Beagle...you out there? M-Audio D44

I've been primarily looking at the Audio-M D44 card and was looking at the manual online.  It only showed 2 connections for the speaker system...I have 3 connections for my Creative 5.1 speaker system...can I assume I can use the third plug so all my speakers will function?  It appears that I will also have to get the 1/4 to 1/8 adapter so I can hook the D44 to my computer...sound right to you?

It has four and only using two in the diagram in the manual...I'm just assuming you could plug in the 3rd plug still leaving one more!?

ok. that creative 5.1 thing has what on it ? 2 phonos/mini jack + an spdif in ?

you can only put that to 1 set of inputs.. the crossover (to seperate the sub from the satellites) is probably house in the sub box perhaps like the logitec's I use.

to do the 5.1 with the delta I'm guessing you'd need different speakers all together.. as you need to assign each input on the delta to different things to do the surround thing.. and of course the sub, you only need to send the low end out to (and pref a mono signal.. as some people only have 1 sub)

you would need 5.1's specifically designed for music making that have all 3.5 separate jacks.. or 2 sets of active monitors + a sub.

what creative speakers are they?

Ok, it only has 3 audio plugs...one is for subwoofer/front, one is left/right front and one is left/right rear.

Boy, that's scary!  I went to the M-Audio website and there is NO WHERE you can ask a pre-purchase question about their products! Hmmmm??

You also need to upgrade to Sonar Producer because Sonar Home Studio does not support surround sound mixing. 

Well, I think it's a good idea to disable the Windows sounds. In fact, I read somehwre (it was a long time ago) that you should disable Windows sounds so the "you've got mail" or "updates are available for downloading" noises won't interrupt your recording session.

but you can set up your onboard soundcard to run the speakers you have and just use headphones or real near field monitors (when yoiu can afford them) for your D44 if that's what you want to do.  I can help you set that up.

yes, you can do that.  but I do recommend disabling windows sounds completely.

you can then set up your computer to play mp3's from Windows Media player or iTunes or whatever through EITHER the onboard soundcard and your "computer speakers" OR you can set it up to use the Delta 44 exclusively for everything.

I've done both and there are merits for both.

I've been using a Delta 44 for many years. Nice card as long as you don't need more than 4 Ins and 4 Outs and you don't need a preamp. I use it with a Mackie mixer.