Audio Interface - buying

phacemeltar · #1 02-15-2014, 12:38 AM

i am currently shopping for an external sound card (audio interface) for my PC. after about 2 minutes of looking on amazon, i found http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-M-Trac...udio+interface which looks like it will do what i want, though in the comments one of the posters said that it doesnt get enough power.

i was wondering if anyone could advise me on a good brandname to look into for a quality piece of equipment. i primarily will be using it for music production, but also to hook my guitar up to my pc. im not very experienced with these types of products, so any help will be much appreciated.

Oogei · #2 02-15-2014, 07:28 AM

Need to know a budget but I'll try and guide you a bit with out knowing one.

First of all if you are planning on tracking your guitar, you need to be more specific in which way you were thinking about doing so. The best way to track it is obviously a decent interface with a good mic-pre and record directly into the mic. Then of course you can add your post processing in your daw. If you want to record a dry signal to apply internal audio effects that comes with your DAW? i think you could just get a 1/4" audio to USB to do that.

Audio interfaces for music production can get quite expensive, but if you are just starting out I would try to stick in the $300 range so you have something decent. The most important part of any studio setup is honestly the interface,speakers,room and daw you use. Good news for you is most DAW's come with a free trial.

Here's an idea: If I were to start from nothing again and I was a beginner I would go with an

Interface:Apogee Duet (used) prollys around $200-300
Workstation: 2009 Mac Pro: $400-700
Speakers: Dynaudio BM5A Mk1 (used) ( maybe $400 for both?)
DAW: Logic Pro X, best bang for your buck to make professional music.

A lot of your studio setup and what you buy really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you aren't tracking 10 instruments at once a simple interface with not many inputs is good because you get good converters, if you are tracking a ton of shit at once or want to but still want to be on small budget i would still suggest the duet and get a with inputs to sum it all together

phacemeltar · #3 02-15-2014, 11:21 AM

thanks, that Apogee Duet is a nice piece of equipment and was a good read to help me get info on specs. the problem is that i already have my pc set up, and i have been using it to record midi tracks and some mic samples. im using ableton live on winXP. soon i want to move to linux.

just getting the adapter for the guitar hookup wont work, as ive reached some sort of latency bottleneck on the motherboard so what im really shopping for is a self-powered audio card. the problem i am trying to avoid is usb not giving enough power for my guitar, resulting in glitchy interference.

can you suggest any quality manufacturers that are not mac-only?

Oogei · #4 02-15-2014, 11:27 AM

RME Babyface -

do you have firewire?

Oogei · #5 02-15-2014, 11:31 AM

btw i also use ableton live 9 and push very nice setup, will offer trade secrets for in game PL. !!!!!

phacemeltar · #6 02-15-2014, 11:33 AM

yes i have firewire but i would rather stick to usb for upgradability. i appreciate the suggestions

Oogei · #7 02-15-2014, 11:35 AM

by latency you mean you have a few milliseconds of the audio track that isn't exactly at the start of your recording session?

phacemeltar · #8 02-15-2014, 11:40 AM

by latency i mean i get terrible feedback and some lag when i go heavy on effects, from what i understand sound processing is done in the audio interface. im a total noob when it comes to digital recording, but its become somewhat of a hobby and i want to expand my capabilities.
what i am looking for is an external soundcard with at least one 1/4" powered input that will not give me distortion. price range is up to $200 i guess, though i would rather spend money on booze.

Oogei · #9 02-15-2014, 11:45 AM

so your CPU is bottlenecking in ableton? Latency and feedback are two different things

If in ableton your hearing some strange glitching in your audio it's most likely being caused by your PC"s CPU. You shouldnt have any 'feedback' when you record directly into ableton with your guitar on a dry signal. If you are layering effects and THEN recording your dry signal into that audio track with the effects, then yes you might be bottlenecking your cpu.

phacemeltar · #10 02-15-2014, 11:48 AM

i think the problem i am having right now is that i am using the Realktek onboard sound card that came with the mobo (ex took my soundblaster) and it just gets glitchy when theres alot going on. CPU meter will be fine, but the sound will start to pop and go out at some points. the problem is most likely driver-related, but i do not know enough chinese to maneuver ASUS support page. also, i once plugged an AGP sound card into a PCI slot on the mobo, so that may have something to do with it.