oh...sorry. I thought that's what you meant when you said "then my advice is to get the better soundcard. if you're measuring it by sound then the only way to solve that is to get a better soundcard with better drivers."

Sorry, this is all just very lost and totally confusing to me. A soundcard to me is... a PCI or PCIe soundcard; anything else just doesn't register on me as a soundcard, partly because they seem to be called audio interfaces and recording interfaces and I don't see anything about say, midi processing.

And yes, I had seen the fast track, sorry, I forgot about it when writing my last post, so yeah, that's obviously most likely the one i'd go with.


So, let me get this straight....clearly then. My latency issue is midi input. In fact, I have no idea what other kinds of latency one can have, but mine is midi; the delay between a note being hit on keyboard, and being recorded in Sonar. This fasttrack would solve that?

also, Sonar / any soft synths and my realtek drivers aren't working with each other (no playback, no audio), which is why I need to buy something. The fasttrack would also solve that, and get me ASIO drivers?

That's all I'm concerned about. The inputs on the fasttrack would be useless to me.

I have seen no answer or proof to that from reading product descriptions which is another reason why I'm confused, and I'm having to go just by what you guys say.

again, please excuse my difficulty in understnading all this. technical audio hardware stuffs just really not my area at all. <.<

Ok - so the confusion seems to be that you don't understand that a soundcard doesn't have to be INSIDE the computer! what we have here is failure to communicate! all of the devices wheter PCI, PCIe, USB, Firewire or Cardbus are all soundcards. they CAN replace your onboard soundcard (which is actually only a chip on the motherboard).

As for proof that a new soundcard will reduce your latency. no, I don't have it and I'm sure it's documented somewhere but I don't really have time to go search for it. I have experience with this and that's what I'm giving you advice with. I have used 2 soundblasters in the past - one was a PCI and the other was a USB. neither provided low latency. there are some on the market NOW which do, but they're more expensive that the gaming cards. I purchased a recording soundcard (the m-audio Delta44 PCI) and I can record with latency at 5.8msec. some folks can get lower than that with better (READ: more expensive) soundcards.

In your case, my best recommendation is still the m-audio fast track. it's not the best, but it should provide you with low latency hardware and drivers to run your softsynths with. I still do NOT recommend you plug it into a USB hub, however, but that you unplug something while you're using it. USB hubs typically will cause problems.

ok, awesome, I think I understand now. Sorry if I've been a pain. and yes I wouuld not use a hub on it; i'd use it to plug in other stuff. Thank you very much. :)

sp3tre,

a couple of things. A soundcard is what is what we usually call any internal or external unit to get sound into and out of the computer. Nonmusicians use the term almost specifically for a pci card or - more common these days - just built into a motherboard like the realtek. There is a lot of history there, which is of no use to anyone but those of us who lived through it. Musicians call audio and audio/interfaces a soundcard out of habit - a bad one. Most aren't cards - only the internal ones that hook up to a slot. They range from gamer cards to high quality Lynx to cards without buit in convertors but get digital audio in and out of your computer to high-end, external convertors.

Motherboard cards and gaming cards are OK for listening - but they often don't work well with softsynths. They don't have the drivers to deliver low latency when the computer is busy calculating a mini-moog emulation. That is one reason why musicians are emphatic about getting a music specific card, esp. if the price is the same at the low end. Now, I used to use an audigy too, and it worked OK - but that was before I was running softsynths. The computer is still used by my daughter and plays music fine - but the computer and the card would choke when I applied any more than one or two effects.

If you want low latency, your best bet is to pick up fast track or Transit, etc. You will probably need adaptor cables to hook them up to your computer speakers (not the transit, which is 1/8' minjack i/o like your speakers), but they should deliver lower latency than an internal gaming pci -e card. As such, they will operate as an external soundcard for all your regular computer needs (warning beeps, games, and music listening) and an audio interface for your writing. You'll have to turn that on in your Control Panel>Sound Devices (or hardware - I forget). There is really no practical difference between a soundcard and audio interface for your purposes - they are the same thing. But the music specific interfaces will perform better for your music needs.

cool, thanks a bunch you two, Beagle, AT, and the others who replied to my topic.

my local best buy has the Fast track, so I'm going to get it and make sure it works for me. Regardless, I'll mostly likely return it and get it online or off ebay, where I'm seeing some really good deals. Could end up even getting the fast track PRO ofr under $100, we'll see.

so now to look for some speakers....

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Edirol-MA7A-Stereo-Micro-Monitors?sku=603677

that's really all I could recommed for a total budget of $200. $100 for the fast track, $100 for the monitors.

Blood of Dorga!

no wonder I was kinda of confused when people talked about monitors....they're a type of speakers??? wow.

Well, already did a bit of research...if I'm understanding it correctly, typical multimedia speaker trying to make audio sound as good as possible, while monitors try to output sound as accurately as possible so that I can hear exactly what it sounds like, for the best chance of other people hearing it the way I want it to sound.

It threw me off when I see.. a tiny... 2 speakers set for $100. so much for my idea for 5.1 surround speakers. but my games isn't a priority of course. I think I understand now it's monitors I need. Really though, they can give accurate bass? By producing overtones and we can't tell the difference? I would have thought tha's technobabble!

Thanks for the reccomendation. Are there many options for monitors around that price? If I'm lucky, I could get the fastrack pretty cheap on ebay, so I could be able to spend a little bit more for speakers - er, monitors. I already had a separate bit of money planned for speakers, so you can consider my soundcard budget as the budget for monitors too; about $150. If there may be many suggestions, I'll just make a new topic for more people to see, don't worry about it. You've been a big help and I thank you and greatly appreciate it; don't want to leave you as the only one i'm picking suggestions and too much help from.

well, they can give decent bass. honestly I believe you need AT LEAST 6" woofers (and preferably 8") to get decent bass, but those are out of your price range.

honestly there aren't many in that price range. typically there's $100 to $150 then you jump to $250 to $400 then $500 to $1000 and then there are the $1000+ range. I started out with M-audio DX-4's in the $150 range then moved up to behringer truth 2301A's for $330. the behringers are the only ones in this class with 8" woofers.

here's a starting point to start researching:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/navigation/studio-monitors-subwoofers-recording-pro-audio?N=100001+338382&Ns=P_Price%7c0&rpp=20

be careful to notice that some of those are price for EACH, not for a pair.
also be careful to notice that you will need ACTIVE monitors, NOT passive. you can only use passive if you have an external amp. you COULD use passive if you have an external amp and those will be cheaper.