Computer Sound Cards

Step 6 – Computer Sound Cards Guide

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What Is So Important About My Sound Card?

Your Sound Card is very important to your computer because it is what judges the quality of sound you are able to input and output from your computer.

The sound going into and coming out of your computer is going to make or break most of your music tracks. If you are like me you want to hear your kick cut through the speakers and your snares snap. Clear and pristine sound is what I’m looking for. Plus you want your VST’s to play every note with no delay!

 You should have everything you need to produce audio on a PC with professional results at your finger tips! I’m talking 24-bit/192kHz converters, effects and mixing and even seamless compatibility with audio/sequencer softwares on the market today.

Since you are building a computer for producing or recording audio you want to have a minimum of 10 audio inputs and 10 outputs. You should have at least 24 channels of MIDI I/O’s plus a firewire port for integration with your entire studio.

Mic Preamps with mic/line/Hi-Z inputs and at least 20db gain and 48V phantom power are important to have also. You want to be able to plug guitars, keyboards and microphones straight into your system.

For these results I purchased EMU’s 1820 digital audio card. When producing or recording with software applications your sound card will need certain specifications to operate them correctly. Here is a list of features and specifications my sound card has!

Features

• 18 inputs/20 outputs 
• E-DSP hardware-accelerated effects with over 500 presets 
• 2 sets of MIDI I/O plus FireWire® interface 
• 2 TFPro™ Mic/Line/Hi-Z preamps 
• Compatible with most popular PC audio/sequencer software 
• Zero-latency hardware mixing/monitoring 
• Complete audio recording/editing/mixing/effects software package included. 
• 32-bit E-DSP hardware effects acceleration 
• Over 20 effects algorithms (more than 500 effects presets) 
• Plug-in effects architecture 
• Zero-latency mixing/monitoring 
• Intuitive drag-and-drop PatchMix DSP patchbay/mixing/effects interface 
• Compatible with most popular PC audio/sequencer software (ultralow latency WDM/DS and ASIO 2.0 drivers) 

Computer Sound Cards Guide

Specifications

• I/O Configuration: 
• 2 TFPro Mic/Line/Hi-Z preamps (w/48V phantom power) 
• 6 1/4" Balanced Inputs 
• 8 1/4" Balanced Outputs 
• Turntable input (with ground lug and hardware RIAA preamp) 
• 24-bit/192kHz ADAT In/Out (switchable to S/PDIF) 
• 24-bit/96kHz coaxial S/PDIF In/Out (switchable to AES/EBU) 
• 24-bit/96kHz optical S/PDIF Out (switchable to AES/EBU) 
• 2 sets of MIDI In/Out 
• 4 stereo 1/8" speaker outputs (configurable from stereo to 7.1) 
• Stereo headphone output 
• Firewire® interface