Hi Phil,

Price Range: Under $400 MAX
Channels: minimum 4 ins - 6 outs, and ability to record & monitor my vocal + efx while listening to pre-recorded tracks, all with near zero (imperceptible) latency.
Most important is a quiet soundcard which reproduces accurate superior quality sound and supports midi as well. Looking for the best balance of sound quality, reliability, and price value. - Scott

Harosha & VQuestor: Thanks for adding other possibilities to the pot. All these options are quickly making the decision more difficult. Also curious which of the units mentioned include an 'efx send-return' monitoring feature, which affords the ability to monitor vocals with added efx when recording? Btw, I was recommended that when recording a vocal track, that the vocal efx be recorded on a SEPARATE track to provide post production flexibility of being able to use another vocal efx later if so desired. Curious how you would setup the soundcard i/o device for this type of recording scenerio.

Scott

Scott

Scott,
AP2496 stands for "AudioPhile 2496"

Scott,

I use the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 USB with a laptop.

Although the latency is very low even when recording whilst listening to playback at the highest rate I am a little unhappy with the quality of the result. The overall impression is of a compressed sound that is very slightly distorted!

This may be just me but I have tried everything to improve the quality even upgrading cables and getting the latest ASIO2 drivers.

Unless you only have a laptop I wouldn't use outboard again - I would get a PCI card instead.

Regards - Keith

[This message has been edited by KFingers (edited 05-20-2005).]

Hi Scott ,

The other product worth mentioning is the Edirol UA20. Recommended by Apple.

Dan O'

From the choices you give I'd go for the Firewire 410. Deffinitely go for Firewire - more stability and more bandwidth.

If you insist on USB, you can get the M-Audio OmniStudio for $189. For that you'll get 4 ins and 4 outs. This is what I have and I'm happy with it, but if I was purchasing now, I would certainly go Firewire.

I wouldn't do anything less than 4 ins. This will allow you to simultaneously record your stereo Tyros, plus your vocal and a guitar onto 4 different tracks. You can later tweak and add effects. Very cool.

In addition on the 410, unlike your first choice, you get 2 preamps with phantom power. A must if you want the warmth and power of a condensor mic.

The 410 would double up as a great recording soundcard to be used with any recording software.

Chony

[This message has been edited by chony (edited 05-20-2005).]

Hi Scott,

I'm presently using a Tascam US-122 usb sound card with midi in/out. I have it connected to my Sony Vaio laptop and have my Tyros setup on bottom with either a Trinity V3 or Wavestation EX on top. I also have a fully expanded Fantom XR module sitting underneath my laptop. All of this is connected through a Midisport 4X4 interface. I have the stereo outs from both keyboards and the XR module feeding into the inputs on my D1600 along with the audio outs of the US-122. I then have the stereo master outs of the D1600 connected to the input on the US-122. This allows me to use either the D1600 for recording or I can feed everything through and record in Sonar 4 or Adobe Audition or anything else. It also allows me to use softsyths and record not only internally but also, if I want, to the D1600. I have a latency of 5.8 ms which I find to be unnoticeable. It all works very well and is quite stable. The US-122 cost $199 and Tascam includes a copy of Cubase LE and GigaStudio 3 LE with the interface.

However, I do use firewire for my two 250 gig external HDs, one is a backup archive drive and the other is my working sample, etc. drive. Here firewire is better because it has a higher throughput than usb 2.0 even though the "spec" on the usb 2 is higher. Somewhere down the line when firewire 800 gets common, I'll probably switch my sound card over to that, but in the meantime I'm having no problems with my present setup...well, except for some operator error here and there.

Tom

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Bigger is not always better

BTW, they don't recommend using a FW interface together with a FW harddisk, unless you have them on separate buses. Using them on the same bus apparantly squezzes the bandwidth. I would suspect you'd have the same problem using them both on a USB bus as well.

If you can up your budget a bit you can kill two birds with one stone. The Mackie 12 channel Onyx board has fantastic live sound. It also has an optional firewire interface that will record all the channels to a computer (free software included) to a computer. The board does the analog/digital conversion so it should be cleaner.
I have the board (but not the firewire interface yet) and absolutely love it. As a reference, Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda also uses it and raves about its sound: http://mackie.com/artists/index.html?id=405&y=2004

The Mixer for sale w/ reviews: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg=102/g=live/s=mixers/search/detail/base_pid/634267/
The Interface for sale: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg=102/g=live/s=mixers/search/detail/base_pid/634269/

The mixer promo/info at Mackie's site:
http://mackie.com/products/onyx1220/

Your best bet is right here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41784&item=7324755524&rd=1

Or a little "cheaper" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41784&item=7324719404&rd=1

They both appear to pnly have 2 outs though. Im in your same shoes looking for an 8+ channel PCI or firewire console. On my budget its pretty tricky!

Phil

If you want an 8 channel PCI, go for the Maudio 1010LT