Do I need a sound card???

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Do I need a sound card???

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brucifer brucifer is a male

Making all the tunes your mum loves

Registration Date: 23-10-2007
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Hi,

I use an old laptop with Reason 3 for producing (Trying anyway!) track on. A few people have told me that I should get an external sound card for my computer. What are the advantages? I don't have a keyboard for Reason just in case you are wondering...

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02-12-2007 02:46

Paracyte Paracyte is a male

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Registration Date: 07-12-2006
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Advantages (ofcourse if card will be well good,not for 20 quid :lol Smile

less latency means better sound comunication between the software ,hardware and card.

Better sound ,

More options with sound quality,

If got dsp chip on board ,less main processor usage as a soundcard take the part of processing.

external in out and midi ports (usually)

I might to forgot about few Tongue

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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Paracyte: 02-12-2007 04:13.

02-12-2007 04:12

BattleDrone BattleDrone is a male

2161... the future.

Registration Date: 30-12-2005
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On board soundcards tend to produce a lame sound which is not equally powerfull throughout the whole spectrum and the used hardware is not very powerfull meaning that you end up with cracking audio very easy. Latency is also a huge problem. If you play a note on your (typing)keyboard and you hear it about 200 milliseconds later you'll fail badly on making melodies and stuff, it's just an annoyance really.

Also very important is the usage of good monitors/headphones. To save your ears from damage and to hear the whole soundspectrum like you should.

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02-12-2007 12:30

Digital Cause Digital Cause is a male

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I was in exactly your position a couple of years back, and everyone was telling me to get a soundcard. I asked loads of questions and got all the same answers until I decided I really really wanted and needed one for the "sound quality". The only difference I noticed when I got mine was that there was a little less noise in the speakers...(like when you plug speakers in to your computer you get a small hissing sound). Thats all good but basiclly soundcards are not as relevant as people think. If you are very serious about recording your own sounds then yes you need one for the D/A A/D converters but otherwise in your situation my message is just that you do not need to worry. The exact same quality of tune is possible on your computer with no soundcard than if you had one. If you were to get a keyboard im sure you could USB it anyway. I just feel strongly about this because I was worried when everyone was telling me to get mine. basiclly, dont worry too much about it, but if you got the money, you may aswell get one, just so you have more options later on.

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02-12-2007 12:53

-J-

Big Bad Battyman

Registration Date: 15-11-2002
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quote:

Originally posted by Digital Cause
I was in exactly your position a couple of years back, and everyone was telling me to get a soundcard. I asked loads of questions and got all the same answers until I decided I really really wanted and needed one for the "sound quality". The only difference I noticed when I got mine was that there was a little less noise in the speakers...(like when you plug speakers in to your computer you get a small hissing sound). Thats all good but basiclly soundcards are not as relevant as people think. If you are very serious about recording your own sounds then yes you need one for the D/A A/D converters but otherwise in your situation my message is just that you do not need to worry. The exact same quality of tune is possible on your computer with no soundcard than if you had one. If you were to get a keyboard im sure you could USB it anyway. I just feel strongly about this because I was worried when everyone was telling me to get mine. basiclly, dont worry too much about it, but if you got the money, you may aswell get one, just so you have more options later on.

in terms of cpu usage, and audio output you might wanna seriously reconsider this statement tho ...
you're absolutely right in saying you don't "need" a soundcard to produce good tunes, but you are very limited in terms of what your pc can handle, onboard soundcards always eat way more cpu power than those with external processing
+ the audio feed you get is absolutely NOT what it's supposed to be, with onboard chips you always get a very dissolved sound image from what you're actually doing

now if you're only in it for garage band tunes, and just toying, that's fine, but the moment you start worrying about a good mix and honest audio feed in order to get into detail with your mixing, it's mandatory to have a good soundcard and good monitors.

i'll also take a couple of lines to define "good" monitors;
GOOD monitors are monitors that YOU know well enough to use them as a reference, speakers that you know of: ah this tune i know so well how it sounds on these monitors (and on others) and then you can always reference back to what you know your moni's are doing.

then again, don't use simple pc speakers, and DON't use a hifi install (f.e. a powered hifi amp and some speakers connected to it ...) as it may seriously compromise the way you work and the results you try to achieve
always try to find a compromise between your budget and your needs, and go for something you know has a clear frequency response etc, that has a freq. range that is large enough for the kind of music you're producing (quite big in dnb)

so yeah, you're quite mandatory to go get a new soundcard although there may be arguments out there telling you not too (which are absolutely well grounded) which could save you those 200 - 1500 bucks (depending what you're going for)
but don't be fooled, sooner or later you ARE going to want that quality, so just get it over with.

buying your first soundcard and monitors is a bit like makin love for the first time, it's scary, you know you want to but you don't really dare too, but once you're in, you're NEVER coming back !

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02-12-2007 14:05

Digital Cause Digital Cause is a male

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the first time i got laid i wasnt scared at all. and if I was i would not remember anyway.

Break (Ithink its break, anyway the QandA is on DOA) uses Hi-Fi Speakers to both make tunes and to mix on. as long as they give the full range of audio, it doesnt really matter what speakers you use. The more important thing is that you get used to the speakers, and used to the room your mixing in.

the soundcard does not take that much processing power away from the computer, and that is not an argument for a soundcard, thats just a bonus you get from one.
The quality of sound is not vastly different with a good soundcard than a cheap one, or that of the computers built in soundcard.

just giving my views

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03-12-2007 18:47

Greyone Greyone is a male

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i want to improve my sound aswel and i need and external soundcard + active monitors badly :

- my internal soundcard of my laptop has reverb on it + sucks massively
- i want to play Live withouth soundproblems like i have now
- i want to produce tracks that sound good in my 'studio' and in someone else his 'studio' hehe , cause know i always focus on whats comes out my speakers and EQ everything to my studio and it sounds quit nice here , but when i play out live or go to someone else his studio it sucks Smile

, otherwise if i make a track in someone else his studio and hear it on my system its both good Smile

my little problems up to now Smile

im about diggin some further about good external soundcards , chrismas is coming $$ Happy

18-12-2007 19:18

cynik

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Registration Date: 15-03-2005
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quote:

Originally posted by Greyone
my internal soundcard of my laptop has reverb on it + sucks massively

if its a creative live... it does tend to fuck up the dsp effects it has, but you have the "restore defaults" shortcut in its folder in program files.. so check that

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18-12-2007 20:09

Greyone Greyone is a male

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quote:

Originally posted by cynik

quote:

Originally posted by Greyone
my internal soundcard of my laptop has reverb on it + sucks massively

if its a creative live... it does tend to fuck up the dsp effects it has, but you have the "restore defaults" shortcut in its folder in program files.. so check that

no its a realtek AC97 soundcard... the standard one

but its ok, im planning to buy the same external one like battledrone:

the M-Audio Audiophile USB