STAM, I haven't put the Audigy 2Z Platium through a full test for audio. In general, it seems like a very good soundcard for its price. The drivers are stable and you can get the latency down to arround 10ms and less. So if you want to use just one card for all things the Audigy is as good as any.

But....

It will always fall short of the so called professional cards in the areas of signal to noise, dynamic range, distortion, etc.

I decided to use the Audigy instead of mic preamps and USB Midi converters. It costs about the same and there is less clutter.

After saying all this the Audigy 2Z Platium is an around good soundcard.

Frank there is virtually no shot at that seperation,,everytime I get a "new toy", I realize how much better the board I already have is...

I have tried them all, many have frills, but no chills for me..

My trusted G1000 was never in danger of being replaced, just an additional side kick once in a while...

Frank, I am almost ready to ship my new laptop to you and let you do your magic on it...

Fran, of all the arranger and other keyboards I have had, the G1000 was also my best keyboard. Given my current adventure, I will ?likely? never return to a hardware based solution for music.

Hey, setting up your laptop for music would be a new experience for me. It would definitely be more of a challenge to make things work smoothly. A new business opportunity for my twilight years???

On a more serious note you can always email me directly to see if I can be of assistance (advice, files, etc.). It would depend on your objectives as to how much help I could provide, e.g., I have little to no experience with external soundcards and hard drives. This would be better than shipping out your laptop.

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 02-18-2004).]