Audigy 2 as a Studio Alternative

I have not used/heard the Audigy 2 so i can not say much about it, but as far as I know it is a decent card with bad drivers (Creative tradition that). Since you are building a home studio "of sorts" I'd wager that it would fit your purpose though. The best thing about Audigy are the soundfonts that makes making backing tracks easy. That said however, you should probably go for a better card from Terratec, M-audio etc. Read around on the board and on websites to find one that suits your needs.
While I used to work as a sound engineer, I have not kept up on the latest and greatest for a while, but here are some general tips:
1. Get a good mike. Good mikes are not much more expensive than bad ones so spend the extra money. Shure SM58 is an old favorite of mine that works well in most situations and is getting cheap.
2. Get good cables. A world of difference for 20 bucks extra is worth it. Get shielded cables as interference from modern computers can be very annoying.
3. VST rules. There are many nice virtual instruments/effects out there, but VST is my preferred format due to the high amount of cheap/free modules.
4. Get Pro Tools. There is a free version of pro tools and it is the easiest/best recording software out there. EVERYONE uses Pro Tools.
5. Dedicated Hard Drive. Preferably SCSI, but IDE is fine. Keep your HDD as fragment free as possible.

Good luck and have fun,

Dev

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I have an Audigy 2 Platinum and I can say that I personally have not had any problems with their drivers.

For professional/studio quality work I would not recommend it though. The mike input in the breakout box is noisy (I think this is due to the ADC being inside the computer where it can pick up all kinds of EM noise). This is fine with me because the noise isn't <i>that</i> loud and I don't expect professional results from a $160 sound card.

For professional level recording I recommend something with an external breakout box like the M Audio Delta 66.

But that's just me. :cool:

<font color=blue>Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
-Einstein</font color=blue>

And I agree with everything else (except for the drivers) that <b>Dev</b> said above^^^ too. :cool:

Again, just my personal experience.

<font color=blue>Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
-Einstein</font color=blue>

I agree with the M-Audio breakout box. Creative just doesn't make anything close to "studio" quality. They're fine if you're using a $5 mic to show off to your nephew, but can't do anything at all close to "studio" quality.

If you have the money, RME is a great card. I'd suggest them all the way.

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