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Robots for Robots → General Hardware / Software Discussion → Soundcard Jungle
Definitely need a Texas Instruments chip on your firewire card. My pc had a generic firewire card pre-installed but the audio kept cutting out. Once I put in a new card with a TI chip and disabled my wireless card it runs perfectly.
apogee all the way, motu is good but hammerfall and apogee are way better. apogee usually works with mac only? finding a fireware PCMCIA card with TI chipset is a pain in the arse, but totally necessary for good FW operation!
whats more important to you?
portability? size? weight?
# of inputs?
price?
sound quality?
do you need preamps?
From what i've read and friends, the older motu, 828 and 828mkII had problems with windows, (i amuse most continental europeans are using windows). also on some 828 it breaks and looks like it works but no audio passes. pretty good converters and lots of IO
fwiw I use a presonus firebox, 4 in 6 out analog plus digital IO, midi, and 2 mic pres all in a little box, windows or mac works great and sounds acceptable
if i were smakoos i wouldn't even be trippin- i would get a mac and apogee ensemble or and be done with it!!!!
if you need portability get an apogee duet. used its like 400 USD!
-A
Which of the following three soundcards, I can't decide. Or if there is another good USB 2.0 soundcard. I want to replace the ESI 6/2 or whatever that thing is called
TASCAM 122L
EDIROL U25
EMU 4040 USB
The "m" versions of the EMU ones sound amazing, is the 4040 available in a "m" version? Do you have pcmcia? In that case you could get a 1616m like I have. Ruud used one of topse as well, at least for a while.
I can't help but recommend presonus. clear and true.
828 and 828mkII had problems with windows
There is no special problems using these ones with windows... the classic problem is the "user" himself 
Vote for FF400 all the way. 99% of the issues I've had are driver related and all those jokers like MOTU dont give s shit out their software/driver, they might have flasshing looking interfaces but it's like they spend 10$ on QA testing their software and drivers.
Got an RME which brought my 17 year battle with crap sounds card to an end. They make good PC drivers also.
i still use the 1616m, great card superb sound. problem is the pcmcia interface.. my laptop is getting on in years, and i can't buy a new one as they don't have these interfaces anymore, so i either have to get a 2nd hand one, or buy a new sound card.. grrrr..
i still use the 1616m, great card superb sound. problem is the pcmcia interface.. my laptop is getting on in years, and i can't buy a new one as they don't have these interfaces anymore, so i either have to get a 2nd hand one, or buy a new sound card.. grrrr..
The magic word here is "Lenovo", the make IBM's Thinkbooks now. Marvels of design (one is on display in the New York museum of modern Art), used by Nasa who send one to space, extremely sturdy, excellent Linux support, some can do stuff like swap out the CD drive to plug in a extra battery or HD and indeed they comewith cardbus slots as well.
That's the good news.
The bad news is the price tag....
all new lenovos?
i think you may be looking at the wrong cardbus slot.. there is a follow-up of the old big slot, that is much narrower and not backwards compatible..
i still use the 1616m, great card superb sound. problem is the pcmcia interface.. my laptop is getting on in years, and i can't buy a new one as they don't have these interfaces anymore, so i either have to get a 2nd hand one, or buy a new sound card.. grrrr..
newer laptops have express card slots right? it should be possible to insert PCMCI card in express card slot with adapters, like this one: http://sewelldirect.com/Express-Card-to … dapter.asp
yeah, i've seen those (cheaper too, conrad sells them for around 50 euro) but with that thing it comes to a point where it's not worth it anymore, sell the old card and buy some new firewire or usb2 thing..
I made up my mind sort of and randomly bought a Focusrite one, their advertisement talk was impressive
all new lenovos?
i think you may be looking at the wrong cardbus slot.. there is a follow-up of the old big slot, that is much narrower and not backwards compatible..
I'm not sure about *all* but quite a few do have both expresscard and cardbus, yes. Have a look at the T series.
I'm in the same position as you. I'd really prefer to stick to my EMU. On top of that I really don't want to go with Vista or Vista2; even Steve Jobs said those are looking a lot like OSX. I was planning to just keep using my old laptop until it broke. Unfortunately it's starting to do that now.
Windows 7? Linux?
Windows 7?
That's what I meant by "Vista2". I think Windows7 is mostly a marketing move and some tweaks to Vista.
Linux?
Yeah, with a realtime kernel. Lenovo has good Linux support and with a custom build of ALSA the EMU should work. It'll just be expensive.
Well you have to pay to get quality imho .. Especially with laptops. I always tell people not to go with the cheapest option, it's never a good idea. Mac's are expensive too ... But the build quality is good, they don't crash to bluescreen like my cheapo pc laptop did even when it was brand new 
It's the same with PC's, buy a lenovo or vaio or something. And btw. I guess you can still downgrade to XP on a new laptop if you want .. Just format the hd and install xp 
I made up my mind sort of and randomly bought a Focusrite one, their advertisement talk was impressive
Nice I hear the focusrite ones have good d/a converters. Well so people seem to say.
