[PD] USB Sound "card"

[Frank Barknecht]

Hallo,
David F. Place hat gesagt: // David F. Place wrote:

> I hesitated to post this question, because it seems like such an  
> obvious FAQ.  I couldn't find the answer by searching around.
> 
> My linux workstation has a crappy, noisy sound card.  I want to  
> replace it with a higher quality device. Preferably outside the box  
> to avoid interference.  I notice that several manufacturers offer  
> solutions, Creative, M-Audio, etc.   Is any preferred by Pders?   
> Please discuss.

There is no need to go external with a workstation: Modern semi-pro
level soundcards generally don't pick up noise through interference
anymore. So I would definitely recommend a PCI card, if you can use
that. E.g. the M-Audio Delta cards are nice, not too expensive and
pretty much standard in many machines. Terratec etc. also make cards
with the ICE chipsets onboard, they will work as well.  

But if you insist on USB: I would avoid M-Audio USB cards: It's too
risky to get one that doesn't work - like the old Quattro, though that
is discontinued thankfully. 

You have to be careful with cards that only support 24Bit audio, like
the Tapco Link.USB or the Alesis IO2. They will work with Jack, but
not with Pd over ALSA. Also the Lexicon cards give problems
according to reports on the Linux lists.

Other than that you can probably get any card. Check the USB device
list on www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/

Some recommendation would be a card by Edirol or the Terratec Phase 26
(which unfortunatly lacks balanced outs, but otherwise is good and
inexpensive. I use one on my laptop.)

Ciao
-- 
 Frank Barknecht                 _ ______footils.org_ __goto10.org__