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Topic: recommended Midi/Analog PC interface/review |
Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 7 Feb 2009 3:09 am |
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MAudio Audiophile 2496
A few weeks back we had a conversation here
regarding midi/analog interfaces and the issue of latency as being of primary concern. Latency is the delay between monitoring a LIVE input signal while recording over a recorded track and listening back thru the PC. Both the input and the recorded playback are being monitored at the other end. The delay comes from monitoring the input signal at the output of the PC. I know that was redundant but it should be clear now. "When I record I hear a slight delay" , that's latency. Sometimes it can be corrected, sometimes not.
Many interfaces claim zero or near zero latency. After much research and many hours of early morning reading I had zeroed in on the M Audio Delta 10/10 PCI interface. It is $200 and has 10 inputs and 10 outputs , which I really do not need , but the reviews all claim zero latency. What I wanted was 2 inputs and midi with zero latency and not a $200 expense.( I'm basically cheap) So more research and low and behold there is an MAudio PCI Delta 2496 interface, 2 in, 2 out , full midi, it is the exact same chip set as the bigger 10/10 and it costs $99. $84 at Amazon.com. So I clicked the purchase button. This is an earlier version of the 10/10 interface.
The interface arrived on Friday, the drivers are complete, not sure if they are up to date but there is a full driver set. the Installation procedure is for Win98, Win NT , Win 2000 and Mac. Loading onto WIN XP was not an issue. I first loaded the ASIO driver and there was some very slight delay so I went back and loaded the WDM/KS driver and all delay was gone, zero latency. So far I spent 15 minutes with this card and that included installing it in the PC.
I did find that when I first left the previous Creative Labs drivers on the PC, the MAudio program didn't like that, I guess there was a conflict. Seeing that I removed the Creative Labs hardware I just removed the drivers and everything just started working well. Just like that.
So, what I can say is this, for $99, this is a good deal and it works as advertised. Now this weekend I am going to fool with the drivers and other settings and optimize the card but for a 15 minute exercise this is a good outcome. I am recording over a track that was sent to me over the net, I am in business.I did read where the ASIO drivers are preferred so I will go back and see if I can optimize those drivers and the buffers. But I am not going to spend much time as right now it is working just fine with the other driver. It ain't broke so I may not fix it !
This MAudio card is now the only audio card on my recording PC and obviously it is the default for all audio programs. The stereo output is feeding my audio rack and the 2 inputs are being fed from my dual channel ART preamp. I use Sonar so when setting up Sonar it was a no brainer to select the proper global drivers and for each track the MAudio inputs and outputs are the only ones available to be selected.
Now, regarding USB interfaces and Firewire interfaces, they are both good, some better than others. USB Interfaces have a nasty history of "chatter" which is a slight distortion while monitoring thru the PC.
MAudio Audiophile 2496 @ $99 is a good solution.
tp
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Bob Martin
From:
Madison Tn
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Posted 7 Feb 2009 11:46 pm
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Nice review Tony, thanks for taking the time! I know a lot of folks aren't even aware of some of the things you listed but those of us that are appreciate your review:-)
Hopefully some folks will read this post and see that latency free recording is obtainable with a 100.00 interface  thanks
Bob
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***Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow*** |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 8 Feb 2009 2:46 am
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Thanks Bob, I think the bigger issue for folks is not knowing what questions to ask,I can almost guarantee that if someone buys an interface from GC or Sam Ash, they will have no clue what they are getting. Clerks will say "oh yeah it's great" but have no understanding whatsoever if it's good bad or indifferent. Latency is the biggest issue with PC interfaces, nobody likes the slight delay and rightfully so. Sometimes it can be corrected, sometimes not. Sometimes it's the PC or Laptop and other times it is the interface or the setup. I know that it bugged me , well not quite to death, but close ! Before I made the purchase I tested my system with a Creative Labs gaming interface, it was almost perfect and not even classified as a recording interface. So that qualified my PC before getting a so called pro( $99 ??) recording interface.
Low end PC recording stuff is real subjective, we all want cheap, but yet we do not want to compromise on performance. I want my Yugo to perform like a Corvette !
tp |
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David Collins
From:
Madison, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 10 Feb 2009 7:27 am
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Hi Tony,
Which vendor did you order from? After reading your experience, I'm pretty sure that I want to try this card as well.
Do you have any idea if it works well with audacity? I'm trying to get all of my hardware up to speed before I decide on another software, so I'm using audacity now for my experimenting.
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David Collins
www.chjoyce.com |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 10 Feb 2009 11:31 am
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Amazon.com, but be sure it is from there warehouse and not from another vendor. It was $85. I check Amazon.com first for everything now, when they have it in there own warehouse they are hard to beat, and the return policy is excellent.
