Soundcards for Musicians

[ElGato]

Hi!

Read a lot of great posts about the sound cards in this forum and something bluemax said in thisthread prompted me to ask a question I have had for a long time. I'm about to put together a system from scratch and it's number one purpose is going to be recording/processing music. So my questions are:
1. What is the best sound card out there for musicians at any price?
2. What is the best sound card for musicians for the money.

Some considerations: I do not play games and could not possibly care less how the card performs in gaming.
The software bundle is important ifit provides something very useful like mixing, multitrack recording and what ever else I'm not even aware of.
(In the unlikely event there is a better software bundle available for free under Linux, i'd like to hear about it)

Lastly, if there is a cpu that is better suited for the job, like for instance 3DNow or MMX or something I'd like to hear about it.

Thanks in Advance.
EG

 

[JackMDS]

Take a look here: http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/.

They have links, and info concerning Audio performance.

For Software log here:

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/

 

[Soccerman]

well do you think you'll be doing MIDI?

or just plain audio recording?

EDIT:

it appears you will be doing mostly recording..

"and it's number one purpose is going to be recording/processing music."

so, what you need is a soundcard, with a good audio input quality (I'm not in the industry, so I don't know about the specialized cards, but I know the Live currently is the best for MIDI, the runner up for soundcards in general being the Philips soundcard)

as for processing, most programs rely on the CPU for this (for the simple reason that there aren't many Soundcards that do editing/effects in hardware). so something with a good FPU would be best. answer for that? Athlon.

 

[ElGato]

Thank you soccerman. Recording is indeed the main purpose.
To be honest I'm not really considering anything from Creative Labs.
Not to slam the cards just a different purpose. You know what I mean?

Thanks for the Athlon tip, I'm guessing you mean the Tbird, right?

EG

 

[Soccerman]

yeah, T-bird.. AMD calls that the Athlon if you're wondering, the code name was the T-Bird.

yeah as for soundcards, you'll want to look at webpages that are more focused on proffesional sound applications..

 

[eyor]

I would say SB Live Platinum for best, Santa Cruz for money. Be sure to get a good speaker system too though!

 

[Possum]

I'm not sure about the SB Live! Platinum being the best. I think it's not even in the league of the professional-quality soundcards for recording. For example, a musician I know purchased an Event Layla for ~$800 for a home recording studio (he also has an SB Live!, but uses it only for games). I don't know much about the top sound cards for recording, but I wanted to point out that the very best will be very pricey, and not a typical SB Live!.

 

[MikeyP]

My father does just what it sounds you will be doing. The best recording sound cards I have seen would be from Echo Audio. We bought a Darla a few years ago, and it is fantastic. It is a great piece of equipment. The cards come bundled with software too. I know they used to come with Cool Edit Pro, and a few other programs. I don't know if that is what they still use. They have several different models at varying price points.

Here's their website.

Good luck!

P.S. Definately go for a T-Bird, gobs of RAM, and a blazing hard drive for best performance

 

[TravisBickle]

I think you will find the SBlive! with livedrive very convenient, great bang for buck. It also has worthwhile free software. You could be snobby if you like. Look over at Yamaha then. But you'll pay proportionately double for what you get.
Remember that because PIIIs produce less heat than Athlons, you could have a slightly quieter system from Intel. If there is any optimisation then it is probably only for Intel as well.
Since musician soundcards are very expensive (because they earn money, companies can get away with hiking the prices) you will have to look very careful at specs and reviews. Computer Music over at Future publications review a lot of soundcards.

 

[samjlee]

Well, I've got an interest in the pro-audio scene. If you've got the money go for the DigiDesign 001 from Pro-tools. They are the industry standard for audion mixing and production. Every big time studio in the world uses pro-tools systems. If you want the best stuff...buuy that. If you've got maybe $20,000 you can get a really nice home system.....

 

[samjlee]

Oh yeah...you can link to the site at www.digidesign.com