small USB sound card for gigs

Mark Lane · Post by **Mark Lane** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:39 pm

I have a Novation NIO which is USB powered, two headphone outputs rugged, good metering. Also pretty well priced. I havn't tested it extensively as it is fairly new but it seems very good, also has onboard DSP effects.

Or the EMU tracker Pre - bus powered and excellent convertors if the USB 0404 is anything to go by which I have (although note that the 0404 has slightly higher spec convertors).

Also I have an EEE 900 and I have used Ableton on it. I can get about five audio tracks and an Impulse midi drum track running fine. But things start to get a bit hairy if you add VST synths or effects. Some of the built in Ableton synths run fine with about four or five other tracks, but other more power hungry ones don't.

I generally use it with my Line 6 interface to record guitar ideas with scratch drums through the Gearbox software. It works brilliant if you look at it as a basic 4-6 tracker type sketchpad.

4.33 · Post by **4.33** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:39 pm

imo, Emu is not for gigs, waaay too flimsy(( which is a bummer, cause the driver is really really stable

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 7:23 pm

NI Audio Kontrol FTW

ewistrand · Post by **ewistrand** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 10:11 pm

I use either AK 1 or the first gen Kore controller depending on the circumstance. Both work well here...

ew

stormfield · Post by **stormfield** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 7:59 am

Thanks for the suggestions guys

For the short term, I've bought an M Audio transit, really cheap and includes a line in.
I know there's ben reported problems with this card by other people, but I installed the latest drivers and it sounds fine.

Using an old version of Live + 2 GB RAM, I'm running:
6 audio channels of full tracks
4 audio channels of loops
1 audio line - in (hardware lazer box)
6 send channels
ableton EQ on every track
1 dub delay VST (cpu friendly)
1 hard limiter on the master out.

The machine runs at 70% CPU which is not ideal... but runs amazingly smoothly given the tiny machine and good sound quality is great.

Eventually I may get a Tascam external card for home / production use.

new problem: drivers and power surges

One thing I have noticed is the effect that power spikes have on the soundcard, midicontrollers and ableton.

This sometimes happens in the DJ booth if someone plugs/unplugs something in the 4-way socket that my laptop shares.

For the EEE PC 901, even a small spike in current (from merely switching on the amp that the soundcard is connected to) was able to stop everything from working. ableton playback / Midi Controllers / soundcard. Quite a sensitive setup!

But for my Sony Vaio (which runs an Echo Indigo soundcard), the power spikes only stop the midi controllers from working (UC33E and UC16) but the sound stays fine. Presumably because the Indigo is a PCIM soundcard and thus more robust.

But back to the EEE PC 901... I've added a surge protector to the laptop's power plug, hopefully this will be okay.
If problems still occur, I'll just have to do my set using the laptop's battery and hope for the best!

Wonder if anyone has a way or a tip to get round this problem?

smartass303 · Post by **smartass303** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 9:44 am

stormfield wrote:Thanks for the suggestions guys

Using an old version of Live + 2 GB RAM, I'm running:
6 audio channels of full tracks
4 audio channels of loops
1 audio line - in (hardware lazer box)
6 send channels
ableton EQ on every track
1 dub delay VST (cpu friendly)
1 hard limiter on the master out.

The machine runs at 70% CPU which is not ideal... but runs amazingly smoothly given the tiny machine and good sound quality is great.

Wow, with an EEE?
I really have to take a look at these Atom-Core netbook thinngies.
This is a lot of shit you playback, actually more i would when dj...
And these things are nice for university and stuff, and theyre friggin cheap!

mrsakitumi · Post by **mrsakitumi** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:50 am

+1 for NI Audio Kontrol1
it's tiny and rock solid with great convertors.

stormfield · Post by **stormfield** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:10 am

smartass303 wrote:
stormfield wrote:Thanks for the suggestions guys

Using an old version of Live + 2 GB RAM, I'm running:
6 audio channels of full tracks
4 audio channels of loops
1 audio line - in (hardware lazer box)
6 send channels
ableton EQ on every track
1 dub delay VST (cpu friendly)
1 hard limiter on the master out.

The machine runs at 70% CPU which is not ideal... but runs amazingly smoothly given the tiny machine and good sound quality is great.

Wow, with an EEE?
I really have to take a look at these Atom-Core netbook thinngies.
This is a lot of shit you playback, actually more i would when dj...
And these things are nice for university and stuff, and theyre friggin cheap!

yeah, but I use only Ableton 4 for DJsets / laptop... it does the job fine.

chinney4321 · Post by **chinney4321** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 11:29 am

Edirol Ua 25 very good soundcard and small 2..

heres a link
http://www.rolandus.com/products/produc ... rentId=114