Question (Audio Inteface): Simple composing setup

[digital]

Hi all,

I have a question on setting up a home studio setup with minimal things but of good quality.
Since I do recording with MIDI input thru a controller and use VSTi, I don't need any line in recording.

So the simplest hardware setup I can think of is the following..

- PC
- MIDI Controller
- Audio Interface
- Monitor Speakers

However, I have a question with regards to the Audio Interface... Since i do all my work with MIDI and VSTs... what kind of an audio interface is optimal for my usage?

>> Are external audio interface or internal PCI soundcards ideal? + Any audio interface to recommend me for such simple MIDI/VST usage? I m not familar with what the specifications on a audio interface mean (i.e. 16bit/44.1kHz) so I will need help in this area.

I was looking at this Yamaha Audiogram3 (http://www.yamahasynth.com/products/audiogram/specifications.html) .. however I was told that it is a very low quality interface. Any comments on this?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[soft]

Hi digital

In this case, why do you need an interface?

 

[digital]

Hmm.. you're right.
I think I need a soundcard to be exact and there's no need for an audio interface.

However I'd still need recommendations for a soundcard (internal/external) as I m not familar with the specifications of the hardware.

 

[emgee]

Hi,

I am too wondering if a basic/default pci soundcard will suffice for recording as i've never tried it before.

digital: You may want to check out creative soundcards, especially XtremeMusic. I used to play games semi-profesionally and have done alot of research on this, and XtremeMusic was the soundcard most gamers were using back then because it was the most bang4buck soundcard.

Lucky you, you have a PC in your studio. I'm thinking of a buying a laptop because I can do more with it than a PC.

 

[digital]

I don't think a simple one will do as I need Phone connector for monitor speakers.. meanwhile let me check out the XtremeMusic series

 

[Cheez]

Digital, you'll need an audio interface. Even though the sound is routed internally, you'll still need to monitor the sound. Drivers are important as with latency. So you'll need a decent audio interface. And since you'll need a midi interface as well, an audio interface with midi included will be the best.

My suggestion (for reasonably low cost, low latency and good sound quality) would be Echo. M-audio is OK, but I don't trust their drivers. If you can still find Echo Mia, it's the best way to go. If you are using Vista, then you may want to consider one step up (Gina3G). Echo is one of the few, if not the only one, that I know is using Windows WaveRT drivers in Vista for extreme low latency.

I'm also doing internal routing with softsamplers and VSTis. The audio interface is the most important hardware in my setup. I use RME. Costly, but very stable and will last me a long time. I used to use Echo a lot (both for PC and notebook). They have never failed me.

If you are using a PC, my suggestion is to get a PCI or PCIe card. Echo only has PCI at the moment, but is fast enough. If you are using notebook, then you may want to consider firewire or PCMCIA. For PCMCIA, Echo Indigo is the way to go. Very simple but excellent product (I have one). The new Echo Indigo Expresscard version is out. Using PCMCIA has one very important plus point - it frees up your firewire port for external HDs (for either recording or sample streaming).

 

[digital]

I know M-Audio have bad drivers.. I have heard much about E-MU being well priced for it's quality and drivers. Are E-MU interfaces any good? I believe E-MU has vista drivers ready.

Im also wondering if the specification regarding interface audio quality being 24bit/96kHz vs 24bit/192kHz make much difference? Thanks

 

[Cheez]

Most audio interfaces are Vista ready. They still use the standard ASIO 2 (fastest) or MME (Windows based - slower). But WaveRT is the Vista built-in audio driver that's supposed to be really fast (faster than ASIO?). So far, only Echo has that, as far as I know. Don't know why others are so slow to follow.

E-mu is also OK.

The largest difference is between 16 and 24 bit. 96 kHz and 192 Khz, to me doesn't matter much. Eventually, everything goes into 16 bit anyway. 24 bit takes up more space and more RAM if you are dealing with samples. All depends on the type of music you are writing. If I run everything in 24 bit, I would need a few PCs to run them since I usually use 30+ instruments. However, 24 bit has obvious greater clarity than 16 bit. However, if your instruments (VSTi etc) are all in 16 bit, then again, it makes no difference.

 

[digital]

That settles everything.. After your short explaination on the difference of the 24bit/96kHz thing doesn't really matter much..

Great I guess I will be getting a simple E-MU 0404 or maybe the 1212M over the net for the audio interface!