Advice on Sound Card Upgrade

[Liam Nixon]

If I were to buy a new sound card for my laptop, what would be a good one?

 

I am currently using RealTek, which REALLY sucks. I'm also using Vista Home Premium 32 Bit (which kind of sucks). I plan on pretty much gutting it, but I'm not sure what to get and I figure a new sound card/interface wouldn't be a bad place to start. Suggestions?

[goldear]

Google your laptop model along with sound card, audio interface, audio daw, etc and look for info specific to your configuration. Also, throw in words like ground loop, usb, firewire, what ever type card slot expansion you have. Go to the interface makers forums that you are considering and check for laptop related issues.And, use the search function for this forum.

[jchas]

I just installed a couple Echo Audiofire 12's and am pretty happy with their performance. We had a couple issues at first, but they were fairly easy to correct/work around. The smaller Audiofire units (2,4,8) have a couple inputs with preamps onboard and are very reasonably priced. I paid around $550 for each of the 12's.

There's a nice FAQ section at the EchoAudio site which tells you what OS and firewire cards work best (as well as worst) with their products.

[oldnewbie]

How many inputs do you need? (What will you be recording?)

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

Google your laptop model along with sound card, audio interface, audio daw, etc and look for info specific to your configuration. Also, throw in words like ground loop, usb, firewire, what ever type card slot expansion you have. Go to the interface makers forums that you are considering and check for laptop related issues.And, use the search function for this forum.

 

 

EXCELLENT advice! ALWAYS check the computer specs and the sound card and DAW software manufacturers websites for system requirements, compatibility issues, etc BEFORE purchasing anything.

 

Vista has a reputation as a bit of a "problem child" OS, and a lot of people have decided to stick with XP for as long as possible - myself included. Some computer systems can run either OS, but if you're going to buy a laptop that comes with Vista pre-installed, make sure it has XP drivers available for everything if you're considering using XP instead.

[Phil O'Keefe]

How many inputs do you need? (What will you be recording?)

 

Good question - we really do need more information before we can make appropriate audio interface recommendations.

[Liam Nixon]

Haha! Honestly, I probably won't be able to do anything with this computer the way it is. Especially since I like recording bands live (at least 8 inputs). It's a Toshiba A-205 Satellite, which I wouldn't have bought myself, but it was an out-of-the-blue gift. As I said, I'll probably just have to gut it. I'm already having problems with the cheap components. I had to download a news driver for the CD Drive (Google Mat{censored}a CD Drive).

 

Besides, it's not like I've got the money now anyway.

 

Thanks for the advice, though! Much appreciated.

[WRGKMC]

You need to go external Firewire (If you have a firewire port) or USB if you have a USB2.0. I've never seen 8 channel cards for home laptops. Even good stereo cards that do better than 44.1 may be tough to find.