i'm writing up a reply but two people have already posted in the mean time! :P

i guess the mai nthingfs to say real quick: I correct my budget. I mean i'm trying to get as clsoe to $100 as possigble, $150 is my comfortable max, $200 is...strethcing it.

mics are not a consideration right now. That's extra, bonus, w/e

and finally, when get a sound card thingy, could I still use my integrated audio? because more nad more it's looking like only really exepnsive stuff has the number of inputs and outputs I currently have. (maybe cuase it's a mid - high end computer; HP Elite 9350f; desktop computer)

EDIT: uh....what's this? I looked in my computer to make sure if I had at lesat one PCI slot free, cause I know I don't have 2 slots..... um... I don't see any...at least not what I [used to?] know as PCI... it's a tiny black slot, like.. an inch long..... o.0

that's a PCIe slot most likely that you're seeing. check your motherboard's specs to be sure. if you don't have an open PCI slot you'll have to go with PCIe (which is WAY out of your price range) or go with a USB or firewire soundcard depending on if you have firewire or not. unfortunately for you USB and firewire cards are typically more expensive than PCI cards (in the low end category) because they also usually include preamps on them (which eliminates the need for a separate mixer in most cases). the EMU0404 USB is $200 and the m-audio fasttrack pro is $200.

would you be able to use your onboard soundcard? no, not really. why would you want to? if you try to use both soundcards at the same time then you will at the very least get sync and latency problems because they have 2 independent clocks but one of them has to be the master clock - so your tracks will start to drift away from each other in time.

Are you on a desk top or lap top? Desk top PCI cards normally go in the back. the 0404 uses one space. You can remove an older PCI card that you are not using anymore...
Laptops on the other hand will almost always require an external interface of the USB or Firewire variety due to internal space limitations.

If 200 is stretching it.... save a little bit more and get a decent interface. Trust me when I say, you will not regret getting a good interface when you are 6 months down the road and recording with it.

yeah, all my slots are PCI express. Ugh, didn't PCIe replace PCI a while ago?? Why would anything PCIe be much more expensive? I'm looking at M-audio stuff and they all look like PCI. All new stuff should be PCIe, I'd think. Those m-audio were looking good...

And yes I do have a firewire connection

would you be able to use your onboard soundcard? no, not really. why would you want to?

It's because i'm confused and don't know well all these audio connections and I'm worried i'm going to LOSE stuff if I get a good sound card.

So I think I need an explantion of this. Here's what my computer has; I had a good look this time:

• In the back, a set of 6 audio ports, marked: in, out, mic, c/sub, rear, and side.
  
• Way at the bottom where the keyboard and mouse ports, there's a "digital audio out" all by it's lonesome.
  
• Up higher there's L/R audio jacks, but I think that's on the video card.
  
• In the front panel, I've got component video plus L/R jacks (ok, I guess that's another vid card input), a headphone jack, and yet another mic input. There's also a black thingy that looks like a PS/2 mouse/keyboard connection.
  
• Of course, the mic connections are what to me are practically line-in. Same thing, same plug.
  

Ok, so now I've got my I/O's straightened out. So my questions are, with a soundcard, would I lose any of this, and no. 2... how the heck do you connect a 5 speaker system anyway? I'm confused now, what ports do they go into / what outputs are needed for a speaker system? Oh, and what's S/PDIF used for anyway? I understand it's digital, but, for what? And I also sometines see "coaxial" and "optical." Are they all the same? different?

At the very least, really, all I want is for my soft synths to work! If it wasn't for a certain sonar crash, I woudln't even be looking for a soundcard because I was perfectly fine with my realtek onboard sound. At the least, I just don't want to end up worse off. Hopefully a little better off, but at least about the same.. just...working.

I've edited my original post, and raised the budget. Didn't realize was I was typing, I meant more like $200 max I guess. It's just, don't take that to mean that I really am willing to spend $200. I'm hoping for as close to $100 possible, maybe $150 is as much as i'm ok with spending. 200 is pushing it.

man, this is getting confusing.... preamps and condenser mics and phantom power??? I still don't know preamps but at least the other stuff I found on wikipedia. Yeah, forget mic stuff, forget phantom power, don't need any of that stuff. I don't record anything for my music.

I think we may be jumping in too high up with all this equipment with all these inputs. I mentioned inputs a lot, but most of them I said would only be bonus or if not that expensive. The least I want is to actually be able to USE sonar and my soft synths, as long as i won't be worse off in any way.

So, I think I need to put some things in order of importance. You may give reccomendation at any level. Hopefully more toward the more basic levels. :P

• I just want my soft synths to work! When I first came here, I thought that would be simple soundcard. HD audio, I'd like it to support 5 speakers if I ever get them, and just have your typical inputs, nothing special. I just don't want to be worse off. If I have my audio, my soft synths work, it's reliable and I can count on it for my composing, got line-in, mic, the typical stuff, and 5.1 sound, then that's good. I'll be happy.
  
