New sound card

Hi People
I think I might need to replace my sound card and wondering what my best option is.
Something in the £100 or less would be ideal.
 
My current card is an emu 0404 pci-e and for the last month I have been getting crackles and pops that have become progressively worse and the last few days has become completely unusable. In truth the crackles have been happening for the last 5 or 6 months on and off but recently have become seriously bad and consistent.
It only crackles when I have my Pod X3 Live turned on but there's nothing wrong with the Pod X3 and I'm fairly sure it's not the spdif cable although I would be much happier if it were.
I took the emu out just now and had a look and I can see quite clearly around the two bits that plug into the board there is a brown patch which obviously suggests over heating and possible burn out so I guess it's time for a new card.
 
I just spoke with a guy at Digital Village here in Bristol UK and he recommended the focusrite Scarlett 2i4 for £149 which is a little more than I'd hoped to pay and so I was wondering what the general opinions were with these cards.
 
He also said that no one buys internal cards these days as they are outdated and have been superseded by the firewire and usb cards that run much better at zero latency. Is this true or just sales talk ?
It's been a while since I've researched these things as my emu has served me pretty well for the last 5 or 6 years but things change.
 
My needs are small, 2 in - 2 out with good low latency and midi capability so if there are other cheaper options that are equal I'd like to hear about them.
 
It's very annoying as apart from the spdif problem the card works perfectly so if anyone wants to buy one and doesn't need the spdif it's going cheap
Although it's a shame to say goodbye to the emu I guess one good thing in getting a usb/firewire interface would be that it's portable and if I ever buy a laptop for recording away from home I won't need to buy another interface so that could be a big plus, every cloud as they say
 
Thanks for reading
 
Steve

Thanks Mesh
So much for taking advice, I went out and bought it anyway as I couldn't wait for a response so I'm now sitting here and have it installed and running. First slight disappointment that I had assumed would come as standard but there's no spdif input which is how I ran my Pod X3 into my Emu. It's not a major deal but I'm told it's the best way for signal clarity but I'm sure the difference with my guitar is negligible.
 
The other problem I'm having when in sonar is a high pitched hum that, if I lower the latency changes to a lower pitched hum. Could it be buffers ? It's only there in sonar right now but I've only had it running for about half an hour so will try sound forge, windows media and other things but I think it might be sonar related.
If I disengage the audio engine in sonar the humming stops.
 
Thanks for the advice Mesh
 
Steve

Be sure you are using ASIO drivers with the focusrite.
 
 
I had an 0404 and I was so glad to get rid of it.

Steve, this is very strange......you probably have done this, but just in case you haven't, take a look at this link and see if it can be narrowed down to whom the culprit is.....
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X2&Lang=EN&Req=Troubleshooting.04.html
 
 
Check this one as well, it has more choices....
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X2&Lang=EN&Req=AudioPerformance.23.html

twaddle
Am I missing some software ?
 
I had thought there would be some proper control software for the scarlett but all I have is the driver which
opens up the same asio control panel that sonar does. Where do I set the sample rates and other stuff in the 2i4 ?
 
Steve
 
I'll go through the list next Mesh thanks.
 
Steve

I'm not at my machine now, but IIRC, when you installed the drivers, it should have installed a Focusrite folder under Windows Start > All Programs > Focusrite. Inside that folder, you can adjust the sample rates and I believe some latency settings.

twaddle
Ah ha, I set the buffers up from 256 to 512 and that seems to have done the trick.
 
Thanks for your help Mesh and Guitarhacker
 
Steve

You're most welcome!! Glad to see it working out.

twaddle
He also said that no one buys internal cards these days as they are outdated and have been superseded by the firewire and usb cards that run much better at zero latency. Is this true or just sales talk ?

No one buys internal cards these days, because no one makes an affordable one.
Very high end units are still based on internal cards.
With current machines, USB is pretty close, but I think "much better" is a bit of a stretch.
That said, I am pleased with the performance of my USB interface (Akai EIEpro).
 
Like you, it was a sad day when I had to retire my trusty 0404PCI.
Patchmix threw a few people for a loop, but once you figured that out, it was a rock solid performer.
If E-MU was still a contender, I would mount one of their internal cards in a heartbeat when I eventually get a new PC.