Internal Or External

[Steve]

More info needed from you lovely boys and girls! I have been scouting around for a new soundcard, and I notice a propensity of external audio sources. These all seem to plug into the usb port, or in a few cases ie1394. Anybody any experience or knowledge of these external units? Pros' cons'?

[Nightwolf]

I would only consider external for a laptop application where no internal was an option. I would think carrying more pieces would be a major disadvantage although for the StressMonkey sessions it wasn't to bad carrying my desktop PC and DIGI 001 around..

[Steve]

Hmm. From what I've read, having an external audio port could be very useful if you wanted to go to a friends house and keep the same source! USB2 is pretty standard these days! Turn up with a small box and plug it in! Sounds like it could be useful. The external boxes are slightly more expensive than the internal equivelant!

[john]

Hi Steve

Both USB2 and Firewire are pretty good, and of course portability is what it is about.

USB2 and Firwire have comparable communication speeds, however I believe USB is more dmanding on your CPU. I guess the first thing to gt out the way is number of simultaneous input/ouput channels you envisage using? Also what sort of budget are you intending?

cheers

John

[Retrosaurus Rex]

Do you need portability? Multiple inputs? How many? Do you need a mixer?

[Bitstream]

1394 firewire is as good as usb2 AND you can cascade firewire devices; eg, 4x an 8 channel soundblaster in series gves you a 32 track rsystem. check with the sound blaster manufacturer for support of this feature. My 1394 phase88 rack corrupts the 1394 driver and i have to keep resetting the box. cascade also does'nt work, and I had to buy a 1394 pci card with a via chipset specifically to get it working.

[sub7th]

Steve I would add that all of the internal Sound cards I've used have produced more noise than the external cards.

Awhile back I even got the Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro, that was an external unit that connected to an internal PCI card and it still produced a lot of noise.

I use an M-Box 2 now (USB) and I dont get any noticeable noise from the PC, although I wouldn't recommend the M-Box 2, the external solution seems to provide clearer signal for me on both a desktop and my laptop.

[Steve]

Steve I would add that all of the internal Sound cards I've used have produced more noise than the external cards.

Awhile back I even got the Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro, that was an external unit that connected to an internal PCI card and it still produced a lot of noise.

I use an M-Box 2 now (USB) and I dont get any noticeable noise from the PC, although I wouldn't recommend the M-Box 2, the external solution seems to provide clearer signal for me on both a desktop and my laptop.

Thanks all. I think I'm being swayed to an external unit. Easier to get at for a start! Not sure what budget I'm going to have yet! I'm praying that someone steals my wifes credit cards. They couldn't possibly spend more than her! I guess somewhere around 200 quid wouldn't be over the top! Although I still like the look of the M-Audio Delta cards. Internal with a breakout box.

[Prometheus]

Thanks all. I think I'm being swayed to an external unit. Easier to get at for a start! Not sure what budget I'm going to have yet! I'm praying that someone steals my wifes credit cards. They couldn't possibly spend more than her! I guess somewhere around 200 quid wouldn't be over the top! Although I still like the look of the M-Audio Delta cards. Internal with a breakout box.

I use M-Audio delta cards, and I would swear by them. Very good sound and low noise...