[Newbis2]

Hi,
A friend of mine mentioned that one thing that can impact the acoustic quality of recordings on ones computer is the sound card. Presumably, the one that comes with the computer is probably not as good as what one could buy to upgrade it. The question is whether only PCI sound cards will serve the purpose of making better digital recordings, or if external sound cards are also an option.

I've seen online a lot of USB sound cards that are pretty inexpensive. Even better would be a PCMCIA sound card so as not to take up the few USB ports that are available.

Does anyone have experience with these or know if they're worth it? Or is a desktop computer basically the only option for high-quality sound recordings?

Thanks,
-Jonathan

[stevel]

Newbis2, on 14 March 2011, said:

Hi,
A friend of mine mentioned that one thing that can impact the acoustic quality of recordings on ones computer is the sound card. Presumably, the one that comes with the computer is probably not as good as what one could buy to upgrade it. The question is whether only PCI sound cards will serve the purpose of making better digital recordings, or if external sound cards are also an option.

I've seen online a lot of USB sound cards that are pretty inexpensive. Even better would be a PCMCIA sound card so as not to take up the few USB ports that are available.

Does anyone have experience with these or know if they're worth it? Or is a desktop computer basically the only option for high-quality sound recordings?

Thanks,
-Jonathan

Jonathan, it's true that the stock soundcard may be of poor quality.

FWIW, no computer is as good as a stand-alone piece of recording gear for high-quality recordings.

But tell me, what is it exactly you're trying to do - are you trying to record acoustic sound sources with a microphone, or are you going to be using synthesized sound samples to play back music?

Steve