Firewire or PCI?

[regandjuk]

Hi - I'm currently trying to decide between getting a PCI or Firewire Soundcard for my new pc - up until recently I'd been sharing a friends but now due to a new job etc I can afford to get my own properly set up. I'm having a hard time deciding on the pro's/ con's of each way of doing it though.

I'm probably going for an audiophile firewire or Delta 44 (both m-audi) although I was tempted by the Emu 1212. Any recommendations? I'd also like to run my speakers off RCA connections as that's what they run off at the moment. If anyone's got any recommendations as to why I should switch I'd be intersted to listen. I'm not going to be recording from lines in etc, I'll be producing - mixing samples and using a bunch of synths and pads on the pc

I've also found out that my pc's got MCE2005 installed :( which sucks - it seems from the posts on site that this may render whatever I do irrelevant?

thanks for all your help in advance :)

[TimOBrien]

Just Doesn't Matter.

I've used PCI soundcards and now I'm using a (Motu828mkII) firewire interface.

They both work, everything gets recorded.

Big advantage with Firewire is that it is just ONE cable connected to the computer and you can easily swap computers or devices without opening up the PC. Other than that there is no "advantage" to either one anymore.

[terry]

I could be totally wrong, but I think fire wire puts less of a load on your cpu. Plus with fire wire option if you decide to go the laptop way you can. But not with a sound card. One last thing if in the future you will be looking for a mixer they have some really great fire wire combo ones that include the sound card. the only draw back for it is you really have to watch what fire wire card you use. the only recommended one are with ti chips

[scottdemarko]

I always lean towards firewire as they are easy to install, they are fast, they are efficient, bandwidth is ample for mosts applications and interfaces, and did I say simple? Not that installing a PCI card is that difficult but firewire is the ultimate plug and play. Typically all you need to do is plug in the cable, install the software and record.


The limitation of the 2 units you selected aren't the way the hook up to the computer... The Delta has more 1/4 inputs, but no XLR inputs. The audiophile also does not have XLR inputs. So it would depend more upon what type of stuff you are planning on recording. If I were looking to use mics for recording vocals etc. then I would look at the Firewire Solo (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FirewireSolo/) or the Presonus Inspire (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Inspire1394/) in this price range.

[atma]

in my experience you'll get a better signal to noise ratio using a firewire interface (running on it's own a/c adapter) over PCI, simply because the PC power supply will tend to leak electromagnetic interference into PCI cards that derive power from it (and are in close proximity to it). i'd go for the presonus firebox over the m-audio interface.

[tech1]

By the way, one thing that no one has addressed yet is Media Center. M-Audio does NOT support any of their products in Media Center ( http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=24dfdfc72b87a76e44bb230c809fef0c ). The E-MU interfaces are also generally unsupported on MCE. Your best bet, before you make any other decisions, is to get yourself XP Home or professional.