Audio: XFi Gamer vs Delta44 vs PCR-A30 vs ???
My DAW (2.8 GHz Pentium 4 from 2004) has an
M-Audio Delta44, which in Sonar 8.5 gives me a minimum latency (with 2 buffers) of
5.8ms.
My main PC (Core 2 Duo E6600 from 2007) has a
Creative Labs XFi Gamer, which gives a min latency of
10ms (with WMD; ASIO has crackle at 10ms and lower).
I also have an
Edirol PCR-A30 USB MIDI controller/audio interface. When I use it on my main PC, I get a min latency of
3ms. This implies it's the fastest, but it's also the least convenient to use, since it's external and I have no room to leave it plugged in all the time (with its own headphones).
I'm thinking about using the main pc for music-making (focusing on soft synths), but am wondering which audio interface to use with it.
The XFi Gamer (from 2007) is, according to my tests, the worst in terms of latency. If I replace that with a more modern Creative Labs sound card (something with more connections and maybe even MIDI), is that likely to have better latency? Does anyone have any specs pertaining to Creative Labs latency?
Or is Creative Labs a dead end in terms of Sonar? I know in the past everyone's advised against it, and on my DAW I'm perfectly happy with my Delta44, but I would love to have a game-friendly sound card that can also handle Sonar pretty well, so that I can have two potential DAWs and not just one.
Or, if I get my main PC upgraded with a better CPU, would it make sense to install my Delta44 there, along side the XFi Gamer? Can two sound cards happily coexist like that?
What do you suggest?
post edited by Tripecac - 2010/11/06 16:20:48