Well you have to pay to get quality imho .. Especially with laptops. I always tell people not to go with the cheapest option, it's never a good idea.
I got lucky last time; my current music laptop is a Medion, the brand sold at budget-supermarket Aldi. It was very cheap at the the time, very full-speced and has lasted for years and years before the screen's backlight sensor is now getting issues.
Mac's are expensive too ... But the build quality is good, they don't crash to bluescreen like my cheapo pc laptop did even when it was brand new
I think both Mac and Windows crash, if you're not careful about getting your install right (you can make Linux crash as well but it's harder). For my needs I don't see any advantages in Mac over Linux and I much, much prefer the interface I can get on Linux. A Mac would also mean getting a different soundcard as I'm quite sure there are no Apple models with cardbus slots.
I generally feel most at home with Linux and fortunately I can afford to go that way as I don't need any commercial applications for my music.
It's the same with PC's, buy a lenovo or vaio or something. And btw. I guess you can still downgrade to XP on a new laptop if you want .. Just format the hd and install xp
If you want to get it legally I think you can only get XP for lower specked machines now. Personally I'd never go with Vaio; too many horror stories.
so we have the same problem, kas? i'm happy with the laptop i have (asus l3400d) which has proven itself to be a very hardcore machine, that thing suffered through so much.. so i'm thinking one day it will give up and i'd like to be ahead of it.. cant that sensor be replaced?
agreed on the vaio's, walk around those in a very wide circle.. same with macbooks actually, i've known more than my share of people who have had problems with those and absolutely zero support from apple. we've gone into mac vs pc before, and as someone who has used both heavily for about 25 years, my opinion is they both suck...
so we have the same problem, kas?
Well, "problem"... I'd say the 1616m is a pritty nice card! I spoke with a RME user who was envious of mine.
i'm happy with the laptop i have (asus l3400d) which has proven itself to be a very hardcore machine, that thing suffered through so much.. so i'm thinking one day it will give up and i'd like to be ahead of it.. cant that sensor be replaced?
Well, I'm not walking into the Aldi with this issue... i can't find the actual sensor, it's probably inside of the hinge or something. If the issue gets worse I might still try and take a soldering iron to it. might be a broken wire as well.
agreed on the vaio's, walk around those in a very wide circle.. same with macbooks actually, i've known more than my share of people who have had problems with those and absolutely zero support from apple. we've gone into mac vs pc before, and as someone who has used both heavily for about 25 years, my opinion is they both suck...
Yeah, I've seen my share of broken Macbooks but I tend not to mention those on fora to avoid the usual "debate".
I'm in a bit of a lucky position as I could actually afford to switch to all Linux for my music as well (I've been using it for general computing for years now) because my sequencer runs in the ChucK virtual machine which will work on Mac, Win and Linux. Linux is rock solid, you can get drivers (and indeed a whole OS core) optimised for low latency, etc. On the downside; there are Emu drivers but they do require re-compiling the audio system which probably isn't everyone's idea of "fun".
If the drivers are up to date get the RME!!!
Nice pick Smackos. I have had a Focusrite Saffire for 4 years and I can't complain. Only limitation has been my aging computer.
rude66 wrote:so we have the same problem, kas?
Well, "problem"... I'd say the 1616m is a pritty nice card! I spoke with a RME user who was envious of mine.
i'm happy with the laptop i have (asus l3400d) which has proven itself to be a very hardcore machine, that thing suffered through so much.. so i'm thinking one day it will give up and i'd like to be ahead of it.. cant that sensor be replaced?
Well, I'm not walking into the Aldi with this issue... i can't find the actual sensor, it's probably inside of the hinge or something. If the issue gets worse I might still try and take a soldering iron to it. might be a broken wire as well.
agreed on the vaio's, walk around those in a very wide circle.. same with macbooks actually, i've known more than my share of people who have had problems with those and absolutely zero support from apple. we've gone into mac vs pc before, and as someone who has used both heavily for about 25 years, my opinion is they both suck...
Yeah, I've seen my share of broken Macbooks but I tend not to mention those on fora to avoid the usual "debate".
I'm in a bit of a lucky position as I could actually afford to switch to all Linux for my music as well (I've been using it for general computing for years now) because my sequencer runs in the ChucK virtual machine which will work on Mac, Win and Linux. Linux is rock solid, you can get drivers (and indeed a whole OS core) optimised for low latency, etc. On the downside; there are Emu drivers but they do require re-compiling the audio system which probably isn't everyone's idea of "fun".
Good to keep in mind the emu 1616 drivers are beta. Just the core functionality is there, the mixer support is very sketchy etc.
Robots for Robots → General Hardware / Software Discussion → Soundcard Jungle
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