Sound cards, monitors and headphones...

For what you are doing I wouldn't necessarily spend $400 on a professional sound card. I doubt you will be wanting to use Pro Tools if you are a happy Sonar user. I would say anything around $150-$200. As for sound cards having a built-in MIDI connection - I really think this is unecessary these days unless you are going to be connecting multiple midi devices to your computer. Nearly all new controller keyboards these days come with a USB connection cable, and if you have an older keyboard that uses a standard midi connection then you can buy a midi to usb cable for $20-$30. If you find a card which suits your needs and it has a midi in/out connection then fine, but I wouldn't base your decision on the need for a midi port alone.

I buy constantly from Amazon! Heck I bought a coffee maker from amazon for my wife! Imagine that! They have on hold for a month a book of mine, but I'm sure that this will be sorted uot. EVERYTHING else has been sent in time (and for Xmas if I may add).

Ron: Will get back to you, very soon.

ok, i say you go for a decent headphone (sennheiser indeed makes decent headphones although you might want to try out akg's aswell). as long as you know how your setup ( whether it be monitors or headphones) is coloring your sound, you're fine with 'less-budget' equipment. since you're using "just a 10-year-old desktop microphone" there's really no point in investing 100s of bucks into any audio interface. don't spend more than 250 bucks (i suggest you buy it off ebay) on an audio-interface. cause with all due respect, i think 'untrained ears' don't really know what to look for in sound.

and also, you shouldn't need expensive equipment to make beautiful things.

and when you check out headphones in a store, not only check the sound, also the wearing-comfort, since you'll be having that thing on your head a lot. i know akg have nice loose fits but they don't really suitme, sennheisers overall tend too be a bit tighter (ofcourse this differs from model to model). also make the decission if you're going for an open or closed headphone (you'd probably want to go for an open headphone though).

Nearly all new controller keyboards these days come with a USB connection cable, and if you have an older keyboard that uses a standard midi connection then you can buy a midi to usb cable for $20-$30.

Why was it twice the price when I checked last? =\ And good point about the controllers, but right now I'm using an ordinary MIDI keyboard (whose sound I find lacking). Hence, no cable.

Well, anyway, for a sound card, if I were to go with "professional" sound cards, I'd probably choose something in the $100-200 price range, quite frankly. They would be perfectly suitable to my budget.


And nevermind, even if I tell her Amazon's a high-profile site (and thus likely trustworthy, if using that argument alone), she doesn't trust it. =\ Locally, it costs $600, so that's out of the question. Ah well, I can always get something lower-end and save up and upgrade later on (probably once my computer's been upgraded, too—3/4 GB RAM and a 2.4 GHz P4 Prescott is lagging behind when it comes to Photoshop and sampling even from small libraries like GPO).

Any recommendations for sub-$200 phones? I'm looking at HD-555s, and of course they're not as good as HD600s, they seem quite decent for the price, based on various reviews online. Anyone have personal experience with them?

Originally Posted by Laogeodritt

Why was it twice the price when I checked last? =\ And good point about the controllers, but right now I'm using an ordinary MIDI keyboard (whose sound I find lacking). Hence, no cable.

Try ebay for MIDI to USB adapters. I got mine cheap from there.

IMHO, I'm going to say that it is a mistake to only judge a recording with headphones. Typical speaker placement creates a 30 degree angle between the left and right speakers and the listener. But with headphones, the left and right stereo are too spatially spread apart. While headphones are great for catching detail in a recording it seems that you need to also evaluate your recording the way it will ultimately be listened to -- through speakers.