Yo Tobes, need your advice...

[FOKI26]

Yo Tobes,

Just been talking with a mate (Matt, u know DJ Slider), and he’s just getting himself sorted with a PC laptop for Logic and he needs some advice around what soundcard to get.

He isn’t going to be using any outboard, or hardware (he will be totally software based), although I have a feeling he will want to record his DJ mixes, so he will need something with decent inputs & decent A/D converters.

Any recommendations…. ?

I don’t want him to go out and buy some all singing and dancing thing that costs him a fortune, and has loads of features that he’ll never use, but something that will do the job.

Any help mate as per usual will be much appreciated.

Foax.

[Tobes]

theres only ever one sound card i recomend, but its not cheap, its the one ive been using for over 4 years and its absoltely flawless in design, which is why it is still on sale, and still one of the best quality cards around.


the company was first called soundscape it was then bought by mackie and is now owned by sydek.


i can absolutely gaurantee that if he buys this card i doubt he will ever buy another.


this card only has a tdif connection on it, so to get inputs it needs a thing called a ibox also manafactured by sydec, the ibox is an 8 way 1/4" jack input device, its all good cos they do a package,


the package includes 1xmixtreme pci card and2xibox for only 495 euros plus vat.


those two iboxs will basically become matts 16 inputs for his software mixing desk which comes with the mixtreme, not only is the mixer very good, its also allows you to use your vst plugins :smiley2:


its what i use, but i dont need any ibox's cos i can plug it directly into my 02R http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley36.gif


heres some links


sydec http://www.sydec.be


mixtreme http://www.sydec.be/Products/Details/?ID=bff3368f-c161-4c9b- ab3d-779666748d56 (http://www.sydec.be/Products/Details/?ID=bff3368f-c161-4c9b-ab3d-779666748d56)


power pack bundle http://www.sydec.be/Products/Details/?ID=c83572df-b60b-48a8- 99ea-7e0cf2f38fe2 (http://www.sydec.be/Products/Details/?ID=c83572df-b60b-48a8-99ea-7e0cf2f38fe2)


i just love this card, its the muts nutz mate, never given me a problem in all these years, just make sure he uses a pentium chip with any mixtreme product :smiley4:although i would never use AMD anyway cos whenever i see pc's with processor problems, its always AMD they run too hot.


sorry i cant be of more help, the only other cards ive used where soundblaster, and they are on a tottally different level http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley10.gif


p.s ask rich he works in a studio shop in town man :smiley4:Edited by: Tobes

[FOKI26]

Reckon that could be a bit much matehttp://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley5.gif, at the most he'll only need 2 in-2 out buti see where you're coming from tho as it's obviously a quality card....:smiley2:





Same with the options of using the VST's on the mixer, i can't see him using them to be honest as the only thing he'll be recording in are his DJ mixes, and any further processing to them can be done after in S.Forge or some't.





All he needs is some't to just basically let Logic do it's shiz as it should, and that's about it. If he ever does need to take his stuff to a bigger studio then he can do that round at mine or whatever.


*Didn't know you had an O2R... nice !


Rich, any suggestions ?


Foax.

[-rich-]

I'd recommend the M-Audio Audiophile Firewire around £170, sound quality is great and it has what you want and a little extra, very nice soundcard.

[FOKI26]

Cheers mate, was thinking of one of these anyway…. Is there a USB equivalent of one of these…. As I’m not sure if he has a firewire connection….?

[-rich-]

Yeh there is but itsnot as good,its priced at £155may be worth spending an extra tenner and getting a pcmcia firewire cardwith the firewire version (i would)

[FOKI26]

Cheers for that mate, i'll let him know.

[-rich-]

no probs geeza

[Tobes]

pcmcia, is that for a laptop then? http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley5.gif

[-rich-]

yeh its that little slot (or 2) on the side, its similar to a pci slot but for laptops. the cards are like credit cards in size but thicker.

[Tobes]

haha after all of that, i thought it was for a pc, what a nob i am http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley36.gif


f**k that tell him to get the echo indigo then the i/o version, but it might not be compatible, make sure he checks out what laptop is compatible for it :smiley2:


that sound card offers sterio in and out at 96khz an its a pcmcia card without any need of an external box :smiley4:Edited by: Tobes

[-rich-]

haha now i see what you meant.


The Indigo's areexcellent cards , like you say though they have big compatability issues, the amount of times people send them back to us and they arent faulty if you let me know what cardbus the laptop has i can find out if its compatible if you want

[FOKI26]

No probs dude, i'll probs push him for the firewire M-audio thing anyway so i can see what it's like (as i was thinking of one of these for myself, as my girl keeps stealing myDelta 4x4http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley7.gif)

[Tobes]

No probs dude, i'll probs push him for the firewire M-audio thing anyway so i can see what it's like (as i was thinking of one of these for myself, as my girl keeps stealing myDelta 4x4http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley7.gif)


thats a bit sly :smiley3:if the indigo card works he will be better off i reckon, what do you think rich?

[FOKI26]

Wasn't meant maliciously....http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley18.gif


Is there much in it..... never really heard much about these indigo cards, plus i already have an m-audio card so can probs show him how to use that better anyway as it's bound to have a similar interface to my delta....


You guys are reading too much into me.....http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley19.gif

[-rich-]

either way he's going to be able to record his mixes at good quality, take into account whether you can be arsed with a breakout box or not, the price difference and what you might want to do in the future (no point buying one now only to want the other later). Then you can decidewhat you'd bebetter off with.

[Tobes]

Wasn't meant maliciously....http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley18.gifYou guys are reading too much into me.....http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley19.gif





dont lie man, we know what your like now http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley36.gifwas probably going to nick it too when he got it http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/toungue.gifhehehe


dude, if it was me, which is was about two weeks ago, the echo indigo card is my first choice, cos its a slot in card and simple as hell, and all the reviews from people who can get them to work say there the bomb, but otherwise what rich is saying might be better, but its an external thing, and then he still needs to get firewire, which all new laptops should have anyway tho.


upto you oh dark lord http://www.itstooloud.com/smileys/smiley36.gif