Multiple soundcards??? Musicians respond...

[Lyquist]

Can you run multiple sound cards in a computer? I am looking at turning my computer into a digital audio workstation and I want more than the two track at one time that I get from my X-Fi. THanks in advance.

Lyquist

 

[velusip]

Of course you can. I use a Soundblaster Platinum for it's nice inputs and MIDI interface and an M-audio for playback and fancy ASIO features.

 

[agent420]

You can, provided the two cards play nice. Usually any problems are software / driver related... unfortunately CL has a rather ambiguous history in that regard.

[edit]

While multiple cards can work, it also puts more stress on system resources due to the overhead of multiple drivers competing for bus time. This might manifest itself as a higher probability of pops & clicks. If you can save up some $, your best bet would be to get a card designed for a daw environment with good asio drivers from the likes of Maudio or ESI. The Audiotrak Maya44 MKII (an ESI subsidiary - good stuff) offers 4 channel 1/4" TRS in's with a mic preamp and can be found for around $100 on the net.

 

[velusip]

I suppose. If you're aiming at recording multiple sources at once to a computer it's pretty near impossible to make it work flawlessly using two interfaces on the same machine. An external DAW passing multiple digital tracks via one interface is really the only way you're going to get things done without headaches.

 

[Lyquist]

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced soundcard to record multiple tracks at once?? I already have a mixer with phantom power, so I don't really need that. I would just like to be able to record at least four tracks at once, preferably eight, but eight might be out of my price range.

I just know there has to be something better than this X-Fi for recording. How would I connect my speakers if I got a DAW soundcard? I am confused about this. I currently have a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's, but will be updating to proper studio monitors as soon as I can afford it.

Lyquist

 

[velusip]

It's less about soundcard and more about interface... I don't have much experience as I've never recorded any more than three things at once, but I used one of these to do it: http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/PCI/Layla3G/index.php

It may or may not be what you're looking for, but atleast it's the sort of thing you need to seek out for your purpose. Check out music stores. If you happen to be in Canada I recommend Long and McQuade. http://www.long-mcquade.com/index.php?site=1&tmp=2

 

[agent420]

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced soundcard to record multiple tracks at once??

What is your definition of 'reasonably priced'? You won't find any multi-track card under $100. The Maya card I linked above is a great value with 4 track capability (here for $109). Musicians Friend has an Maudio Delta 44 for $150, which is probably preferable if you could afford it.

8 track interfaces will be $300 or more for a decent one. You can easily spend many hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on audio interfaces. Of course, there's always eBay too.

As far as hooking up speakers, you'd do it the same way you hook them up now, using the line-out. Depending on your equipment you might need various plug converters, but the signal type and path is all normal.