High-End Audio: Creative and Terratec

Seeking The MIDI

Terratec has obviously reached a dead end when it comes to the MIDI interface. This doesn't mean that you can't use MIDI as it's all managed through software. The card, thus, is not geared for replicating superior musical instrument sound quality.

Creative has followed a very different route since the company's cards are still held in high regard by musicians. This quality is due to the cards' "Soundfonts," which allow musicians to create and modify their MIDI sound databases.

The Creative cards combine a 2 x 16 channel hardware synthesizer with 64-voice polyphony, a software synthesizer, and 48 internal channels.

Here, the split between "music-making" and audio-centric cards becomes evident. Consumer cards, for example, are aimed at the general public who, almost without exception, are mainly interested in audio. Audio-centric cards offer a wide range of applications, such as MP3 and DVD audio and video while MIDI-centric cards are geared for professional use. The split between the two applications is thus widening.