Good USB Sound Card for laptop?

[Alistair]

Hey folks,

I just bought a laptop on Ebay to complement/replace the PC I'm using right now (Celeron 1 GHz, 128 MB RAM really sucks!! Never thought I'd be saying that, given I had a P1 166 MHz, 32 MB RAM for 7 years..). Always wanted a laptop for recording convenience.

So, I need some advice. Can a gameport (joystick port) be adapted for use in a USB sound card?

More importantly, is there any USB sound cards that people know of that are reasonable? PC's have a lot of crappy sound cards. I don't like Creative's Audigy line either. I want a decent one for the laptop
I'm sure there's some knowledgeable people around these parts!

Regards, and thanks in advance,
- Alistair

[Ari]

What do you mean by reasonable? reasonable price or quality?
In general, most USB sound cards are pretty expensive. a lot more than they're PCI equivalents.

As for gameports, I've never seen a USB sound card with a gameport, but I may be wrong.

[Alistair]

What do you mean by reasonable? reasonable price or quality?
In general, most USB sound cards are pretty expensive. a lot more than they're PCI equivalents.

As for gameports, I've never seen a USB sound card with a gameport, but I may be wrong.

Reasonable both, all things in moderation
I'm not willing to pay that much (as in, like 200 bucks for a SB Extigy), will probably purchase on Ebay. Seen a lot of good cheap stuff there already.. Like a Turtle Beach one.

On Ebay most go for around 50 US bucks, which is OK. Just wondering if anyone has any knowledge of the USB sound card market, all kinds of audiophiles hang around here after all.

- Alistair

[DrJ]

I've never been so fond of USB soundcards. Why are you not looking into a PCMCIA soundcard? That would be perfect for a laptop you just bought. I just did a search on Ebay and found a very nice PCMCIA sound card specifically for recording! Have a look at this link.

There are also 'cheaper' solutions. For instance a SB Audigy PCMCIA card for (at this moment) $10.

[Alistair]

150 bucks is a lot man

And I don't know. That's why I'm asking you guys for help; I'm really not very knowledgeable about laptop sound cards. It's appreciated, too! Thanks DrJ.

Yes, I don't know. I'd like to get away from Sound Blaster cards. I don't like the way Creative has gone. The Audigy's aren't nice sounding (as they should be for the massive price tag anyways), and have weird inbuilt systems like that infamous ARVL.

But thanks for the info. What's the advantages of a PCMCIA over USB?

Regards,
- Alistair

[Marten]

For starters, your PCMCIA sound card will fit into your computer rather than being an external brick that you have to carry along with it...

Plus, I believe you'll find them cheaper.

Honestly, I am just using the built-in sound on my two most recent computers.  My 3-yr old Dell Inspiron 8100 has semi-adequate sound... it has a Crystal chipset (from Cirrus Logic).  The only problem I have with it is a faint "beep... beep... beep" that I can only hear if I'm using headphones and have the main volume turned up too high (that happens when I have the appropriate source volume control turned down too low).  

My new desktop system has an Asus motherboard with a Realtek ALC850 chip.  Also not the top audio one can get (I've read reviews fussing that motherboard makers just aren't taking high quality on-board sound seriously) but it does support MIDI through the game connector - I've tested it with my MT-32 - and the sound has been adequate for everything else I've played on it.

The simple fact is, sound in games today is almost all digital audio, and high quality MIDI support only matters for legacy/nostalgia gaming.

[Alistair]

For starters, your PCMCIA sound card will fit into your computer rather than being an external brick that you have to carry along with it...

When you carry suckers like the Yamaha MU-100R (it's massive!) or even the SC-8850, around, you don't mind a tiny 'brick'.

But still, thanks for the info Marten.

Cheaper eh? That's what I like to hear.

Honestly, I am just using the built-in sound on my two most recent computers. My 3-yr old Dell Inspiron 8100 has semi-adequate sound... it has a Crystal chipset (from Cirrus Logic). The only problem I have with it is a faint "beep... beep... beep" that I can only hear if I'm using headphones and have the main volume turned up too high (that happens when I have the appropriate source volume control turned down too low).

Not a fan of onboard sound myself. Been there, done that, got rid of it

My new desktop system has an Asus motherboard with a Realtek ALC850 chip. Also not the top audio one can get (I've read reviews fussing that motherboard makers just aren't taking high quality on-board sound seriously) but it does support MIDI through the game connector - I've tested it with my MT-32 - and the sound has been adequate for everything else I've played on it.

