A/V Soundcard for audio production

Am building a computer for a close relative who wants to be able to record with his PC. He only wants a single channel but i'm a bit hesitant about recommending either on board (noise) Xonar (poor asio drivers) or creative, none of these are real musicians cards.

Is there anything out there on the market that gives high quality, plays nicely with audio software without too many complication, has low latency etc

 

What about HT Omega. Until I started using an Asus Xonar card I used a Striker Extreme and was very happy with it. I only changed because I needed one with a pcie connector.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271006 This one may be overkill, but will work with ASIO drivers.

 

ESI MAYA 44 is what I use. There is a PCIe version, the Xte. I bought mine used on ebay.

 

I second the maya xte. It's one of the better entry level price tier cards for sure.

 

+1 for ESI Maya XTe. Costs only some €120 and it comes with CuBase 5 LE, so you won't even need to buy recording-software.

 

Linky

 

Cheers for the suggestions, will investigate

 

I tend to stick with USB/Firewire devices myself. Easier to manage all everything when you have hardware buttons and switches. This is a favourite.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/native_instruments_komplete_audio_6.htm

Also, avoid anything by creative/EMU. Great hardware, literally no drivers. I'd be out of a sound card if I hadn't found the original disk when I last re-installed Windows.

 

What about Latency for USB/Firewire? I presume firewire is preferable or do you not find any issues with USB?

 

Well - a decent FW/USB2 interface is pretty decent. I've got my studio built around a Digidesign 003 at the moment, and the round-trip latency is pretty low (and definitely tolerable!).

Depending on budget, you could probably pick up a half decent USB2 2-channel interface from someone like focusrite or somewhere like that - do you require things like phantom power?

 

Phantom power might come in handy if he ever gets a condenser mic but at the moment it's probably just line and mic level. Will ask him.

 

I've used the Mk1 of this (£70): http://www.dv247.com/computer-hardware/tascam-us-122-mkii--67856

-or-

I'd probably go for this (£120): http://www.dv247.com/computer-hardware/focusrite-scarlett-2i2-usb-audio-interface--90034

Or there are things like the RME babyface, Apogee Duet (Mac only) - depends entirely on budget. If Midi is required, I'd be minded to recommend a separate USB midi interface

 

I've just picked up one of the Focusrite 2i2 interfaces and so far it is very good.
Easy setup and worked straight away with no faff. Currently using it with Garageband, but it does come with Ableton Live software included.
Picked it up from these: http://www.musicmatter.co.uk/focusrite-scarlett-2i2
Also available from Scan: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/focusrite-scarlett-2i2-usb2-2-in-2-out-audio-interface

If you are after midi in/outs as well have a look at the PreSonus 22VSL: http://www.presonus.com/products/AudioBox-22VSL
It is a bit dearer but you do get the additional ports.
Available from Scan: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/presonus-audiobox-22vsl-advanced-2x2-usb-20-recording-system

Picked up a Shure SM57 mic to use with this to record from my 2x12 guitar cab from here: http://www.musicmatter.co.uk/shure-sm57

 

The 2i2 is a cracker - enjoy!