Help choosing the right sound card

Lately I have been getting into alot of digital music production, and was wondering what kind of card to get. I am a bit of an audiophile to begin with, and have never like laptop speaker (who does ). I checked out sounblaster's products, and saw the Audigy 2 ZS, and the USB Soundblaster Live! 24-bit external. I really have no clue what the differences are, so I was wondering if someone could shed some light on sound cards in general, and what would be the best all-around card/device for sound. Thanks!

 

the Audigy 2 ZS will be superior audio compared against the external extigy you're speaking about.

 

Audigy is better

 

I have and recommend the Audigy 2 ZS Notebook, it's really good
Not that I'm much of an audio expert, but my music sounds really good and it adds a lot of effects and atmosphere to games

 

I am starting to narrow choices for a laptop and have read reports of sound problems with core duo and core 2 duo not working with firewire. This is something I would like to use and am wondering if anyone has definitive info:

1. Has if been fixed? If not,
2. Does it affect core duo and/or core 2 duo?
3. Is the problem Windows related XP/and or Vista?
4. Any hacks to get around it?

I understand the Macbooks only have this issue when running under windows. Any sage advice greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

laptops are such a cluttered device, electrical noise could be crosstalking which is interfering. it's the same on desktops...major complaint for onboard audio is static hiss and clicks and popping sounds during intense pc usage (ie. gaming). it can also be attributed to heat on the South Bridge where the audio chip is located. soon as you put in the third party solution tho, it's almost always remedied.

if it's a firewire problem, use USB. if your device is firewire, get a USB to Firewire adapater, I guess.

 

yes the complaints I read about were popping, clicks and hiss and I believe all the good sound recording solutions are firewire, which is why I'm researching this.

 

If you're into sound production, I wouldn't touch anything Creative other than their E-MU professional line. Those cards are mainly for consumers and not specifically created for sound production. A good cheap card for audio production (on the border of consumer and professional) would be the M-Auido Transit USB. E-MU (Creative) has just come out with the 0404 USB which looks to be promising. The neat thing about the E-MU card is it actually uses USB2.0 so you're not limited to one path when recording past 24/96. These solutions are relatively cheaper solutions and good for budding audio engineers. The sky's the limit though. I don't suggest spending too much money if you're just getting into things.

I'm an audio engineer by hobby and have done most of my recording via PC. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Great info, thank you so much! Can I assume you've got something working on your E1405 (I'm looking at that one)? I have a couple of old midi synths, so should I assume I can get everything connected? Any suggestions for recording and music editing software?

Sorry to be so basic, but this is starting to give me enough confidence to get a Windows laptop.

 

As far as my E1405 goes, I've not used it much for my audio engineering work, mainly because my recording gear is not mobile. I mainly use my PC box for recording simply because I invested in a whole bunch of gear for it. I've been looking into more mobile solutions as I'd like to use my E1405 to record basic things like vocals and single instruments. You should be aware that there is a problem with Dell machines and more generally machines with Windows and Core Duos. The problems are outlined in this thread and I suggest you review it.

As for your midi synths, just make sure to get an audio interface with midi support. You should be fine.

If you want to start playing around now with some multi-track audio, and don't want to spend any money, try Audacity. It's a free multi-track recording program. You can really get to know the basics with it. I've used Adobe Audition which is very user friendly, but I don't recommend it. The first version does not support ASIO, while Adobe Audition 2 does, but it is a resource hog. I currently use Cakewalk Sonar 4. It does everything I want and more.

 

Got it, thanks so much!

 

Yeah, I won't be needing studio quality stuff, but I do intend to put some stuff out. After I get done with my Graphic Design studies, I think I am going to go and get something in Digital Music Production, not sure yet, so I want the ability to put out fairly nice stuff. Thanks for the help guys.