Best Pro-quality sound card for the money?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I need to make a decision to buy a used card as soon as possible and was
thinking if someone here could advise me. I am thinking of getting an
used MOTU 2408 MKII card (not the new MKIII card). Is this good enough
for pro-quality sound or do i need a better card.

If i need a better card then what other cards are better, it would be
good if its a older model then I can get it second hand.

Also you should be able to add an external A/D converter to the card
later on (The card should pass the A/D signal straight to the software).
Thanks in advance.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <pPCdnacKQZ8S2ZDcRVn-ow@comcast.com> sohan_al@yahoo.com writes:

> I need to make a decision to buy a used card as soon as possible and was
> thinking if someone here could advise me. I am thinking of getting an
> used MOTU 2408 MKII card (not the new MKIII card). Is this good enough
> for pro-quality sound or do i need a better card.

The standard answer to this question is that a real pro will be able
to make this decision without asking a newsgroup. If you're not "pro
enough" then any reasonable card will be good enough for you. I don't
mean to put you down, but it's not the hardware that makes you a pro,
it's your experience. And if you're not a pro, you won't achieve "pro"
quality no matter what you're working on.

The differences between this and say, a top of the line Lynx or RME
are small compared to what else might stand in the way of getting pro
results.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"U-CDK_CHARLES\Charles" <"Charles Krug"@cdksystems.com> wrote in
message news:v5sPc.178$412.120@trndny04

> External is better than internal (PCI cards necessarily pick up CPU
> noise).

Just not true. One of the quietest sounds cards around today, the LynxTWO,
is an internal card.

I'd come closer to the truth by saying that external is worse than internal
because external cards are afflicted with low maximum data rates and lots of
clicks and pops. Of course that wouldn't be entirely accurate, either.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <OMqdncoBeaNXNJDcRVn-uA@comcast.com> sohan_al@yahoo.com writes:

> I am not a pro but i am taking lessons from a pro, and have read couple
> of books so after a year or so of practice i might reach a certain level
> and at that point i don't want to throw away the MOTU card and get a
> better card.

Why not? This is the way things are done in this business. You learn
on something that you can afford without stretching your budget too
far in one direction (so you have money to fill in with things that
you learn about). You use what you have until your degree of skill and
"professionalism" (and not somebody on a newsgroup) tells you what's
the weak link in your chain, and then you replace that.

Ignoring the term "pro" which we can't really define anyway, I suspect
that you will make a lot of other changes in your setup before you
conclude that you really need something better than the
less-than-current MOTU interace you're considering today. Remember,
nobody, no matter how professional, will listen to your recordings and
say "It would sound a lot better if he got a better sound card." And
the only way that you'll be able to make that decision yourself is to
have sources and mixing skills so good that improving the A/D and D/A
converters in the sound card DOES allow you IMPROVE your final
product.

You seem to be worried about wasting money now. If this is for a
hobby, then get the best you can afford - it doesn't matter how much
it costs because you'll never get your money back. If you intend to
make money from your recordings, either by taking in paying clients or
producing recordings of your own work for sale (the REAL measure of
"pro" ), you'll pay for that MOTU card very quickly and you can start
banking money for improvements - new mics, new outboard equipment, new
monitors, new walls and ceiling for your studio so you can HEAR what
your monitors are telling you . . .

> SO i am thinking long term, after a year or even longer i don't want to
> throw away the MOTU when my skills improve

Long term planning is good, but do your long term planning for major
things, not piddly pieces of hardware that are easy to replace and for
which better versions are available every few months. In a couple of
years, both Lynx and RME will have something available that's better
than what they have now (as will MOTU, and everyone else) and you'll
be "stuck" with a high priced card that's two or three generations
old.

Spend (and save) your money wisely while you're learning. It's wise to
get a couple of good microphones that you'll continue to use for
years. It's not wise to get a top end sound card today that will be
outdated in a couple of years.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I've got nice mics, pres, nearfields, etc and am still getting decent
results out of my "ancient" MOTU 1224 boxes. They can be found for
dirt cheap these days on ebay and other places for around $300...and
that even includes the PCI card. The beauty is that if you do upgrade
to one of the other MOTU boxes like the HD192 or one of the boxes with
more digital options, you can use them all in the same system as their
PCI cards will accept 3 or 4 boxes depending on if you get the newer
or older card.
Later,
m