Elektron-Users

Ok, i need to buy a new sound card cause all i have right now is a cheap generic 30 dollar piece of crap in my pc. The only input on the card is the "Mic In", the "Line In" (never used it before until a few days ago) on the card is Fubared. I need to find a card that is meant to be used for recording music and very good at it but also works well with everyday pc use. I don't know where to start looking, i need suggestions. What would be the best purchase? Which card would you recommend?

m-audio delta 44 is under $150 - no digital i/o bells & whistles, decent converters, break-out box. i use it & it sounds great.

I never liked the idea of having a sound card in the noisy environment of a computer. So, if you have a fat wallet I'd recommend the MOTU 828 mkII firewire sound card. I bought one used for about $800 after I read some about it here on the forum and on the www.motu.com site.

http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/828/body.html/en

The only thing on the downside is that the knobs are placed a bit too tight, but since you can control it from the computer I can live with that.

I'd second the Motu 828 MkII recommendation. I have one and love it. but the price should be somewhere around $750 new nowadays. but since that's QUITE a leap from a $30 sound card, you might want to go somewhere in between. I agree that having a card outside your computer is a good idea; especially if you get a laptop later on and want to use the same card between the two. Firewire is better than USB as well. so some things you might want to check out are the Presonus Firebox, the M-Audio Firewire Audiophile and the Terratec Phase X24. All of these are $400 or less. The Presonus/Terratec cards are prolly better than the Audiophile if you're using Elektron gear, simply because the Audiophile doesn't accept the +4dB level that the MD/MnM output at; so you'd have to use a mixer to attenuate the signal before it reaches the card if you went with the Audiophile.

There are alot of choices out there. The Presonus stuff seems to be a good buy. I'm considering them as well. The Motu stuff is great too but out of my price range, and have connections/features I won't use. I am also waiting for the Alesis Firewire mixers. The Makies cost way too much nice as they are.

check this site out.. tells you what there is..

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/?page=shop/soundcard_selector&advanced=1

helps you choose..

and as the motu 828 mk2 setup.. got it myself and very happy about it.. got mine for about 560 euros, but it was secondhand..

m-audio is a nice choice as well, worked in some project with their gear.. never any problems..

if you want to spend big, try RMEs audio interfaces they are the bomb.. but very expensive..

presonus looks nice but dont know about their quality ad/da s
if i had to choose between m-audio or presonus i'd choose m-audio. their gear is rock solid, for their pricerange..

terratec, nice cards for the beginners.. i would classify it as hi end consumer instead of professional gear..

good luck.

here's another vote for the m-audio delta44. IMO it has the best performance to price ratio. You can get more channels and better converters, but this one should do you for a small-to-medium sized home studio. I've had mine for about 3 years and it's served me very well.

udenjoe wrote:
There are alot of choices out there. The Presonus stuff seems to be a good buy. I'm considering them as well. The Motu stuff is great too but out of my price range, and have connections/features I won't use. I am also waiting for the Alesis Firewire mixers. The Makies cost way too much nice as they are.

Anyone saw Euro dealers who carry the Alesis Firewire mixers and the Motu racks? I narrowed down my choices to those two. Need I rethink? :-?

edit: I mean competitevely prided.

I have had fantastic results with three motu products over the past few years. I had the 2408 and PCI 324 card - then I got the original 828 - then I got the original 896 which I still use and friggin love. Motu rocks - they have a great reputation, and a track record that inspires trust.

However, I am not sure about the new alesis firewire mixers. They are a new product from a former innovator in the field that has since been bankrupt and bailed out by Numark, a DJ company. Motu has been in the ADA game for a long time - and so has alesis, but for some reason, I would personally choose motu over alesis solely based on resale value. The motu stuff sells for higher - whereas alesis just does not. I think this is a general trend that is most likely quality based.

That said, if you have been getting by with like a soundblaster card for this long, perhaps the motu system is more than you need. Some of the nicer interfaces have less inputs, and will cost a lot less money. I know that lexicon released one - there is the new mackie product line - the (gasp) Mbox - Tascam makes decent convertors, although to me they sound flat and the drivers can be flaky - Maudio is solid, and I think you can use their boxes with digidesign (gasp again) software now. There are a lot of options to consider.

Lastly - I think presonus makes awesome products. Serious quality - and they still put in mil spec power supplies because the designer of the gear used to make test equipment for the military. I have a motu-presonus combo in my studio now and its been rock solid. Never a crash - never a clock error - and the convertors sound fantastic all the way round.

i absolutely recommend the motu 828mk2. i like to record a lot of stuff at once and need to record my band with it. it's up to you to judge if you need that amount of inputs and features.

oh and by the way, it works stand-alone (without computer attached). that is very important for me 'cause i can use it as a basic mixer without having to turn on my computer.