just how bad are MME drivers?

[beherenow]

I need to add audio Line In to my laptop which only has a mic in. My question is whether the following sounds like a good plan.System specs should be in my signature. I need to keep the cost waaay down.

1) For now, get the very cheap Edirol UA-1A. **All I want to do at the moment is record my LPs into digital format. ** (I have Sonar and Nero for doing this.) The possible drawback is, it has only MME drivers which I hear are far inferior to WDM, ASIO, etc.

2) In 6 months or a year, get a FireWire audio interface when lower-end devices show up and the price goes down. I know I won't be doing any live-instrument or MIDI recording until then (due to other activities).

If I had to, I could get an M-Audio Audiophile or Duo or Quatro now, but it seems a safe bet that eventually there'll be something like them, but with FireWire rather than USB, before too long.

thanks much

Richard

[TeeCee]

I've not heard good things about M-Audio's USB audio devices and compatibility.

First, I will assume that you want to get your records on audio CDs. For what you are doing, I would check to see that the Edirol device can record at 24 bits. If it can, then it will handle your task nicely. MME is not good for things like latency, typically, and I have a feeling that MME will not do more that 16 bits, but I could be wrong about that. Latency won't affect what you are trying to do.

I suggest recording at 24 bits so you can leave some head room while recording, correct any issues with the recordings (like pops), normalize the recording, dither to 16 bits, and put it on a CD.

I don't expect that you'l have fun getting this done in SONAR and Nero. I would recommend that you look into a stereo file editor like Sound Forge or Wavelab.

[beherenow]

Well, the Edirol UA-1A is 16 bit, not 24. But... I wonder if I'll hear the difference, given that most of the LPs I'll be recording are beat-up 70s soul records with a frequency and dynamic range well below CDs, and I doubt I'll have the time to get involved with EQ or noise/click/pop reduction. I definitely won't be recording, say, pristine von Karajan orchestral LPs with wide dynamic range.

[TeeCee]

Well, it's all your compromise. For what you want, the Edirol should be fine. But if you heard the difference in a cleaned up recording, you might change your mind. At least do yourself a favor and buy some Gruv Glide vinyl cleaner.

[guitarjoe]

you'll notice - the 24 bit is much better and you can dither inside of sonar.