OFF: Seeking soundcard advice

[Stephen Swann]

On Sat, 8 Feb 1997, Alex S. Garcia wrote:

> >I think it may be worth considering the AWE32. It is a resonable price, and
> it has the
> >facility to alter wave files into what is known as SoundFonts. You can also
> have up to
> >28megs of memory on the card.
>
> Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of first, but then someone told us it
> only used midi input/output, while we'd also need digital (for the vocals).

I recommend posting your query about soundcards to the
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.audio newsgroup.  You'll in all likelihood get
some much more informed advice there.

>From reading that group, I wouldn't recommend the AWE for any kind of use
except maybe playing games (and for that purpose the SB16 is more
compatible across-the-board, as well as cheaper).   For any kind
of professional audio, the AWE is considered to be (a) too badly
shielded from random electronic noise in the computer and (b) to
have a really lousy built in wave table.

> >He could also look at the Yamaha DB50XG Daughterboard, which can be added
> to any
> >soundcard, has 4megs of memory, and comes with about 700 instruments.
>
> This might be interesting as a complement, indeed, but it has to be added to
> a soundcard already in place, right ? I suppose it's compatible with just
> any kind of soundcard ?

Like I said, if your friend is planning to use the card for any serious
purpose (music, professional audio, etc), then there are any number of
very good cards out there - the best thing to do is go to the newsgroup,
and read what the musicians and audio professionals (there are many
reading and posting to that newsgroup) have to say.

Steve
swann at panix.com