what hardware is best for music production?

[NoxNoctis7]

Hi, forgive me if this has been answered somewhere. I've searched for days, but my skills in searching are weak.

All I know at this point is that I would like to have professional level sound quality. I want to use the linux sampler. Can anyone suggest a good sound card to do this with? Hopefully something professional, not a soundblaster awe32 (my last card). Also, any suggestions on a small motherboard that works well with linux audio creation would be greatly appreciated.

extra info: I have a good midi controller keyboard and a midi-to-usb thingy that works good with linux. What i'd really like to just build a system capable of putting out high quality sampled synth sounds without forking out $3000 for a workstation keyboard. I've looked at hardware samplers but they are insanely expensive for the ammount of ram they have.

[sgx]

Hi. Old pci cards with envy24 sound chips may be the best value, I use an
maudio Delta 24/96, from 2003, most of their Delta series cards worked, (not the 24/192) but I have read where new ones with the same names are slightly different, and now fail in linux. The one I have works well, the midi and audio are very nice. Terratec made similar cards, their Sixfire model may be one to get second hand. Try and buy from a trusted source, and one with a returns policy in place, just in case. :)
There is a thread here about using e-mu 0404 usb cards, and a few of their similar products, not sure of the final outcome or status.
Cheers

[NoxNoctis7]

so just so that I'm sure, is this card the one your talking about?
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOAP2496

You'd said some of the new ones had similar names. It looks good from what I've read, thanks so much for the info.

[AutoStatic]

Hello NoxNoctis7, the Audiophile 2496 is a nice entry-level card but what are your exact aims? And your budget?

[NoxNoctis7]

Thanks for the reply Auto

I'd be willing to spend up to $500 on the sound card if it was worth it.

My goal is pretty basic, I want a good sampler synth, but I don't want to spend 3 grand on an M3. I'm looking to spend $700 to $1000 total on the system.

I plan to build the computer into a custom built keyboard body so I can use it in gigs as well as at home. Sound quality and reliability are my primary concerns.

[AutoStatic]

I'd be willing to spend up to $500 on the sound card if it was worth it.

I plan to build the computer into a custom built keyboard body so I can use it in gigs as well as at home. Sound quality and reliability are my primary concerns.And do you prefer USB, Firewire or PCI? $500,- is a really nice budget, you can get a lot of really good soundcards for that amount of money. Personally I really like Focusrite, good quality, good pricing and, very important one, they're one of the few vendors that are willing to help out getting their devices supported with GNU/Linux (http://ffado.org/?q=node/863).

[NoxNoctis7]

thanks for the reply.
$500 is a lot but again, if you compare it to modern sampler music keyboards, i'm saving a lot of money. As for the data path, it doesn't matter if its usb, firewire or pci. I would prefer pci, but since i'm building the system around the sound card, it doesn't really matter. I'm just after the best possible sound quality.

Thanks much for the tip about focusrite. have you had any experience with any of their hardware?

[kayosiii]

http://ardour.org/realFAQ

[NoxNoctis7]

Thank you guys so much for the links, info and suggestions. I think i finally am getting a grip on what it is i need/want. Thanks again

[ryanisablond]

Hey NoxNoctis7, wish you the best of luck with creating the setup of your dreams!

Just wanted to make sure that your budget has room for quality speakers and/or headphones. Forgive me if that's a "duh" for you, but I know it made all the difference in the world for me once I found "my" pair of cans.

Cheers!

P.S.
You've got me curious, what's your master plan? Album? World domination? :p

[NoxNoctis7]

excellent point, thank you for bringing that up. again multiples of thousands of dollars is beyond my budget, so I plan to build a 200 watt keyboard amp shortly after building the synth. Now on to more fun decisions, like steam punk? or Brushed steel? :D

[AutoStatic]

Thanks much for the tip about focusrite. have you had any experience with any of their hardware?Yes, I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 10 IO. Works very well with Ubuntu.
And ryanisablond's point is a very good one.

[GraysonPeddie]

Thanks for the reply Auto

I'd be willing to spend up to $500 on the sound card if it was worth it.

My goal is pretty basic, I want a good sampler synth, but I don't want to spend 3 grand on an M3. I'm looking to spend $700 to $1000 total on the system.

I plan to build the computer into a custom built keyboard body so I can use it in gigs as well as at home. Sound quality and reliability are my primary concerns.

I'm curious: How will you build a computer into a custom-built keyboard body? Did you build your custom keyboard body for building a computer? If possible, could you start a new thread about building a custom keyboard?

I may have seen a professional workstation with a screen in the middle, along with the keyboard and trackpad to the right, and an optical drive to the right side of the professional keyboard. I hope I'm wrong, but I think it costed over $7,000 or more (I've seen it but I don't have a link for it).

[NoxNoctis7]

I'm curious: How will you build a computer into a custom-built keyboard body? Did you build your custom keyboard body for building a computer? If possible, could you start a new thread about building a custom keyboard?

I may have seen a professional workstation with a screen in the middle, along with the keyboard and trackpad to the right, and an optical drive to the right side of the professional keyboard. I hope I'm wrong, but I think it costed over $7,000 or more (I've seen it but I don't have a link for it).I havn't yet built the body, because i havn't yet got all the hardware, and i'll have to design the body around the computer. I was inspired by the Roland Fantom series. It will use a touch screen instead of a mouse, and a numeric keypad instead of a full keyboard. no optical drive, just an SD card slot. Once the build has started I'll be documenting it and i'll post a link here for anyone who's interested.

[togo59]

I have a Terratec 6Fire and I run Ubuntu Studio 9.04 (32-bit). It works well but with the switch from 8.10 to 9.04 I lost sound from ZynAddSubFX, however almost everything else is working fine so I don't think this is a sound card issue.

I like the 6Fire because it sits in a drive-bay and doesn't clutter up my desk. It has in/outs for MIDI, optical, coaxial. It has RCA line-ins for tape and phono and one line out. Plus mic and headphones with their own volume controls. Round the back of the PC, the PCI sound card has outs for 5.1. Sampling is at 96k. The ICE 1712 driver works well.

But one and a half feet away is my daughter's Focusrite Sapphire LE and I was reading this and other threads wondering how I'm going to configure it.

I anticipate I will loose my Terratec card if/when I install a 64bit version of Ubi-Studi so I was wondering whether to swap audio hardware with my daughter (who's still on Windoze).

[fedexnman]

the echo audiofire series are nice i have the audiofire4, it uses the firewire(fado) driver in qjack, they are reasonably priced too!!