Recommended soundcards?

[AndersBrontosaurus]

Hello! I'm thinking about finally buying an audiointerface and am on a tight budget. Think I'll suffice with 2 inputs.
Novation nio? Could that be something? Anyone have something to recommend?

[mridlen]

Get something that supports phantom power (also sometimes called "48V"), even if you don't plan on using it right away. External mic amps cost almost as much as cheaper interfaces. In your position, I'd probably go with the Scarlett 2i2.

[AndersBrontosaurus]

Thanks. Yes Focusrite would be great but out of my budget. Will look up this 48Vthing. Is it needed with "normal" microphones?

[mridlen]

It's a fairly common requirement for recording microphones.

The Lexicon Lambda is a little cheaper, but you're going to be hard pressed to get a good interface for less than $100

[mik82]

I've got a Scarlett 2i4 and it works well, probably a bit over budget. Useful as it also has a midi interface and 4 audio outputs so you can have a go at DJing too.

[AndersBrontosaurus]

Thanks for tips.
Maybe I should say that I'm aiming for second hand goods. Don't mind if it's used or old as long as it's good enough and cheap enough.

[domtron]

I've got me a Yamaha AG03 for my small rig,cheap as chips (edit: but very solid quality!), i love it.
Very good drivers for Windows 10 and goodness (because Yamaha also do Steini drivers), noise-free performance.

[domtron]

I think a new cheaper Interface is probably preferable to a good older interface which would cost you almost the same (around 100).
The sound quality is really good with those new cheapos.Features, noise ratio and driver reliability are always the first thing i would look for though.

[AndersBrontosaurus]

Thanks. The AG06 and 03 is a little to expensive but looks very nice.
Domtron, can you recommend 1 or 2 for me?

[domtron]

You could search for used Steinberg,Roland, or Focusrite interfaces on Ebay.Those Interfaces are very popular.Take care that the drivers are working for your OS.

Imo,why don't you use the motherboard inbuilt soundcard for a while until you get the funds for a better interface?
I guess the problem remains if you go for the inbuilt, you need a amplification too,otherwise it is too noisy because you should use the line-input.
You can be creative by buying a cheap headphone pre-amp.
Nevertheless i do not recommend those experiments for that purpose,lol.

Do you have a PCI slot available?Used PCI cards are very cheap nowadays.
The line-ins on the PCI cards are better but you still will need a pre-amp.

If you want to record you should use ASIO and that's why it is so difficult.You don't want crackles and a bad written or outdated driver.

[AndersBrontosaurus]

Thanks for all tips.
Just wanted to post a short update.
I ended up with a Novation Nio from ebay for £20. Seems to work fine. Much better than the built-in on the laptop. Thought my headphones were crap but they sound way better now.

[onecircles]

For anyone else reading this thread I would say don't buy one with phantom power. You are going to want to buy preamps anyway since they are such a big part of your sound. I got the ART studio V3 which is a single channel tube preamp. For interface If you're going with the older PCI format I recommend the M-audio 1010lt which has 10 in 10 out. That will cost you a lot if you do it in the newer standards. It's not cheap in PCI either because those interfaces have kept their value well.

If you're going PCIE there aren't a lot of choices. I got the ESI Juli@xte but it had noise issues in my system. I ended up with a lynx e22 which I have to tell you is utterly incredible but it's 700$ for 2in/out so it better be.

Properly designed PCIE sound cards are superior to usb or thunderbolt in terms of latency. Mine goes down to 32 samples.

[UNZ]

i would not recommend going the maudio route, the drivers are utter crap especially the ones for older cards on newer operating systems (win 7 upwards).

a good usb interface goes down to 32samples too btw (for example RME ones, well maybe only RME ones since they seem to be the only ones who know how to write drivers...).
i cannot recommend RME enough btw, its a little pricy, but the hardware & drivers & software you get are top notch. Tools like DigiCheck are invaluable for consistent metering of any sound your computer makes. 10/10 would buy again. Take a look at their "Babyface" and "Fireface UC/UCX" ones.

also thunderbolt = external PCIE so...

[domtron]

@ onecircles.

The Microphone and the line input of the AG03 are very good,there isn't any pre-amp noise.Compared to my RME AIO combined with a Sound Devices 302 which i already own a long time it has a better noise ratio too.In that case the direct pre-amp to usb helps a lot.
The phantom power doesn't add any noise either.
Driver wise the AG03 works like a charm,nothing to complain really but of course the latency is a bit higher than the AIO.

[ohmegah7]

yes RME ftw