New soundcard for Christmas?!

Bennifred

Hello, techie-minded people!
My DS1 is a Music Technology student and has asked for a new soundcard for his PC for Christmas . Anyway, the one he's suggested is the Soundblaster Xfi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series, and as I know nothing about these things I thought I'd run it past more knowledgable folk.
Does anybody have an opinion on this choice? The cheapest I can find it online is about £118, which is a fair bit more than I usually spend on a single present, but if it will be really good/useful for what he's doing then I'll bite the bullet and get it. Perhaps there's a just-as-good-but-more-affordable alternative that someone knows about?
Grateful for any feedback!

Conor_3

That's a gamers card. You're better off with the XFi-XtremeMusic. VERY IMPORTANTLY this one comes with a MIDI interface so he can hook up MIDI keyboards etc.

Here's a review:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/sound/265/

Bennifred

Ooh, thanks Conor! I knew it was worth asking!
DS1 had a MIDI keyboard for Christmas last year, so that sounds ideal - don't suppose you can recommend a supplier, too?:A

£$&*"($£&(

If he wants it for gaming then thats fine but for music technology Creative cards are not recomended and can cause problems. You can get away with them but they aren't ideal.

You really need something designed for music recording/playback with good low latency drivers. You could get a pci soundcard or an external interface that connects by firewire or usb. The pro wing of Creative are EMU and they do a variety of decent cards such as:

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/0404/12253 which is cheaper but better for music tech or this:

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/1212-m/11105

but there are many other options depending on what he needs in the way of inputs - xlr microphone inputs, line inputs, midi inputs and outputs. If he's doing music tech he should have a decent idea about what he needs. There are numerous manufacturers including M-Audio, Presonus, Edirol and Echo. Lots of people go with external firewire interfaces these days.

Bennifred

Well, I'm really glad I didn't just rush out and buy something, lol!
Thanks for your advice, too, grahawk, I think I'm going to have to get back to DS and ask him to look a bit more closely at what he wants (yes, you'd think he would have more clue, wouldn't you..........:rolleyes: ), but as it's me buying, it's great to have others' imput to check I'm getting the right thing!
Thank you!

Bennifred

Greetings again, expert panel!
DS1 has just emailed me with new choice of soundcard:
M-Audio Delta 1010LT.
What say you??
Opinions gratefully received by mother-with-no-clue:o

£$&*"($£&(

Whats good:

Plenty of input/output options.
Well established M-Audio brand tend to have good stable drivers.
Price.
Generally good specs.

Whats bad:

Not the most recent card.
No Vista drivers at present - apparently in development. So if he's got Vista now it's not a good option.
The mic inputs don't have phantom power so you can't use condenser mics, unless you go via a seperate mic pre amp or mixer. For recording you'd really need the condenser option.
Most inputs are unbalanced - people tend to prefer balanced inputs because they are less noisy and run at higher levels making it easier to get decent levels. But it depends what your plugging in. I'm not a serious recorder of music and have always used unbalanced inputs.
All those cables hanging off the soundcard may make use fiddly if the're at the back of the PC under a desk. I'd much prefer to have a breakout box which connects to the card and sits on the desktop.

Bennifred

Thank you, grahawk - more food for thought! I'm thinking my boy doesn't really know what he's looking for:rolleyes: (1st year if that's any excuse) so it's great to get more informed opinions. I must find out what more about exactly he needs to input, etc.
Wait for the next installment in this little saga....

£$&*"($£&(

I would say that non of the cons are particularly bad as long as he can live with them (except the Vista drivers if applicable).

jrrowleyws

Bennifred wrote: »

Thank you, grahawk - more food for thought! I'm thinking my boy doesn't really know what he's looking for:rolleyes: (1st year if that's any excuse) so it's great to get more informed opinions. I must find out what more about exactly he needs to input, etc.
Wait for the next installment in this little saga....

If he is at uni/college get him to ask the techies there. They should know whats hot and whats not and the best buy for him!

Or get a few music techy magazines, usually list all sorts of equipment!

Bennifred

jrrowleyws wrote: »

If he is at uni/college get him to ask the techies there. They should know whats hot and whats not and the best buy for him!

Or get a few music techy magazines, usually list all sorts of equipment!

Good idea! I'll email him now in the hope he can ask them tomorrow. Thanks for that.

And thanks to grahawk for continuing to keep an eye out for me:A