Sound cards

My computer doesn't have a sound card, which is good for my peace of
mind. However I may need one to listen to what people have been doing
with tuning and the like. Is there a right way and a wrong way, or
will the cheap special at Fry's do the trick?

--- In tuning@y..., genewardsmith@j... wrote:
> My computer doesn't have a sound card, which is good for my peace
of
> mind. However I may need one to listen to what people have been
doing
> with tuning and the like. Is there a right way and a wrong way, or
> will the cheap special at Fry's do the trick?

I get excellent results from the Yamaha DS-XG sound card that came
with my office computer. The MIDI piano is surprisingly realistic,
and for non-MIDI files, I expect the speakers to be the primary
consideration, not the sound card.

In a message dated 8/20/01 6:05:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
paul@stretch-music.com writes:

> --- In tuning@y..., genewardsmith@j... wrote:
> > My computer doesn't have a sound card, which is good for my peace
> of
> > mind. However I may need one to listen to what people have been
> doing
> > with tuning and the like. Is there a right way and a wrong way, or
> > will the cheap special at Fry's do the trick?
>
> I get excellent results from the Yamaha DS-XG sound card that came
> with my office computer. The MIDI piano is surprisingly realistic,
> and for non-MIDI files, I expect the speakers to be the primary
> consideration, not the sound card.

Well this isn't necessarily true nowadays, although perhaps a few years ago.
If you want better midi sounds, from just a soundcard, you can get a
soundblaster live. This card has the ability to use system ram to load
soundfont files, which greatly improves the quality of the sounds. Midi piano
is one of the most realistic of the sounds for a lot of the cards or synths
I've used. Percussion is probably the next best from the multitude of junk
I've collected or used. Most other sounds, however, are going to sound
horrible on a crappy card, but will still work.

Although for non midi stuff you can miss out on cool stuff that cards offer
nowadays, and there is some extremely cool stuff around, if you dont care to
much about that stuff then cheap is good. A few years ago maybe speakers were
more important for non midi, but now there are some awesome features you can
miss out on with crappy cards. If you dont care about some of the new
features like remote controls, dolby 5.1, quad speakers, optical in/out,
front bays for easy recording and midi access, and lots more then go cheap.
Most anything will work for crappy midi sounds.

Cheers,
Andy

--- In tuning@y..., JoJoBuBu@a... wrote:

/tuning/topicId_27188.html#27191

> Most anything will work for crappy midi sounds.
>
> Cheers,
> Andy

Actually... for the gentleman who wanted to know about sound cards...
I am *amazed* at the difference in quality between them. It really
makes all the difference in the world, so I would suggest going with
a good one rather than a "cheapo."

Soundblaster 64 is pretty good... maybe there are even better ones
out there. As long as you're going to buy and use one, it's worth
the extra $ if you're really interested in music, I believe...

___________ ________ _____
Joseph Pehrson

In a message dated 8/22/2001 11:46:31 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
jpehrson@rcn.com writes:

> Actually... for the gentleman who wanted to know about sound cards...
> I am *amazed* at the difference in quality between them. It really
> makes all the difference in the world, so I would suggest going with
> a good one rather than a "cheapo."
>
> Soundblaster 64 is pretty good... maybe there are even better ones
> out there. As long as you're going to buy and use one, it's worth
> the extra $ if you're really interested in music, I believe...
>
> ___________ ________ _____
>

Oh hell yes. Its deffinitely worth it if you dont want ridiculously horrible
sounding midi and even non-midi, but the crappy ones will work. As I said in
my post though if you are going to buy a new one for midi sounds get a sound
blaster live, not a soundblaster 64. The reason is because with the
soundblaster live you can assign system ram to soundfont files, which makes a
gigantic difference. It doesn't matter which SBLive you get for midi sounds,
although the SB live platinum has midi inputs, and more stuff, on a front bay
which is very handy.

Laters,
Andy

--- In tuning@y..., JoJoBuBu@a... wrote:

/tuning/topicId_27188.html#27276

> Oh hell yes. Its deffinitely worth it if you dont want ridiculously
horrible sounding midi and even non-midi, but the crappy ones will
work. As I said in my post though if you are going to buy a new one
for midi sounds get a sound blaster live, not a soundblaster 64. The
reason is because with the soundblaster live you can assign system
ram to soundfont files, which makes a gigantic difference. It doesn't
matter which SBLive you get for midi sounds, although the SB live
platinum has midi inputs, and more stuff, on a front bay which is
very handy.
>
> Laters,
> Andy

Thanks, Andy! I wasn't aware of this distinction...

_________ ________ ______
Joseph Pehrson