Sound Card advice needed (My situation's inside)

[refresh]

whaddup,

i know very little about sound cards and what is out there so ill probably make a few stupid comments ^_^

but i'm looking to upgrade my Sound Blaster Live! 24 Bit. (probably not important but im using a Roland FP2 keyboard and 2 KRK RP5 monitors) and when i for example use a VST in fruity loops and i trigger the sounds with my keyboard i have delay or latency whatever its called; so im looking for a sound card that has totaly 0 latency/delay (i want the sound to play at the moment i touch the key) and of course preferably no underruns. im thinkin about spendin about 150-200 Euro (in dollars thats a little more) but i could go up to 300 if necessery

also if someone could tell me a little bit about ASIO and external sound cards that would be cool because i need to know about them lol

thanks in advance for the advice

 

[djloccdown]

Hmmmmmmm ok.
1st about ASIO, check these sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_stream_input_output
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213488,00.html

About Latency. I don't think there is a sound card that has 0 latency. PCI sound cards have the least latency, followed by Firewire then USB. Keep clear of USB.
Latency solutions:

RAM, and loads of it!
DRIVERS - Keep up-to-date with your soundcard/synths' manufacturers' latest driver releases.
CLOSE PROGRAMS - Minimise CPU and release RAM by closing down all un-needed programs running in the background

Now to the soundcards. Here is a comparison chart of 23 PCI sound cards, it has good details, pics, and prices.
http://tweakheadz.com/audio_interface_pci_comparison_chart.htm

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, hope that helps.

 

[konceptG]

ok, card recommendation - M-Audio Audiophile 192. They're usually $180USD. I have one and in 16bit/44KHz mode (CD quality) I run it at 5ms latency. Next would be an Audiophile 2496 if you can find one, $100USD for that one. Being that you're in Europe, I'd also recommend trying to track down an Audiotrak Maya 44+. New, they were $100USD but they could only record at CD quality. However, they could run at 3ms latency and sounded excellent. They're made by EgoSys as their "budget" line, but it was a card several turnkey builders used. They've been replaced by a more expensive card ($180USD).

The Creamware Luna II/SCOPE Project card is also worth buying. I tried to get one years ago.

The biggest advantage of running an M-Audio card is ProTools also runs on it.

 

[thedreampolice]

I second the Audiophile advice! Good entry level card. I used to be into Creamware but the more I worked with the company the more I found out how bad they sucked (as a company) and was poorly managed. to bad they have some cool products.

 

[wrightboy]

if you wanna go external, i'd go with the Presonus firebox (299 USD). it uses a firewire connection. i have one, and i love it. i'm actually thinking about buying another one....and you can connect them to each other if you need more inputs/outputs.

 

[konceptG]

forgot to add that my mobile audio interface is an M-Audio Fast Track USB. $100USD for a decent USB interface that's also ProTools compatible

 

[refresh]

aight thanks for always helpin a new member out ill keep the brands in mind and know more about what to look for

 

[open mind]

ok, card recommendation - M-Audio Audiophile 192. They're usually $180USD. I have one and in 16bit/44KHz mode (CD quality) I run it at 5ms latency. Next would be an Audiophile 2496 if you can find one, $100USD for that one. Being that you're in Europe, I'd also recommend trying to track down an Audiotrak Maya 44+. New, they were $100USD but they could only record at CD quality. However, they could run at 3ms latency and sounded excellent. They're made by EgoSys as their "budget" line, but it was a card several turnkey builders used. They've been replaced by a more expensive card ($180USD).

The Creamware Luna II/SCOPE Project card is also worth buying. I tried to get one years ago.

The biggest advantage of running an M-Audio card is ProTools also runs on it.

5ms latency? daaaaayum thats fast i got something like 45ms.i need to check that m-audio cards.

 

[The Bastard]

5ms latency? daaaaayum thats fast i got something like 45ms.i need to check that m-audio cards.

yeah m audio makes nice shit, even their cheap bottom of the barrel shit is acceptable, i gotta give em that

 

[thedreampolice]

I cant work with anything thats over 10ms