Modartt user forum - Sound card upgrade. Need advice

Re: Sound card upgrade. Need advice

2021-08-03T07:35:58Z

marcos daniel wrote:

I.
Inputs should not be relevant, and by the way, bits and kHz are just markteting in my opinion.

Inputs don't really matter, but KHz and bits do: the difference between 16 and 24 bits is definitely audible, less so for sample rates above 44.1 KHz.

Re: Sound card upgrade. Need advice

2021-08-02T18:40:46Z

Dedicated audio chipsets are less and less of an issue as modern CPUs can handle most of the additional load. While ASIO4ALL isn't perfect by any means, there are very few dedicated production-grade sound cards new on the market. If you absolutely need a better interface there are old and new Creative brand and EVGA brand options that are very good--albeit expensive (and more designed for amplification than actual sound processing like the cards of the early aughts). There are also ways in Windows 10 of still getting older professional-grade cards to work from the used market. Everything else on the market is overkill unless you're planning on doing XLR-recording or need other specialized features that don't directly relate to Pianoteq. As a general rule, upgrading speakers or changing your audio configuration or drivers you're using will be a better place to start (and potentially a better value)--as onboard motherboard sound cards are basically as good as anything that you can by as an external device or internal card. Same with USB-based audio interfaces for laptops.

Re: Sound card upgrade. Need advice

2021-08-02T16:12:16Z

As mentiones above, the budget is an important point to take into account. Anyway there are many sound cards that should do the work, I would look to the following things:
*Number of outputs: 2 outpus is the most common and affordable configuration, for instance Focusrrite solo or 2i2 should fit well.
There are affordable options with 4 outputs, in case you want to use multi output in PT, like Behringer UMC204HD
*MIDI input: as the sound card will need an USB port, this option saves the extra USB port needed for MIDI.
Inputs should not be relevant, and by the way, bits and kHz are just markteting in my opinion.

Re: Sound card upgrade. Need advice

2021-08-02T05:09:34Z

tommyroland wrote:

Hi everyone, I want to upgrade my soundcard and I need a soundcard that has both pleasant natural sound and great micro detail. Low latency is important.
Any suggestions are important. Thanks!

What's your budget?

Good results can be had with low cost hardware, but you might want something high end?

In terms of low latency it's not expensive to get a low latency solution for Pianoteq. A low cost entry level sound interface with ASIO running in exclusive mode should do that.

Do you require the ability to record external instruments such as real guitars, hardware synthesisers and human voice?

Laptop or desktop?

Sound card upgrade. Need advice

2021-08-02T04:42:01Z

Hi everyone, I want to upgrade my soundcard and I need a soundcard that has both pleasant natural sound and great micro detail. Low latency is important.
Any suggestions are important. Thanks!