Which Sounbd Card For New G5s ??, Advice requested... Options

[binus]

Hi you all,
I am considering upgrading from a G4 to G5 (which one is to be discussed later...), so my Audiomedia III will be have to be dropped except if I choose a G5 1.8....
My questions are, at this time:
1/ which card do you think is the best (rapidity, least latency, sound quality). Within a reasonable price range (200 to 300 $) for a home studio.
2/ generally speaking, are PCI-X cards still better rated than FW ones ? (FW would free us from the problem of slots being changed these times... and probably more often in the future...).
I had a look at some cards like Echo Mia-midi, M-Audio 410 too but I could not try them and I think there are some others worth looking at...

Thanks for your posts !!


This post has been edited by binus: Tue 15 Feb 2005, 10:50

[PhilTrueman]

Yo binus,

Welcome to the nightmare...

It's not a simple question and there's no simple answer - it depends what you want to do. There are quite a number of Firewire kits out there that would do the job. PCI cards are still fine - although M-Audio get a lot of criticism on this site - I've always used their cards and they're fine. (um... with some caveats).
I recently went from a G4 733MHz to a G5 2.5x2 - and chose an M-Audio 1010LT. Card works fine.

Best to make a list of requirements - and your budget - and make choices from there. Don't kick yourself if you make a mistake - it's all a learning curve.

Don't forget to look at Terratec, M-Audio, M-Box etc etc etc.

Good hunting.

PT

[binus]

Hi Phil, thanks for your post.
The fact is that I have a G4 733, is that the beginning of the nightmare ?? !!
I'll try to be more precise: overall: sound quality first, rapidity second, latency as short as possible third, price fourth (as I said, around 200 - 300 € or a little bit more, it depends....).
Regarding FW and PCI-X devices: of these two kinds which one is the best in terms of sound quality and rapidity (regardless of all other features) ?
In other words: if you had the means: what would you choose ?? FW ?? PCI-X ?? and in each of these two categories which ones do you rate among the best ??

Thanks !!

[PhilTrueman]

Greetings Binus,

Well - it's good to see you have a set of requirements and have them in order. So let's take a look at your first requirement: sound quality.

Okay - fair point, any musician worth their salt wants sound quality. This is dependant on - not only the sound card but the cables that hold everthing together, the monitors in your studio and the set of ears on your head.
Rapidity - ? is that the same as latency - or do you know something here I don't? Which is very possible Binus
For this - read the specs on whatever piece of kit you're looking at - also have a think about how your studio is set up and how you work.
Price - well you should get a reasonal piece of kit for that price. You may decide to go the way of a Firewire module.

If I had unlimited money - I would be running ProTools and a Mixfarm. At the moment I am running LogicPro and the M-Audio 1010LT. Which works for me.
Previously I had an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 - that worked okay.

Basically - read the forums and get an idea of what various folk think about each piece of gear. If you can get to a good music shop - get them to set up the gear for you and listen - there is no substitute for having heard it yourself.
There is an old HiFi 'saying' - never listen to a piece of kit above you budget! Please bear that in mind.

Let me know how you get on - your research into this will help all of us in the future.

Yamas

PT

[binus]

Hi Phil !!
Many thanks for this very nice and kind reply!!
This morning I had a phone call with a "good" (at least I think so !! music shop and they said that your card (Audio 1010 LT is very good), but, given what I want to do: singing with Midi backing, an Echo Mia-Midi would be perfect...
Are you OK with this ??
Once again thank you for the fashion of your reply ...

[PhilTrueman]

Hi Binus,

You're more than welcome. The Echo Mia is a good card - the Echo range has been around for a while - I guess that means they are well liked and respected.

It's really hard to guide anyone as to the gear they 'should' buy - we all tend to make a decision and buy gear - then, that's all we know. There are precious few of us that can get to listen to loads of different kit. I wonder how many members of MacMusic actually work in music shops and could give some accurate and objective views on the kit out there - a sort of 'MacMusicians review of gear'.

Anyway - good luck with it all Binus - let me (and others) know what you think of the Echo Mia midi.

Cheers

PT

[subscotty]

anyone care to offer some insight on this topic? I noticed Apple stopped selling the card I was looking at (M-Audio)... find it peculiar, actually. Oh... wait, maybe this is the one that they were having trouble with. I've been looking at the 1010 ... I just want to do remix stuff--samples and Midi /VST.

It's late... I'm tired. I jsut want to read opinions for a while and not think.

[binus]

Hi Subscotty, Hope you slept well !!
I forgot to come back to this thread since almost 1 yr !! Just to tell you that I eventually bought an AUDIOPHILE 192. You have 2 MIDI OUT and 1 MIDI IN. The Noise/Signal ratio is not as good as it was with Audiomedia III but all in all it does a vey good job and I'm very satisfied with it.
Good Luck !!