Sound card for laptop.Mr Sax T

Comments

• Blancanegra

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  Have you tried to install the ASIO drivers?
  
  
  
  You can find them here: http://www.asio4all.com/
  
  
  
  I have installed Mr. Sax in a cheap notebook (Asus EeePC 1005HA model) and it works fine.
  
  Make a try first, perhaps you can solve your problem saving your money and keeping a light weight portable equipment to play everywere!
• Phil999

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  jazzybee wrote:
  would this pcmcia card be any better?
  
  
  
  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/7-1-PCMCIA-Sound-Card-Blaster-Audigy-2-ZS-for-Notebook_W0QQitemZ120527034309QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item1c0ff897c5
  
  
  I wouldn't recommend that one. It is probably not ASIO compatible and not over 48 kHz. What you need is a proper ASIO audio interface, a professional one. There are also small ones which cost not much more than this Sound-Blaster card.
  
  I can't give a recommendation because today all ASIO cards are good. Just check before buying if the drivers will work on your system (OS, 32- and 64-bit), this is not always the case, even today.
  
  
  
  ASIO4all is the best solution for systems without ASIO card, but I consider it more as a temporary solution. With a true ASIO card, you have the least latency, 88.2 kHz, and no need anymore for a seperate MIDI interface, as these cards mostly have MIDI in/out built in. So you only need one USB socket for two things.
• jazzybee

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  Blancanegra
  
  Thanks that was a good idea,I tried it but no good.For some reason it wouldnt start up and there was no sign of it as an option in any of the control panel or audio options
  
  
  
  Might be because this lappy was originally vista,but i got fed up with it and installed xp instead.
  
  
  
  cheers
  
  jas
• jazzybee

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  Phil999
  
  
  
  Thanks,saved me wasting my time and money.
  
  Ive bitten the bullet and ordered a new desktop pc.Its got a built in sound card ,so Ill try that first.If no good ill look for a new asio sound card
  
  
  
  thanks.
  
  jas
• Phil999

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  sorry to say, but the in-built audio card will not have ASIO drivers, it will be similar to the one in your laptop. Only with an ASIO card you will have low latencies, be it laptop or desktop. Especially for live playing such a card is essential.
  
  
  
  Ordinary audio cards are good for system sounds, music listening, DVD playback, etc. They are not intended for a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
• jazzybee

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  Whats a suitable external soundcard for mr sat t?
  
  
  
  Read a few posts that say these are better than an internal sound card,esp for live performances.
  
  
  
  Do these connect to the pc via usb? And would my ewi4000s connect to the external sound card via midi?
  
  
  
  its all very confusing for a complete beginner.
• Phil999

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  it can be confusing, I agree. :P
  
  
  
  internal cards are good for what they are meant to. For your purposes an external card is a must. Be it firewire or USB2, doesn't really matter. It just has to be ASIO and with MIDI, which are most cards from Edirol, RME, M-Audio, Emu, etc.
  
  
  
  I suggest you go to your music store and ask for such a card. Tell them what operating system you have, if it's 32 or 64 bit, and if the drivers will work. They can check that quickly using the internet.
  
  The good thing is, you can use that card for your laptop and for your new PC.
  
  
  
  I have a small, rather cheap card that I use with a netbook. I plug the EWI into its MIDI port and can play with almost no latency (the sound reacts instantly to the fingering).
  
  Using batteries I could even make street-music, but I'm not that good yet.
• jazzybee

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  what kind of card is it?
  
  
  
  Just found this on the creative labs site(x-fi pro)
  
  http://uk.creative.com/products/productarchive.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=14064&nav=
  
  
  
  is that the sort of thing I should be looking for?
  
  
  
  If so is there a cheaper alternative?
  
  
  
  This is an internal sound card i found on m-audio
  
  the delta 2496
  
  http://www.maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/Audiophile2496.html
  
  
  
  any good?
• Phil999

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  I would say the Audiophile from M-Audio will be a good choice. M-Audio recently released a stable driver for Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit), which I could test myself with my Firewire Audiophile (similar card, but via firewire). So it should run fine with 44.1 and 88.2 kHz on every system. And it is not expensive either, so I would go for it. You won't be able to use it on your laptop (although I believe it is possible to use an adaptor to connect a laptop to a PCI device, but I've never done that personally), but you have the advantage of better performance I believe, since PCI (or PCIe, I couldn't see it on M-Audio's website) is said to be faster than firewire or USB. Anyway, you will have a small card with some professional features which will surely help to unveil the full potential of the EWI/Samplemodeling combination.
• jazzybee

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  thankyou for all your help.
  
  It has been gratefully recieved
  
  
  
  I shall get the m-audio card asap!
  
  
  
  many thanks
  
  jas
• yorama

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  Using Sax-T/A/B + Trumpet with HP 4310s Laptop, M-Audio Fast Track Pro (24/44.1), Ableton Live, Win7, EWI USB (and more), great sound and stable operation.
  
  
  
  Best tip for any USB/Laptop/MIDI/SoundCard/DAW/Sampler system working on Win7 is to get it to work in a stable manner and then....Don't Change Anything! (seriously down to the last detail including what specific USB port the external devices are connected to, the software launch sequence, other software installed and so fourth).
  
  
  
  Enjoy.
• Phil999

  March 2010 edited 12:53PM

  that's true. A laptop is primarily not made for music production, one has to manage quite a few things to get it stable. 9 USB devices is rather much, but it works stable if one doesn't make unnecessary changes. I have two mobile systems that work together via MTC synchronisation:
  
  
  
  laptop with 2 drives, dual core, NI AK1 audio card (USB), and lots of controllers.
  
  
  
  netbook with ESI waveterminal audio card (USB) and Steinberg 2x2 MIDI interface
  
  
  
  With the latter I can play the trumpet with 512 buffer size, which is still acceptable. The saxes are less demanding, they work also with 256 buffer size.