They aren't, John! The sound you get from them is really poor. The digital audio quality is very raw and harsh. In my experience with Realtek onboard anyway.

The simple fact is, sound in games today is almost all digital audio, and high quality MIDI support only matters for legacy/nostalgia gaming.

Or if you record/edit MIDI and digital music, as I do on a regular basis

And gaming too. I was playing King's Quest V on this XP rig today!

Regards,
- Alistair

[DrJ]

I think you need to decide what you want to do with your laptop. If you want to record things in a professional matter, a PCMCIA card is probably the best way to go. You can say what you want about Creative, but I think that a Creative PCMCIA card will be better than any onboard chip you can have in your laptop.

Feel free to have a look around for a PCMCIA card. I recommend one above a USB one. Just see an PCMCIA card as a PCI slot.

[Alistair]

Thanks, DrJ. Appreciated. What would be the advantages of using a PCMCIA sound card over USB, then, in terms of recording quality? If any?

- Alistair

[Laust]

I recommend one above a USB one. Just see an PCMCIA card as a PCI slot.

How come? It's not as if there aren't excellent USB based, professional grade audio devices available (like the Mbox from Digidesign, and Edirol also made some I believe). And unlike with PCMCIA/Cardbus devices, you aren't limiting yourself to laptop use.

[Cloudschatze]

Alistair,

This may interest you:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4969110/

[Alistair]

How come? It's not as if there aren't excellent USB based, professional grade audio devices available (like the Mbox from Digidesign, and Edirol also made some I believe). And unlike with PCMCIA/Cardbus devices, you aren't limiting yourself to laptop use.

Yes, well said, Laust. I've ended up going with the USB solution, the 'M-Audio Audiophile USB'.
Only occured to me in the last few days that I could use it with my other PC's too! Rock on.

I found DrJ's comments bizarre- I've been researching modern PC sound heavily for a week now and haven't seen much that supports one over the other.

There's only *one* device I could fine, PCMCIA wise, that was any good (No, I don't want a SB Audigy 2 ZS Notebook!), and that was the Echo Indigo IO- which is actually VERY good. And it's better than the Audiophile- just (RightMark tests say 95 dynamic range v 93 for the Audiophile, when tested under 'real' conditions- besides, all quoted specs of manufacturers are achieved under 24 KHz/96 KHz, and I don't record under those levels- these stats are for 16-bit 44.1 Khz. ).
But the Audiophile has MIDI and digital in one, which saves me money and time/effort. Apparently the Indigo is a ltitle flimsy as well, which isn't a quality I exactly desire for a laptop PCMCIA card, which I'll be carrying around lots. So M-Audio wins. $167 US for the device, which is pretty good for such nice specs (I can use it in my 2 new PC's! ).

This topic is outdated, I posted a new one, but it got lost in the message board transit, which is a big  shame. (Wanted to read Juho and Tom's replies.) Ah well.

I've got a Santa Cruz and an Audiophile coming. I'll be sure to let you folks know what's going on, and what I think of 'em. I'll also post comparisons between my Live!, Santa Cruz, new laptop onboard sound, Audiophile USB, and Audigy 2 of a digital Roland sample- I'm thinking of just a piano track. If anyone can think of a good example 1-channel digital track to compare the digital qualities, let me know!

I'm also thinking of doing a digital sound card answer to Tom's 'Sound Card Comparison page' (as in digital audio quality comparisons as opposed to MIDI, as I struggled to find out what sound devices were any good, it's really hard- I'd like some tests to speak for themselves with meaningful comparisons), with a link included of course. Any takers? I'll post the MIDI file, and the guidelines for the recording here when I've got all my equipment.

As always, questions/comments welcome..

Regards,
- Alistair

[Alistair]

Cloudschatze:

Alistair,

This may interest you:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4969110/

I appreciate the link- however it's not suitable.
It's not what I'm looking for:

http://www.fosh.com.au/Fosh/Products/gr/pw/techspecs.htm

This webpage showed me that the specs are lame. Granted, they're talking SNR, nor dR. But still, 85 SNR is rubbish, really. Worse than the Santa Cruz
I'd say the comments on that review page about how wonderful it is for the price tag are unfounded. For a bit more moolah you can get a much better module. And this has no MIDI ports

Cheers for the link still! I never complain about people helping me out, it is appreciated.

.. Oh yes, and PM me re: LAPC-1 if you still have it, too, Cloud.

- Alistair