Reccomendation on a cheap audio interface (no hum)?

ek · Post by ek » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:13 pm

Sorry for posting, I just spent the last 6 hours looking through this forum with "search" and other random clicking to find an answer but Im still pretty much in the dark. Let me explain what I'm looking for.

I have a new HP DV9000T Series Laptop:
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor T7200 (2.0 GHz)
256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7600
2048MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

What I have found is that running a 1/8" mini-jack to my mixing console creates a "hum" that is distinctly audible to me on my EVENT 20/20s. I am looking to perform gigs with this laptop, and I absoloutley NEED to not have any hum, so im looking in some kind of USB 2.0 or FIREWIRE external sound card or audio device that has at least a left and right stereo (RCA or 1/4" or XLR or a combo) out so I can run it into my mixing console during my show, hum-free.

This device doens't reallllly need to have inputs, but if there is a good price on a card that can output & record, ill buy it just to have the extra recording option besides just my desktop.

Im looking to not spend alot of cash but if the only way to get good "output" is to drop some skrill, Im just going to have to do it. Any reccomendations, or is MOTU the only option when it comes to reliability? Again, I dont need to record but if its only a little more cash, ill pick it up.

Thanks in advance, this is one of my last big decisions before performing out soon.

ek

BDS · Post by **BDS** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:20 pm

EK -

Echo Audio is what you want.

Firewire 2 or 4 looks like your ticket. Other's have posted about their products, too.

Happy Hunting.
BDS

mission · Post by **mission** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:20 pm

no you dont need to get a travler to have decent quality.

any of the emu mobile cards are great... i swear by them for PC interfaces in that price range. the mobile m-audio stuff works well also. my friends have those and love em.

what you get when you spend serious money on an interface is two things. first, you get lots of ins and outs. great, not what you need. second is that you get much higher quality DACs and ADCs (digital to analog convertors) but if you just want to play live without the hum then it doesnt matter. it's only pertinent to have good DACs if you're going out of your DAW into any sort of external hardware (fx, desk, etc) and back in to record the processed result.

make sense?

(that's a fuckin beast laptop btw... ftw man!)

mission · Post by **mission** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:22 pm

BDS wrote:EK -

Echo Audio is what you want.

Firewire 2 or 4 looks like your ticket. Other's have posted about their products, too.

Happy Hunting.
BDS

had one, liked it... just needed more ins/outs.

cant go wrong, really reliable and definitely in a reasonable price range.

wilxon · Post by **wilxon** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:24 am

I reccommend the emu 1616m for loads of audio IO, and you can take the cardbus everywhere and use it just like an echo indigo.

simpleton · Post by **simpleton** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:27 am

Did you say cheap? I got one of these for $79. Made from the same cheap plastic used on their controllers, so it's very light. Tiny footprint and sounds good too. The driver's a joke but with Asio4All it's a peach.

ploy · Post by **ploy** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:29 am

another one for the emu 1616m. it´s simply the best deal to make in that price range. unreached sound, high product-quality, solid possibilties and good flexibility.

the only bad things lie in the software given with it. the drivers are great, but the gui of the complex and powerful signal-router looks very 80ies retro (but no problem if you like it) and much worse the effects (going by the emu-chip, not on your cpu) coming with it are more gimmick than really usable.

i use it after my firewire 410 seemed a electronic box of trash to me (regarding sound and product-quality), and it was of my very best decisions last years.

wilxon · Post by **wilxon** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:32 am

ploy wrote:another one for the emu 1616m. it´s simply the best deal to make in that price range. unreached sound, high quality, solid possibilties and good flexibility.

the only bad things lie in the software given with it. the drivers are great, but their gui looks very 80ies retro (no deal if you like it) and much worse the effects (going by the emu-chip, not on your cpu) coming with it are more gimmick than really usable.

+1

the card is good though, ant the microdock is excellent with all of he IO options make it extremely good value for money.

comes with Live Lite, Cubase se, and a load of plugins.

buzzcock · Post by **buzzcock** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:55 pm

Before you go spending a bunch of cash, are you sure you don't have a ground loop problem?

blakbeltjonez · Post by **blakbeltjonez** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:28 am

definitely a ground loop problem, has no relation to your sound card. work out your grounding issues with $0.50 ground lift adapters.

sans soleil · Post by **sans soleil** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:18 pm

yeah...sounds like a ground loop/iffy cable.

anyway...i'd second the m-audio transit...even if you end up replacing it with something better it'll probably still come in handy, and it's cheap. i have one that i use as a kind of travel interface, and in a pinch it can supplement my ultralite with a couple of extra outputs, etc. (a nice thing abt. osX)

wilxon · Post by **wilxon** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:22 pm

sans soleil wrote:(a nice thing abt. osX)

I think he is running windows

djastroboy · Post by **djastroboy** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:51 pm

sans soleil wrote:yeah...sounds like a ground loop/iffy cable.

anyway...i'd second the m-audio transit...even if you end up replacing it with something better it'll probably still come in handy, and it's cheap. i have one that i use as a kind of travel interface, and in a pinch it can supplement my ultralite with a couple of extra outputs, etc. (a nice thing abt. osX)

for shows I'd steer clear of the Transit.
I'm having a lot of funky problems with the Transit. The audio goes berserk and noisy every so often. Same computer with a Echo Indigo works perfectly.

dave_house · Post by **dave_house** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:43 am

definitely sounds like a ground loop. I got a ground loop isolator for about £10, think its designed for car audio but it does the trick!

I use an Edirol UA-25 soundcard which does me proud. 1xleft and 1xright input for mic/instrument/line. This is usually fine for me but means you have to use both if you want a stereo input, one for each channel, which can be annoying! It was about £145.