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Topic: Sound card help! (Read 4862 times) previous topic - next topic

Sound card help!

hi everyone!

I was in PC World today, looking at some soundcards. There was one with something like 2mb hardware wavetable, and 264 voices and 21 drum kits or something like that. If I buy this card, are the instruments in programs such as NWC, Cubase and Cakewalk going to sound realistic now? at the moment I have a sound blaster 16, and the instrument sounds are not very authentic. thanx for your help!

R.L

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #1 –
Richard,
Well...some of the NWC users like the XG from Yamaha, some, (like me) prefer the AudioPCI, but you have to have a PCI slot in your computer (the 4 meg updated set is the best). Let's see...there is the Sound Blaster Live! and Live! Value, (which support sound fonts), and then there is
the AWE series from Creative, also (These may support sound fonts, too). I haven't heard the Roland Sound Canvas yet (which is the inquiry of the previous post), nor have I heard the new Voyetra/Turtle Beach Sound card that Dell computers installs as its premium sound card.
I suppose it depends on what you want to do with it --
Midi, .mp3, .wav? You may want to search the archives...others have answered this question before. I hope this helps without confusing the issue. There are a LOT of cards and options out there!

Mark

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #2 –
Richard,
Sorry, I forgot to add the main thing I wanted to say...
The sound card's ability to sound realistic is dependent upon the Wavetable quaility of the card. For example, the PCI from Trident has a 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0MB wavetable option in its setup. The more MB, generally, the better the sampling of the instrument sounds, hence better quality music. Trident's 6.0MB wavetable, however sounds very cheap compared to the AudioPCI 4MB table(dated 12/97).
Most manufacturers of Sound cards seem to cater to the users that like more modern music forms. The Yamaha S-YXG50 software wavetable (which uses your existing sound card, but processes midi through its own wavetable) sounds better than the AudioPCI in its bundled samples, which is more contemporary music (hip-hop, jazz, etc.). It doesn't do justice to the Brass instruments such as the French Horn, Trumpet, etc.
Roland does also make more expensive midi units that plug via a USB plug into your computer, and don't forget that you can purchase a full blown professional keyboard that has great sounds. If you're like me, that option is too expensive.
'Nuf said, I'll shut up. Shop around first, before you buy!! :)

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #3 –
ok I have a budget of between £30-£40... I dont require professional results, I just want the drums to sound like drums instead of cardboard boxes in NWC and other MIDI programs :-) So the more MB the card has, the better quality of sound, or the more voices available? I currently own a soundblaster 16 soundcard, and the instruments are not very authentic.
What I want to do is...

1) create a song track by track in a program such as cubase or cakewalk using my MIDI keyboard
2) Save the song as a midi, then convert to a WAV file
3) convert WAV file to MP3 format

I know how to do each of the 3 things above, but with my current sound card, the instruments are not very satisfactory. Will the sound card I saw which cost about £35 which had 2Mb wavetable suffice for me? bearing in mind I dont want professional results, just instrument sounds that sound similar to the ones on my Yamaha PSR 270 keyboard which I am more than happy with.
Thanx for your help everyone!

R.L

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #4 –
Richard,
Creative sells the identical card that I use, but they now call it the Creative Ensoniq PCI card. It uses the same basic type of wavetables that I use, and, as a matter of fact, the creative and Ensoniq people updated the Audio PCI I have so that the driver I use on my systems shows to be a SoundBlaster PCI 64 card. You can check it out at:

http://americas.creative.com/sound/ensoniq/

and by the way, the card is just $29.99 (USDollars)

The only thing is that Ensoniq claims that the wavetables for the new Creative card isn't exactly the same as the original Audio PCI card. Go figure with the updates and all. It should suit your needs. You'll need a PCI slot, though. Hey! I use mine to record .wav's and convert to .mp3 files. You can hear what my card sounds like by going to:

http://www.geocities.com/mcloud10

Then follow the links for the midi files. You will find the first entry to have an optional .mp3 file. Download it and you'll get a pretty good idea of what the card sounds like.

Mark

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #5 –
The SB16 is a very old card these days.
The FM synthesis on these cards was OK in the early days of computer sound but it lags far behind now.
I would think the SB Live Value or OEM version is the best way to get the sounds YOU want - not those the manufacturer provides.
If you don't like the sound you can download soundfonts from 2 - 90Mb that take upto half your system RAM and you can down load them free from Tommy Hammer's site.
The problem with wavetable cards (I may be wrong)is that you are stuck with the card sounds and limited with the size of the wavetables.
Soundfonts are the way to go.

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #6 –
Barry wrote: "The problem with wavetable cards (I may be wrong)is that you are stuck with the card sounds and limited with the size of the wavetables."

Essentially correct, in that the sounds are on ROM and cannot be changed. However, to use mine as an example, there are some 600+ sounds available -- and to be quite honest, I haven't even heard them all in over two years of owning the thing. Add the convenience (turn on the computer, it's all there; no loading soundfonts or any such thing) and I'm still glad I opted for the firmware variety.

Another thing to consider is that SBLive-type cards use system RAM for the sound fonts - so if you've got "just enough" RAM right now, you'll have to get more in order to make use of those nice 32 meg etc. soundfonts. So that $99 easily becomes $199...

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #7 –
Actually, RAM is really cheap right now, so now's the time to upgrade if your running a paltry 32 or 64 MB. My question is: there are so many SBLive cards out there that I'm confused. I've heard you talk about them in previous threads, but what's the difference? I saw an SBLive "Value" for $48, and a "platinum 5.1" or "pro" or something like that for $200. It boggles the consumer brain. Your expert opinions, please.

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #8 –
Unfortunately, there is not a standard nomenclature that is used by all manufacturers. However, the term voice is often used to describe how many simultaneous instruments or sounds can be produced at one time by the synthesizer. For example, a 32 voice synthesizer will generally support 32 simultaneous notes when a pure instrument patch is select (overlapping or layered sounds might consume more voices). Another example would be if you play a simple C Major triad through a synthesizer, this would typically be referred to as using three voices of the device.

The instrument sound is the type of sound that is used by the synthesizer to play a note. This is also referred to as a sound patch, and to confuse things, will occasionally be referred to as a voice.

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #9 –
By no means an expert opinion but....

If all you want is to be able to access good soundfonts for playback the cheapest version of the Live (value or OEM)is all you need.

If the software packaged with the more expensive versions attracts you go for that.

The expensive version comes with a front bay for plugs and includes digital output - if you need that.

Again - if it's only the sound that interests you then you gain little by spending more.

Check out the alt.music.midi and comp.music.midi archives for lengthy discussions on this topic.

In Australia at the moment the Value card sells for around $90AUS ~ (around $50US).

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #10 –
whats the difference between voices and instrument sounds regarding soundcards?

thanx :-)

R.L

Re: Sound card help!

Reply #11 –
I needed to know where I can down load free for trident soundcard driver?