Modartt user forum - which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-18T08:37:08Z

I use the famous M-Audio Delta 1010 (PCI). No clicks or pops, just fast and good sound.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-18T08:23:22Z

anyone experienceing pops/clicks check out this

http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/...php?id=288

and here

http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/...php?id=265

and finally, here

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=951

hope this helps someone

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-18T08:10:47Z

Thanks Glenn. Something I did try was to move it to a different USB port (which I think is on a different hub, but I can't be 100% sure yet). but that didn't fix it. It's academic anyway - I'm retiring the P4 from real time audio processing duties.

Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-17T22:04:15Z

Greg:

Offering what little I know about soundcards and computers, the one thing I have learned is that some combinations of motherboards, etc and soundcards do not get along well together.

This site may even delve into your particular chipset/mobo/soundcard combination. I found it very useful when I first installed my SC.

http://www.productionforums.com/index.php

The other most common problem I learned about at that site is to ensure that the soundcard is on its own IRQ (most of know this already).

Glenn

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-17T09:15:11Z

And I now use an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra for both audio and MIDI, despite the fact that I had stated that I was going to use the laptop's output. (for a number of reasons)

The F.T.U is working well for basic Pianoteq playing on my Core2 Duo-based laptop - I have the audio buffer size at the minimum (128 for this device), and I have polyphony set to the max (256), and I can do what I want - no glitches at all and the response is very crisp. The headphone outputs have insufficient volume with high impedance headphones though. (and I'm not the first to report this)

It's actually NOT working very well on my older Pentium 4 desktop, despite tweaking polyphony and the audio buffer size. On this same machine the M-Audio Delta 66 (a PCI soundcard) works well, in conjunction with the integrated motherboard MIDI input.

Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-15T21:10:48Z

I now use a Focusrite Saffire PRO 24

http://www.focusrite.com/news/the_saffire_pro_24/

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-13T19:08:50Z

I use an Echo Gina3G.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-07T03:47:06Z

After still further testing, I've found that switching the E6500's input between line and mic does make a difference. It seems that it's line-in is much more sensitive than the Delta 66 though. I'm also wondering whether the output is actually fixed in headphone mode. (I've been reading up on headphone outputs - seems that most typical headphone outputs make entirely satisfactory substitutions for line level outputs - the levels aren't that different. The quality of a proper line-out might be a bit better though)

Sorry for the rathole.

Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-06T08:53:46Z

The output of the laptop is actually higher than I at first thought, and I had to move the output slider down to just higher than 50% so as not to overload the input of the Delta when I ran the tests. I decided to repeat the tests with the Delta's input set to "consumer"(*), and in this configuration the laptop at 100% was about 3dB down. Here are the new results. (I also upped the sample rate to 96kHz, but I retained 16 bits resolution because it the utility reported that the hardware couldn't support full duplex for 24 or 32 bits) I also used better quality cables to connect the laptop's output to the Delta this time, too.

Freq response: -0.26, +0.16 dB 20Hz to 20kHz (-3dB at about 45kHz)
Interference and noise: -94.9dB
Dynamic range: 87.4dB
THD+noise: 0.018%
Stereo crosstalk: -90.1dB

It's pretty impressive for real world conditions I think, with a CRT monitor nearby etc etc.

Greg.
(*) The Delta's "consumer" level is not to be confused with the home line-level setting. It's very confusing - the home hi-fi level is called "-10dB", and the "consumer" level is, I think, really meant to mean "semi professional". The consumer level is 6dB higher than the -10dB home hi-fi level.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-05T21:57:46Z

I forgot to state the soundcard settings I used - I only used CD quality settings (44.1kHz, 16 bits). The results may have been a little bit better if I had used the maximum possible settings. (the laptop can go to 96kHz/32 bits). The high frequency response would have been a lot better I assume.

Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-05T12:35:09Z

I've devised a way to run the soundcard analyzer utility and not have to use the silly mic input of the laptop. I connected the output of the laptop to the input of the desktop PC (Delta 66 soundcard), and the output of the desktop to the mic input of the laptop. I then started the test on BOTH machines simultaneously, and of course only used the results from the desktop PC (which is measuring the output of the laptop, which is what we're interested in).

The results are actually pretty good:

Dell E6500 "IDT High Definition Audio" output jack/M-Audio Delta 66 loopback test:
Freq. response: -1.69, +0.12 dB (the -1.69dB seems to be at about 19.8kHz - at 20Hz it's less than 0.5dB down)
Interference and noise: -90.5dB
Dynamic range: 85.8dB
THD+noise: 0.014%
Stereo crosstalk: -88.5dB

I'm satisfied with this - I'm not after golden ears fidelity for my tin ears.

Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-05T08:00:09Z

I find that the levels don't change when I change the input type from line-in to MIC, so I think there's a driver problem. (the input is fixed in the MIC mode) So, I connected up the laptop's output to the input of the Delta 66, and found that the laptop IS outputting a very good line level signal when the sliders are all on max. (it is just saturating the Delta when it's set to the home hi-fi input level: -10dBV)

It would be interesting to try and repeat the tests with it connected up like this (I don't think this utility supports it, though), but I decided to just listen to some music, and it sounded excellent, with no hiss whatsoever. Also, the frequency response test was very good anyway - I was mainly worried about low frequency response, but that was fine. Most of the test was invalid anyway, because the output was set very low.

So I'm going to just get a MIDI interface and see how I go. Mind you, I don't think we'll ever see Elton John using the pissy little 3.5mm jack on a laptop. ;^)

Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-09-05T06:26:26Z

I installed a soundcard analyzer program ( http://download.cnet.com/Sound-Card-Ana...60675.html ) and tested the "IDT High Definition Audio" interface on my Dell E6500 laptop. The results for the individual tests range from poor to good, with the overall result being "average". It seems that the output can't be configured to be a true line-out, because I have to set the output levels WAY down so that it doesn't overload the input (the input CAN be configured as a line-in, and I have done that). This maybe the main problem.

I ran the same software with the M-Audio Delta 66 PCI card, and the results range from good to excellent, with the overall result being "very good".

For my laptop I'll be getting a combined MIDI/Audio interface such as the Edirol UA25 or similar.

Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-08-27T22:26:17Z

Jake,
I understand that - all I meant was that I can't connect my keyboard to my laptop *directly* with USB - I still need to buy something other than a USB cable, and I call that a "MIDI interface". (maybe we can all it a MIDI to USB converter) I'm not ruling out Express Port/PC Card products though.

Thanks for the info though - appreciated.

Regards,
Greg.

Re: which Soundcard / Audio-Interface do you use?

2009-08-27T21:52:34Z

Skip--Your keyboard will work. The keyboard doesn't have to have a usb connection, just a midi connection. M-Audio and others make a cable that makes the usb port register the midi signal. In other words, one end of the cable is midi and the other end is a usb plug. About $35-40 US. Here's the one I use:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Uno.html

One caveat--a bad batch of these was released early this year and had to be recalled. Guitar Center was sent a notice by the company, according to one of their sales people I spoke with. If you buy this product, be sure to get one that has black cardboard as a backing to the plastic bubble shell. The ones with blue cardboard, I kid you not, are the early ones, and you sometimes still see them. (Some of these may be fine--I know someone who bought one over a year ago, and it was fine.)

But the newest make works very well. Very straightforward operation. The connection shows up in the PianoTeq Options\Midi pane as "USB midi device." Never had a problem with it. So you have a keyboard that will work, so long as it has midi out and a good action.

I should add that some systems require that you load the m-audio software driver that comes with it--it may not be just plug and play.