What would be the best soundcard for my setup?

I'm right into the hobby of computer-generated music. I started off with ModPlug tracker but I've since outgrown it. I plan on using FL Studio along with Steinberb Hypersonic VSTi and Garritan Personal Orchestra for my compositions.

I'm using an AMD XP2500 processor with 1GB 400mhz RAM on a decent Gigabyte K7-Triton nForce2 motherboard.

I currently use a SB Audigy card which I got a couple years ago. I was told that an M-audio USB card was a very good choice but I'm not so sure if it will suit me best. My system should support UBS2 specs since it's running off a recent model mainboard.

I was wondering what soundcard would best suit me. Are the external USB sound cards better or worse than internal PCI sound cards? Somebody once told me that USB soundcards were not as good, but I may be wrong, and they could have been referring to the older cards. I want a decent card that will give me decent playback and allow me to record voice using a microphone since I plan on writing a few songs and one where the output will be nice and crisp since I use my Logitech Z-580 (or 560?) 4-channel speakers + subwoofer setup.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Regards,
Ben

No point in USB if your speakers/amplifier are near your pc. EMU 1212m is an excellent card for a little over $150, and the chanitech AV710 is an excellent card for $30. THere's also a new emu 0404. All these will be infinitely better than the audigy.

Oh, the emu stuff is stereo only, so unless you're upgrading your speakers at the same time the chaintech would be best. I imagine M-audio's stuff is stereo too.

I believe my speaker setup is stereo, it's basically an older model Logitech Z560 or Z580 (can't remember which) but it's got 4 55w satellites and a 180w subwoofer and believe me this subwoofer has a real BANG to it with very deep bass. It's about the best you can get for around $350-400 AUD and it just can't be beat for it's specs (unfortunately it's only analog - there is a new digital version but should I spend another $400 for it? Maybe, maybe not). If you wanted any better than this you'd be looking at least a grand. I don't really need the best end of town but it's good for the money - and I plan only on using softsynths and sequencers.

Aside from this, are the Audigys actually stereo cards? I thought they were stereo. Maybe I was wrong there. I have the original Audigy and I think it is stereo but I could be wrong.

Regards
Ben

All soundcard are capable for stereo playback, regardless they have x-channel output. That said, while Audigy or Revo is able for your stereo playback, E-MU 0404, 1212m and ESI Juli@ is even better not only in playback but also for your home recording purpose.

Don't worry about "only analog" speakers". Digital ones will have an integrated digital-analog converter as well as integrated amplifiers. The dacs are unlikely to be particularly good.
Audigies are multi-channel capable. However they are very inferior cards. There's no point in multi-channel stuff for music, unless you happen to be keen to be creating multi-channel music yourself.
(NB speaker/amplifier specs should only be used by experts as part of the picture. In particular wattage is unrelated to sound quality. Your speakers may be good value and convenient, but a separate amplifier/speaker solution would be better. Not that I'm telling you to do this, just commenting on your claim.)

I'm not sure if that's perfectly true. I agree they will have better sound quality than the Audigy, but not lots and lots better. Also this is subjective, and different sound cards will match different systems better.

Audigy 2 coupled with Foorbar's SSRC to 48000hz (to avoid resampling by Audigy) will be of very good quality.

OK. It's not as if the Audigy is rubbish - music will sound good on it. But I think it will be clearly at the bottom of the pile on any decent system.

If you play games a bit, then you might want to keep the Audigy (or upgrade to an OEM Audigy2 to get better I/O quality). If not, try an inexpensaive semi-pro card.

The Z-560's are going to benefit less from a $150 (USD) 24 bit semi-pro card than more expensive speakers meant for monitoring but that shouldnt be a big concern. The 560's are not known for their linear response characteristics, so keep in mind that the bass is going to be exagerrated and the high end may be a bit recessed. Turn the bass knob all the way down on the control unit to get more linear bass response.

One thing Creative has going for it is their SoundFont MIDI capabilities, which are also shared with the EMU cards I believe. If you plan on doing direct analog recording I would suggest the EMU card (1212 if you can afford it), a decent microphone and a mic preamp.

Yeah, it seems that there's a huge (only sometime deserved) anti Creative sentiment out there.. and others keep repeating it..

If you are thinking about an Audigy 2, know that the newer "ZX" (? not sure of exact lettering) model is nearly different enough to be called Audigy 3, while the difference between the Audigy 1 and 2 weren't that much.

The pro cards mentioned are somewhat better spec wise, and would have more and better analog inputs, so if recording from multiple analog sources is important, that might be a choice maker. OTOH, you can get a good small mixer and just mix down to one track, if you didn't want to go full studio multitracking..

Sounds like you are using internal instruments, though.. then not an issue and you can save some bucks. The M-audio Revo would be probably a bit better than the Audigy, and as cheap, but I don't know how well it works with your sequencer, etc..
And of course, if you need perfect game sound compatibility.. then the better Audigy is just about manditory.

I also hear that the non USB cards may be better in latency.. many USB cards aren't built to be the "top of the line" in performance, anyway..

Hope it helps..

PS.. do some research.. I just checked out that chaintech card, sounds like good quality for ultra cheap! I used to follow every bit of news, then haven't been looking at this market for 6 mo or so.. it wasn't around then, new things show up!

You might try Computer Music (Brit mag, have site and forums) and other places for reccomends by computer musicians, as well as the ususual general HW sites....

I thought the difference between Audigy2 and Audigy2 ZS was something negligible (claimed 108dB SNR against 106dB SNR). And perhaps a 7.1 support instead 6.1. Everything else same (AFAIK).

The Chanitech AV710 is an excellent and very inexpensive card, but be aware that it hasn't SPDIF-in.

This card is not good for Home Recording purpose.

So, I get mislead about the Chaintech card. Damn. I just paid $60 AUD for it.

The Chaintech is okay for microphone input and what not, but as far as home recording goes, no it isn't the best, but it's okay for me since I will only use it mainly for playback through it's digital output to a decent reciever/amp.

In actual fact, it turns out that Chaintech AV710 is pretty much identical to the M-AUDIO Revolution 7.1, but I have to admit the Chaintech drivers need a bit of fiddling around with to get it to work at it's best, and I doubt you would have as many driver bug problems with the Revo since it's a bit more polished on the user-interface.

If you use WinX try: http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=327