I'm in the market for a decent one that can do up to 24bit/96Khz. I'll be making tracks off software and live instruments (various keyboards, strings and percussion). I don't really need multi-track capabilites, 8 would be good, I can settle for 2. Computer is a P3 running Windows 2000 Professional. Budget is $300. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

V.

I think soundblaster platinum does 32bit. Its gotta sweet interface and runs from 200 to 300 depending where you get it.

The Echo Mia

http://www.soniccontrol.com/tech/midi/a ... /mia.shtml

Echo
Audio's latest entry into the pro audio soundcard world is Mia.
As some of you may recall, Echo Audio is also behind the creation
the popular Gina24 and Layla24 multi-channel audio interfaces
(reviewed previously). The Mia is the little brother (or little
sister) to both the Gina24 and Layla24 interfaces which in addition
to offering ADAT and 8 inputs and outputs, offered on board MIDI
(on the Layla24 in a breakout chassis that housed the converters.
The Gina24 and Layla24 are also priced at $495us MSRP and $995us
MSRP respectively, which may be out of the price range that some
may be willing to spend on a high quality soundcard.
Enter
the Echo Audio Mia, which could perhaps be the solution for those
of you who need basic I/O in the form of a soundcard, without
the breakout box at a reasonable price (under $250us MSRP). Mia
sports several very attractive features indeed, including 2 balanced
inputs and outputs, 24-bit/96kHz converters, an on board DSP and
S/PDIF. Drivers for Windows 95/98 and ME are included (along with
ASIO, MME and GSIF support). Windows 2000, WDM, and Mac drivers
are planned for the future, according to Echo Audio. The connections
on the card are in the form of two balanced +4dBu TRS inputs and
outputs along with S/PDIF input and output (RCA type connectors).

Installation

The
physical installation of the Mia is a no-brainer: simply open
up your PC, drop the card into an open PC slot and boot up Windows.
There are no hardware jumpers to flip or internal cables to worry
about (the only cables you'll be connecting to the Mia are of
course the cables from your gear, which plug directly into the
back of the card). Upon Windows starting up, the operating system
immediately detects the Mia and installs the appropriate drivers automatically. The installation is so easy in fact, that I timed
the entire process. From opening up the PC, to putting the card
into a PCI slot and booting up the computer, it took no longer
than 60 seconds. The manual is also intuitive and well laid out
with easy to follow instructions and documentation covering all
of the features on the card.
Multi-Mia
The
Mia supports multi-client drivers in the same way offered by the
Gina24 and Layal24. Multi-client audio drivers allow you to use
the different inputs and outputs on the Mia with different audio
programs at the same time, eliminating the need to run multiple
soundcards in one system in order to be able to use two programs
at once.
Mia
properties screen

(click for full size image)
Another
great aspect of the multi-client drivers is the ability to utilize
"virtual" outputs. While the Mia physically has 2 analog outputs
(in addition to S/PDIF output), Mia will appear to software as
if it has eight separate outputs. This is an especially handy
feature that allows the Mia to act as if it were a card with eight
outputs. How does this actually work within the context of your
favorite audio program? Well, for instance with programs such
as GigaStudio or Reaktor you will be able to access eight outputs
- each one of these outputs (or all of them) can be routed to
play back through Mia's physical outputs. This includes both analog
and S/PDIF digital outputs and you can have both analog and S/PDIF
active at the same time. Multiple programs can share the virtual
outputs which is just fantastic, allowing you to use the card
for tasks that would normally require you to have two or more
cards in a system. For example, while working on a project I needed
to run Sonic Foundry's ACID Pro alongside of GigaStudio. I had
developed a somewhat complex percussion mix in ACID that needed
to sync and playback alongside of an equally complex sequence
in GigaStudio. While using virtual outputs 1 through 6 in GigaStudio
to handle the sequence, ACID smoothly utilized virtual outputs
7 and 8 to play back the ACID mix. There were no hiccups and neither
program complained as the audio was seamlessly mixed real-time
out to the physical analog outputs on the card which I was monitoring
through my mixer.
Additionally
I noticed that between programs, virtual outputs could share between
GSIF, ASIO, MME or DirectSound at the same time, although I wasn't
able to get DirectSound working alongside of GSIF. Through a pop-up
panel that can be accessed through the device manager in your
system properties under control panel in Windows, GSIF or DirectSound
can be enabled or disabled as desired. DirectSound can also be
toggled on for analog outputs and digital outputs (individually
or together) and DirectSound sample rates can be locked or unlocked
from this panel. Toggling back and fourth between DirectSound
and GSIF does require your system to reboot, although it is a handy feature indeed to be able to do this. Echo Audio explains
the need for rebooting: "The reason you have to do this is
that GigaStudio will crash your system if it finds our DirectSound
devices; making them mutually exclusive was the only workaround.
It's a fix for a Nemesys problem; there's no technical reason
our drivers can't do all of them at once."
Mia
console software

(click for full size image)
Incoming
audio signals can also be brought in on either analog or digital
and routed back out to either. So, for instance if you are recording
audio through the analog inputs, the incoming signal can be routed
to play back real-time through the Mia's digital outputs. Like
the Gina24 and Layla24, multiple cards can co-exist in one system and will share the same IRQ to save your resources. The Mia will
sync to other Mia cards in the same system through S/PDIF.
Like
Echo Audio's Gina24 and Layla24, routing and all hardware functions
can be managed through the aide of an extremely useful piece of
software that sits on your taskbar that acts as a virtual "console".
The Mia console resembles a small mixer, where input and output
levels can be adjusted (through the use of faders which can be grouped to move as pairs or ungrouped to function individually),
muted, soloed and routed anywhere on the card. Clock source can
be toggled from internal to Digital and outputs and inputs can
be switched between +4dBu and -10dBV by simply clicking on a single
button under each input channel. Rebooting is not required and
flipping of hardware jumpers is a thing of the past. Additionally
S/PDIF outputs formats (pro and consumer) can be selected from
the console and the default sample rate can be set, unlocked or
locked to 11025 through 96000 on the fly.

This site might help http://www.cdbm.com/shop/hardware.html#syn


I use an M-audio delta 2496 which i am very happy with...It supports all the things your looking for....the good thing about it is it also has a MIDI ports as well as audio.....alot of cards dont have that, making you buy a standalone MIDI box etc...one thing you will need though is a seperate mixer (like a mackie) if you wanna record live audio...think its running at 179.95 right now-but look around, see what u find....

Piece

i own a 24/96 too
it has much better latency than the audigy card

http://www.zzounds.com/love.music?p=p.MDOAP2496&f=2045

soundblaster sudigy platinum 2 is 200 bills if you call soundblaster directly...you'll have to pay for shipping of course

Nice. I 'll keep that in mind for next month. I think we (teknowledge) is planning on investing in one of those for the stood. thnx.

For serious audio work, cheaply, I'd say go for the Echo Mia or one of the M-Audio products.

I've heard that Aardvark stuff is real solid too, I'm thinking about buying their USB interface for my laptop. I think the cheapest non-USB solution they offer is $350 though. Also, MOTU is high-quality gear for sure, way out of the $300 price range but probably deserves a mention anyway.

I don't know about the current soundblasters, but I remember hearing that they used to play back at 24/96 and record at less (shit false advertising really) and I know the drivers had bad latency. For the drivers, at the least there are unofficial third-party drivers now that will get you a more usable latency, but I don't know what the status is on the 24/96 thing.