Sound Card Recommendations?

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to get back into music composition and I really would like to upgrade my sound card. Doesn't anyone have any recommendations for a good quality sound card for midi composition? Thanks in advance.

Don't think the sound card would make a difference, more the software you use to play it but better get a decent card because i guess it's for editing etc.

Hem...

Budget?

Soundcards play a rather big, but not exactly noticable difference actually. The converters from A to D (Analogue to Digital), when you input sound (for example a mic), is important, as well as the D to A, when you take your computer sound and into your monitors.

That said for the past 3 1/2 years I've been working with an awful soundcard without many problems. The moment, however, I got some real monitors, I got a good soundcard as well.

Incidently a good soundcard will reduce your latency as well. My latency right now stands at around 2-3 msecs which is acceptable. Anything more than 10 starts to create issues I believe.

Finally, a good soundcard, will allow you to have preamp inputs and thus put a mic on and record anything.

So the question still stands: budget? $200, or $1000?

Bho, pardon my straightforward views, but judging from your post history, it doesn't seem like you're hardcore into production. So a soundcard isn't too important. I've lived off onboard (older realtek 97, not the Real High Def Audio) for a long time, then I switched to a entry level professional card for about 2 months, and decided to switch to a cheap creative gaming soundcard instead.

I'd hardly think latency is an issue. Since you mentioned MIDI composition, the worst that came happen is with midi keyboard recordings. But 10ms isn't significant. With my onboard card and an 3rd party driver, I can go at around 50ms (47 to be exact). Which is sufficient for recording.

My advice is not to waste money. Even 100 bucks for a sound card is quite wasteful. It usually doesn't make much audible difference. If on the hand, you intend on going professional, or feel the need for home studio microphone recording, then you can consider +$100 cards.

I guess the broader question then is what would I need to truly produce quality playback. I'm not looking professional level but I would like to eventually be able to make quality mp3's of my music. I'm just getting tired of the tinny playback that I get now. Budget is probably up to $1,000 but I'd be willing to pay more if it makes a significant difference.

Thanks again for the input so far.

Like what morningstar suggests, I'd rather spend that $1000 dollars on softwares and tools if you haven't already done so. For sound cards, the "quality" portion is proportional to price only to a certain limit, after that, it's all about the card's features. Most audio interfaces beyond few hundred bucks are usually external (few are pci), comes with few controllers, midi interface, channel mixers, etc. Fullscale studio usage.

Again, since you mentioned midi composition, what's really important is the sounds you'll be using. The card isn't really important. What is the "tiny playback" that you get now? What card are you using right now?

Before you splash out and get some nice hardware, I'd ask if you are sure it's the sound card which is the weakest link - or is the 'tinny' sound caused by your other hardware (e.g. headphones / amp / speakers). You must remember that midi is naturally very tinny unless you stick it through some nice software.

I personally have no problem with a 60ms latency, but I wouldn't want to go much higher, and I crank that down for live recording.