setting up a daw

[aadair]

I'm trying to set up a daw and I need a little help! I bought a p4 1.4 with 256 ram and I'm wondering what kind of break out box I need to record. Do I need to spend the cash to get a motu 828 or can I get by with an m audio quatro?
In the short term I'm trying to get the midi interface working- I had a hosa cable attatched to the soundb;aster port of the old comp and it worked fine- but i can't get the new sound card to work with it. None of my programs regester the midi input and I've been through and through the control panel looking for a setting for midi imput and I can't find one. Can I put the older sound blaster in the new machine and run two cards?
thanks for the help
aadair

[AcousticPro]

Aadair,

That's a lot of questions all at once with very little information that will help us help you. Do you need to spend the cash on a MOTU 828 or use an MAudio... what type of quality do you want? What type of audio work are you doing? Why you can't the current card that you have to work is another question. What type of operating system are you running? What were you running before? Do you have the drivers if it's changed? Lots of implied questions...

[aadair]

the new operating system is 2000- the old was 98 - it's a different card and machine- I was just hoping to use it to trigger some native instruments soft synths and do some sequencing until I can purchase a good interface. I can always put ther old soundblaster card into the new machine- but i think the newer card is better- can I run both of them and choose which apps use which card?
on the interface front I'd like as mush quality as I can get- I looked at the advark q10(?) and the 828 and wondered if the quality was the issue or the numbners of imputs. In the past I've used a roland vs880- that I loved but resented roland locking me into their platform with no way to integrate any of the software out there.I do mostly techno type recording with synths, bass, guitar and some live drums. But it's a one man situation not as if I'm recording a band and need many outputs. I'd like something with midi and am considering a mac down the line. I know the aardvark isn't compatable with the macs and the 828 doesn't have midi....
What is the difference in performance between firewire and a pcmia card and or usb? I've heard firewire is excelkent, but that usb audio has come a long way.
thanks for your time
aadair

[AcousticPro]

Several questions here to answer... WIN2000 tends to be a little hard on occassion to set up with some hardware. If you get it set up right though it's very stable. You can allocate which programs use which card depending on the drivers for the card and how they interface with Windows. There are several differences between the Q10 and the 828. MOTU is a Mac company mainly and if you're running on a PC then I would recommend going with the Aardvark. I don't think it makes much sense to resent Roland for "locking" you into anything. They don't force people to purchase things and for song writers, not having to integrate with software can be a blessing. Everything you need in order to record good audio is in the box. Not to mention that it probably would have had to cost more if you were able to integrate it with more software. (Don't forget that Logic does integrate any missing aspects to a Roland recorder) Aardvark will be compatible with Mac very, very soon so I wouldn't let that stop you from getting into it either. The quality and flexibility are exceptional and it does indeed have MIDI. I'm not sure who told you it doesn't...

The performance difference between firewire and PCMCIA is simply bandwith. How much information you can get "down the pipe". USB is basically capable of about 4-8 channels total from what I have seen, without making the performance terrible and quality sacrifice. Hope this helps...

[MorturaryMan]

I am using a Q10 and must say I am very happy. The card works great and sounds even better!