I don't see why Audacity would be an issue, this is just another sound card, If audacity has a setup to select the sound card, which it does, then I would think it should not be an issue.
tp |
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David Collins
From:
Madison, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 11 Feb 2009 4:24 am
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Thanks Tony,
I'll give it a try in a few days.
David
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David Collins
www.chjoyce.com |
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David Collins
From:
Madison, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 19 Feb 2009 4:31 am
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Hi Guys,
For the record, I ordered the M-audio card on Monday from Amazon.com. Got it yesterday, spent 52 minutes installing the card and driver, and was recording!
I had a very limited amount of time to play with it yesterday, but am very happy with it so far.
Works with Audacity like a charm.
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David Collins
www.chjoyce.com |
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Ray Leroux
From:
Vulcan Alberta CANADA/Thousand Palms CA.
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Posted 24 Feb 2009 1:49 pm
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Hi David You'll be very happy with the audiophile card I'm sure.
I've been using mine for 4 yrs and will never go back to standard cpu sound cards no mater how expensive they get ha.
Enjoy |
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David Collins
From:
Madison, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 25 Feb 2009 4:53 am
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Hi Ray,
Yes, I agree. After having the card installed for just a few days, I am very happy with it. My only regret is that I didn't find out about it and get one much sooner! 
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David Collins
www.chjoyce.com |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 25 Feb 2009 7:16 am
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great news David. I was actually told about these cards back around the Holidays when I got serious about the PC recording, but like typical, it only took me a month or so later to get with the program and get one of these cards, what a bargain for under $100 !
tp |
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David Collins
From:
Madison, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 25 Feb 2009 7:36 am
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Hi Tony,
Thanks a ton for the heads up on this card. My recording has been very limited up to now, but with this card, I can easily expand.
I'm still experimenting with the drivers too, but like you, I'm a big on NOT fixing what aint broke!
I'm running everything into an old Biamp 6702 mixer that was a throwaway from it's previous home due to it having 1 bad channel. Got it for $40.00.
From the mixer into the card. Works like a charm.
Now I'm starting to research some of the different softwares. I've been using Audacity, which aint bad for free, but you get what you pay for in most cases. I think I'm ready to upgrade.
Any recommendations?
If you've covered this in previous threads, I'll try to find them.
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David Collins
www.chjoyce.com |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 25 Feb 2009 8:29 am
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Software, well, pick one and don't look back. I am a Sonar user, I have two versions ( don't ask) I think for the under $500 range the Sonar 8 PRO offers more than we , as simple humans, can ever hope to conquer. One of the primary tasks that I wanted was Vocal pitch correction, Sonar 8 Pro has V-Vocal as part of the package. I was not going to spend a bunch of time and $$$ only to have a program that could not accomodate vocal correction. That seemed senseless to me. Now I'm not one to use vocal correction but I don't ever want to run across a situation where I need to and can't. I currently own a rack Antares unit which I have maybe used twice in 3 years, but I still have it if I need it. The other Sonar version I have is V7 Home Studio, I bought it from some guy real cheap on EBAY and thats what I am using to learn with, while using version 8 slowly.
just my view
tp |
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David Collins
From:
Madison, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 25 Feb 2009 9:08 am
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Good info. I'll look into it for sure.
I'm sorta struggling with the Pitch Correction aspect too. I am not a singer at all. I do record vocals (other singers) on rare occasion, so I probably should get some version of pitch correction also.
Better to have it and not need it, eh.
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David Collins
www.chjoyce.com |
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John Gould
From:
Houston, TX Now in Cleveland TX
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Posted 26 Feb 2009 10:55 am Delat 1010
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I have owned a Delta 1010 since they came out with it about 6 years now. As far as the latency issue it depends on the computer. I've had it in both PC's and Mac's. One way that I have always worked around latency is to monitor the parts going down before they go into the computer. I bring a stereo mix of previously recorded track and the new track going down and blend them in a separate monitor mixer than what the new track coming from. I've tracked steel parts through a tube pre-amp split the signal going to the 1010 and the monitor mixer. That way there is no latency issue what so ever. You can also put whatever effects you want to monitor with and still have the track go down dry. I've tried several different ways to split the signal, from just a y-mic cable to different boxes. The Radial JS2 seems to be the best sounding solution so far. It's a bit pricey but fewer problems with grounding issues and the Jensen transformer sounds great.
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A couple of guitars
Fender GTX 100 Fender Mustang III Fender Blues Jr. Boss Katana MKII 50
Justice Pro Lite and Sho Bud Pro II |
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