT-XPCINE ($86.99) (DirectX)
6. HT | OMEGA STRIKER ($89.99) (DirectX)
7. M-AUDIO Audiophile 2496 ($99.99) (ASIO)
8. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer ($99.99) (ASIO)
9. AuzenTech INFRASONIC QUARTET ($139.99) (ASIO, WDM)
10. AuzenTech INFRASONIC Amon ($139.99) (ASIO)
11. M-AUDIO Delta 44 ($149.00) (ASIO)
12. ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Slim ($149.99) (ASIO)
13. M-AUDIO MobilePre USB ($149.99) (ASIO, DirectX)
14. ASUS Xonar D2 ($179.99) (DirectX)
15. AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 ($182.99) (ASIO)
16. M-AUDIO Delta 1010LT ($189.99) (ASIO, DirectX)
17. PreSonus Audio Inspire 1394 ($199.95) (ASIO, WDM)
18. M-AUDIO Fast Track Pro ($199.99) (ASIO, DirectX)
19. E-MU 0404 ($219.99) (ASIO, WDM)
20. AuzenTech INFRASONIC WINDY6 ($279.99) (ASIO, WDM)
21. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro ($279.99) (ASIO, DirectX)
22. M-AUDIO Delta 1010 ($699.99) (ASIO, DirectX)

This makes no claims of suitability, sound quality, driver quality, etc., just a summary of ASIO, DirectX and WDM support based on the product specs.  If there are any errors or omissions, let me know and I can correct them.  There turned out to be ASIO support at a lower price point than I expected.  I wish there was a way on Newegg to search for these attributes reliably without navigating to each spec page one at a time.

Bill

perhaps I should explain in a bit more detail what I am actually doing.

 I'm using adobe audition to record, vocals, various instruments, and "rewiring" reason into it for drums/synth. the problem with my current sound card is, it is not asio complient, so I have to use asio4all to achieve real-time monitoring (listening to my own instrument/voice as i record into the mic) the problem with that is, i cannot have reason or any other program that uses audio open the same time I am using a program with asio4all plugin, and in general the asio4all is buggy and constantly crashing if you upset it even in the slightest manner.

so im looking for a normal sound card that would have normal computer speakeroutputs (they are usually 5.1 now a days right?) but also be asio complient for recording, a nice bonus would be an extra connector(not sure what it is called) that plugs in the front where the cd drives go, capable of xlr inputs and such

gooberguy:

so im looking for a normal sound card that would have normal computer speakeroutputs (they are usually 5.1 now a days right?) but also be asio complient for recording, a nice bonus would be an extra connector(not sure what it is called) that plugs in the front where the cd drives go, capable of xlr inputs and such

I am at a loss here.  The M-Audio AP 24/96 is a normal sound card with normal computer speaker outputs.  It is a stereo card (Left and Right outputs only).  That's exactly what you want for recording and playing back vocals, various instruments, and using with Reason.  Are you really just thrown off because the output jacks on the card are two RCA connectors instead of an eighth inch headphone jack???  That's the only difference.  In addition, the other two RCA connectors are your two channels of input.  Again, the only difference here is these are two RCA connectors instead of an eighth inch line-input jack.

Instead of a front input connector, you'd be much better off with a mixer connected to the cards input.  You could get something as simple as a $30 Radio Shack 4-Channel Stereo Mixer or this $50 Behringer EURORACK UB802 Mixer.  Both of these (especially the Behringer) will be INSANELY better than a front panel connector.  XLR inputs are nice, but even on something like the Radio Shack mixer, all you would need is a mic cable with a ¼" plug on the end (instead of XLR).

 And if you're planning on connecting to computer speakers, that's no problem either.  Like I said above, the output jacks on the card are two RCA connectors instead of an eighth inch headphone jack.  Again, Radio Shack will have the adapter you need for this.  Either a mini stereo headphone male to stereo RCA male cable OR mini stereo headphone female to stereo RCA male (if your computer speakers have a permanently attached input cable) will fix you up fine

Stroonzo:

Are you really just thrown off because the output jacks on the card are two RCA connectors instead of an eighth inch headphone jack???  That's the only difference.