External sound cards

provaznik · Post by **provaznik** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:29 am

or the motu ultralite. brand new and about 550 american. i have heard about a few problems with pc drivers but i think the kinks have been worked out of the system now.

highmel · Post by **highmel** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:04 am

532nm wrote: great latency.

hihihhii

just kidding
have terratec phase 26 usb - not recommend this

really great latency

clubfoot · Post by **clubfoot** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:38 pm

f*ck latency - the motu traveller is firewire

sorgenkind · Post by **sorgenkind** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:49 pm

if budget is not a problem for you , go for RME stuff.
I have the Multiface II which is PCMCIA, unfortunately rumors has that ni a couple of years the cardbus will be discontinued in favour of the express card, if I had to buy a soundcard now it could be the fireface 800 or 400.
RME drivers are very stable (I'd stay away from m-audio and terratec, save your pennies) and the audio quality of RME stuff is simply perfect, good converters are the key.
Some people coming from cheapo soundcard find RME lacks bass, which is totally bs because cheapo soundcards (read m-audio etc) are very coloured in bass range to give you the idea the sound better but trust me, the key to have good mixes is LINEARITY, both in soundcard and studio monitors.

I use MOTU 828 mkII at work and I have to say MOTU stuff is really good too, stable drivers and good latency, audio is pristine too, some people are skeptikal about the microphone preamps of MOTU soundcards but I can't comment on this since I do not have experience with them.

adam · Post by **adam** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:27 am

I am most likely picking up an Echo Audiofire 4 soon. Echo has a reputation for squeeky clean output signal, and this is essential for me. I'll post a report if I get one and test it out.

fredrik_h · Post by **fredrik_h** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:06 am

sorgenkind wrote:if budget is not a problem for you , go for RME stuff.
I have the Multiface II which is PCMCIA, unfortunately rumors has that ni a couple of years the cardbus will be discontinued in favour of the express card, if I had to buy a soundcard now it could be the fireface 800 or 400.

however, I heard alot of problems with the fireface (driver-wise) on the RME mailinglist. I got the RME Multiface (I) + cardbus-card myself and I love it for sure. but you got a point about the express-card thingie... the usual pcmcia is already disappearing from alot of laptops it seems.

sorgenkind · Post by **sorgenkind** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:02 pm

fredrik_h wrote: the usual pcmcia is already disappearing from alot of laptops it seems.

I really hope that RME will do something with this express card for HDSP systems... it would be too bad have to ditch the multiface... at the moment nothing is planned so far I know but it would be sad if they don't let us use the multifaces with express cards.

adam · Post by **adam** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:11 pm

PCMIA cards are huge, ugly and slow old technology. It sucks that you can't use them on newer machines but I felt the same way when floppy discs started disappearing and I've not used them in several years.

Adapt. Learn. Move on.