Need advice on sound card and speakers for new computer

Computer Forum Sound Cards and Speakers
1

I saved a long time to be able to buy myself a nice computer that will play the lastest games at high/maximum settings and that will make it easy to upgrade components in a couple of years. Main functions of this computer are almost exclusively for ‘entertainment’: playing of games, listening to music, audio creation, video editing and also web surfing and web development. My configuration will consist of a dual-boot system with Windows XP and SuSe 10. The machine will not be used for server functions.

I have some trouble on the audio creation part, since I am also an aspiring musician; I play the keyboard and I want to use my computer as an audio creation system as well as plugging my keyboard (Technics KN 1200 PCM keyboard) into it, so I can play the instrument I am working on directly on my keyboard instead of placing the notes and altering pitch, loudness etc. manually. And also mixing, composings, … basically I want to turn it into my own little music studio.

My problem is: I need of a sound card, a set of speakers and possibly some cables. However, I know almost nothing about audio hardware and I haven’t got a clue what hardware to get. My remaining budget for this is between € 200 and € 500.

Also, I am curious as to the opinions of gamers and music makers about the difference between systems with 5.1 surround sound and 7.1 surround. In other words: should I worry about it?

For completeness, the rest of the system I am planning to put together:

Case = Cooler Master Wavemaster Alluminium

Processor =Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 64bit / 400MHz FSB 512KB

Ram = DDR400 1024MB Corsair ValueSelect [2x512MB DUALDDR]

Mobo = Socket 939 Asus A8N-SLI Premium,nForce4, SATA,Raid,1394,2x Glan,2x PCIe

Video card = PCI-E Asus Nv EN7800GT/2DHTV, 256MB VIVO,2xDVI-I,HDTV

Hard disc = Maxtor 250Gb 7200rpm 16mb,SATA Diamond Max 10

DVD burner = Pioneer DVD Bur DVR-110 OEM 16x+/-,8X+/-Double Layer, Fanless

Power Supply = Zalman ZM460B-APS Silent Power Supply 460W

Sound card: ?
Speakers: ?

I appreciate any help I can get, since I do not know where to start, but I am always eager to learn more about things.

Thanks for reading,

Wouter

2

Well, I looked into audio editing fairly seriously for a while so I have some knowledge in this area. I am not sure whether or not the keyboard has a USB or Serial interface on it or not since a Google search turned up nothing useful in English, but if not you will most likely need an audio capture card. I’ll include a few different cards, but you will most likely have to find them on a different website, as I do not know if this one ships to Germany.
E-MU 1820 Computer Recording System-This is a higher end capture card with all the capabilites you need including tons of inputs.
E-MU 0404 PCI Digital Audio Recording System-This is a midrange card with all the things you should need.
E-MU 0404 PCI Digital Audio Recording System-This is a lower end card that should do everything you need, but it doesn’t have as many inputs and doesn’t have the external box for ease of use.
Well, as you can see I like E-MU, but they are good. As far as speakers, I only have experience with 5.1, so I don’t know, but 5.1 sounds plenty adequate. And with the sound card, I would definately recommend a Creative card, but the price ranges greatly. You could get an X-FI if you can afford it. With speakers I would go with Logitech. I think I have the X-530, but I’m not positive, it may be in My Computer.

3

Thank you Max. I’m sure my keyboard has a Midi In/Out jacket, so that could probably be hooked up to a sound card. As for the audio capture, I guess I will need an audio capture card, plus a decent-quality microphone.

Edit: and I think it would also be important that my PC is very silent for when recording.

4

I found this card on Creative’s website also:
http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=237&subcategory=239&product=10447&nav=1

How does the SB Audigy 4 Pro card compare to the Emu card for audio creation and sound recording?

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=434&product=10853

5

Well the fundamental difference there is that the E-MU capture card is just that, a card for capturing audio and outputting it to musical devices, i.e. a PA, while the Audigy 4 is a true sound card. A sound card is necessary, whether you opt for the capture card or not (unless you have integrated audio, but that would be bad for creation anyways). The capture card adds more interfaces, although the one you chose doesn’t support a microphone cord. The Audigy 4 comes with more standard connections, such as speakers, microphones with 1/4" connectors (not the same as good commercial mics), some S/PDIF, and one MIDI interface. If you want a good audio editing/creation rig I recommend the E-MU 1820 for a top end or the 1212 as a low end. Then again, there are also USB/Firewire MIDI/Mic interfaces. This is an excellent example of a USB interface that would work for you.

6

Actually, I looked up some reviews and it seems that, while Sound Blaster cards are getting better and better at home audio stuff, they are still no real replacements for ‘dedicated’ cards. The high-end soundblaster cards are also VERY expensive, for that and, not as good. So I’m going to look at an entry-level card for gaming (such as the X-FI Extreme Music or X-Fi Platinum), get the E-Mu 0404 card, and still come out 2x cheaper than if I’d get a top SB card. Are there ways to get around the fact the E-Mu doesn’t have a microphone jacket?

Good, now I’m on track for finishing my box again. Next stop: speakers. I’m still thinking about whether to get some cheaper 5.1 speakers, or maybe a Surround headphone.

7

M-Audio sound cards are what you need:

M-Audio