When you are ready to record music or other material at home, there are many choices out there for hardware. The first step to choosing the right sound card is to make a list of the things you know you need from the hardware and the operation of the sound card software.
It is top rated. A higher sampling rate will result in better sound quality. Most professional recordings start at a 24 bit sampling rate and then after mastering the sampling rate is converted to 16 bit. Start with a higher sampling rate, and then switch to a lower one for the best sound. it is retained in the last revolution. CD quality is set at a standard rate of 16 bits, 44.1 KHz. You ask yourself if that’s enough for the tables. This is, but starting with a higher rate and converting it, it submits heavier highs and deeper in the final conversion, because of the increased bias that a higher sampling rate can provide. Every professional recording-studio”>studio starts with a high sampling rate and then converts to CD quality for production and distribution. Even a low quality MP3 file will sound much better if it is converted from high resolution to high sampling rate.
AD/DA converters (Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog) are also important to consider. The quality of converters and the amount of programming that goes into their construction can have a big effect on your final product. If you are considering using higher sampling rates you will want to include the best converters in your selection. Most high-end sound cards will have excellent converters, but a little online research will help you choose AD/DA converter options.
The inputs and outputs on the card will vary. In-board sound cards that ship with most home counters will have one or two at best. If you plan on using a large memory band, you want to have lots of inputs and outputs available. Some drummers will use up to eight takes to capture the subtle nuances of each drum or cymbal. The more inputs you have the better the tempo, the later you’ll have over each sound at mix-down time. There can be two or more outputs depending on your needs. If you mix your tracks locally (on your computer), you only need two but if you want to send each track to an external recording device, you may want to consider more.
Connections to your computer and hardware sound cards are typically one of three ways which are PCI, Firewire and USB. Each type of link has its own advantages. An on-board (PCI) sound card may suffer from a sound fan or CPU depending on your computer system. They have some filters to protect them from so much noise and interference. USB and Firewire devices connect from the USP or FIrewire connection and sit next to the computer a few feet away but may suffer latency problems. Latency is a problem for all digital sound cards unless you configure them to run in ASIO mode. Even in ASIO mode you’ll have about a thousand second delay or less. This slow music can’t be a flow but the speed, the perfect songs that require this perfect to cause problems. The good thing about the above cards and software is that the latency is edited later in the mixed process and removed.
If you cover these basic areas when considering a sound card, you will be happy with your purchase and the hardware should meet or exceed your needs. Some sound cards come with software that can convert files from .wav to MP3 or other file formats. This can be useful if you want to sell high quality CD files or quality MP3 files for streaming or downloading. Always make sure that you record your material as best as possible and when you mix it to other formats, you will retain much of the original quality that you had in the higher resolution.