• A decent line-in. I'm hoping this is expected with any good soundcard though? I don't need anything really high quality, I just want to be able to record cassette tapes, LPs, whatever. With my old computer, I had to lower the volume on boombox and the volume for that input in the computer, to prevent clipping and be able to stream and record the sound. That caused a lot of noise. My new computer may be more capable but I just haven't tried, but, I'd like to record from boombox without lowering volume so much and causing so much noise. It's just for the audio and to have it digitally, i wouldn't actually use it for anything.
  
• good latency. Any good soundcard should give me relatively zero latency right? As long as it's a big difference from my current 300ms latency. 300ms latency wasn't that bad because it's like 1/3 second, so when i'd play back my keyboard and hear the note sound very late, it was late enough that I could ignore it, focus on my note pressing and my own rhythm, and then simply drag and drop in sonar to correct. Anything less, however, would get confusing, so near 0 latency, or at least, as long as it's not noticeable when recording live, that'll be good.
  

Again, i'm hoping all that fits under "good soundcard."

That right there is what I'm really looking for. Anything else is just extra, only if it still fits in my budget, and ONLY if the above is covered. Even if it's still in budget, well it'll just be up to me if I want to go this far or not.

• Don't currently need special mic inputs, don't plan to, and not important. Any of that mic stuff whether it's phantom power or mic inputs, that's truly just extra. When I rarely use my mics, they both go to line in anyway. I may want to try recording some instrument that I don't have in soft synths, or at the very least, some percussive sounds, so, the ability to use 2 mics for stereo were I get mics, would be nice; it'd be good to have the option. However, TOTALLY extra. I'd rather save money on more sound libraries.
  
• RCA inputs. I have 2 sets of L/R from the video card, I don't need anything better right? Besides, I don't see what I would use them for. Totally not interested.
  

some final things to say again: desktop PC, all slots are PCI Express, and I've only got a PCIe 1x free. Got a firewire connection. USB is not totally out of the question if I must go external, but I'll need to get a USB hub too.

It's because i'm confused and don't know well all these audio connections and I'm worried i'm going to LOSE stuff if I get a good sound card.

So I think I need an explantion of this. Here's what my computer has; I had a good look this time:

In the back, a set of 6 audio ports, marked: in, out, mic, c/sub, rear, and side.

Way at the bottom where the keyboard and mouse ports, there's a "digital audio out" all by it's lonesome.

Up higher there's L/R audio jacks, but I think that's on the video card.

In the front panel, I've got component video plus L/R jacks (ok, I guess that's another vid card input), a headphone jack, and yet another mic input. There's also a black thingy that looks like a PS/2 mouse/keyboard connection.

Of course, the mic connections are what to me are practically line-in. Same thing, same plug.

Ok, so now I've got my I/O's straightened out. So my questions are, with a soundcard, would I lose any of this, and no. 2... how the heck do you connect a 5 speaker system anyway? I'm confused now, what ports do they go into / what outputs are needed for a speaker system? Oh, and what's S/PDIF used for anyway? I understand it's digital, but, for what? And I also sometines see "coaxial" and "optical." Are they all the same? different?

unless you're creating surround sound projects in sonar then you don't need anything more than stereo output. the 6 ports and sub out are for 7.1 which you probably are NOT going to be using - you're likely only using 2 channels and if you do get a sub for your system you can hook it up directly to the stereo output anyway. so if you want 7.1 output for gaming or home theater from your computer you can continue to use those outputs for that, but use the new soundcard for creating your projects in sonar.

coaxial digital and optical digital are two different things and if you don't have anything to connect to it then they are useless to you anyway. they are means to send signals which have already been converted from analog to digital through your system. unless you're using an external converter which has an output of coaxial or optical digital then you'll never need it.

Oh - and if you ARE planning on creating 5.1 or 7.1 in sonar - you're not going to do it with a $100 soundcard. sorry. you'll need something with a lot more outputs and those are more expensive.

And I think I need Producer edition to do surround, right?

My reason for wanting 5.1 outputs is not for the music, more for movies or maybe gaming. It's not a big deal though, if I need higher end cards, then yeah, forget it.

yeah I have no clue about coax and optical... the only coax I know is TV cable, so yeah, probably don't care about it.

that's OK - you can still use your 5.1, 6.1 whatever system you have on your motherboard for gaming and movies and use the new recording soundcard in sonar only.

and no, the coax is not for cable - it's for digital audio, but again, if you don't have an external converter to send coaxial digital to your system then it's useless to you (as it will be for probably 99% of people who have computers with it on the system!).

hehe ok. Yeah, when I talked about still being able to use my onboard aduio, I did not mean at same time.

Am I just looking for a regular sound card then? I looked at the other products listed in your review... all the firewire and USB stuff seem to be recording stuff. With strange big plus-sign like connctions and mic inputs and referenes to guitars and stuff.

PCI stuff seems to be great, looks like sound card + some extea inputs, and a card plus midi would be nice to allow me to free up a USB. But they're all old PCI and not PCIe.

So, regular sound card then? I know there's Creative...isn't there another big company too?