Need some advice on a new soundcard

[MuddyBucket]

Hello all. I'm trying to build up a small home recording setup that can hopefully acheive somewhat professional results. I figure I should put my money into decent gear that allows me to grow. After ample consideration I've decided against getting the Mbox. The preamps weren't enough to make it worth it and the latency issues seemed to troublesome. I'm in the market for a good sound card. I figure that with a decent mixer and a decent soundcard I can't go wrong. So what I need is some models I should be checking out. Expansion is key and I'd like to be able to utilize ASIO capabilities. Even some advice on some key elements that I should be looking for would be great. Sorry for the long and lame request, but it's been a long time since I've had to buy a sound card.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.

[dpd]

Anything you do native is going to have latency issues.

That said, the Lynx cards are pretty nice, but you still have to buy preamps. I wouldn't plug a mic into a sound card plugged into a PC if someone was holding a gun to my head.

Make sure as hell you have a stable PC holding it all together. Sweetwater's Creation Station systems are designed for that. (I wrote a spec for an audio PC for my radio station studios and the top Creation Station units matched or exceeded every requirement)

However, I really doubt you are going to achieve somewhat professional results. The pro studios are called that for a reason.

[brenny]

Hai...DPD....WHAT U SAID IS RIGHT...

[Tommy-boy]

What DAW software will you be using? Other software components?

For good ASIO performance, RME is the best. They have a deep lineup of cards, some with converters, and some without.

[michaelhoddy]

Lynx is great. Good quality, and great sound for a PCI card. RME is also a good choice.

[elsteve9]

DPD, what do you mean "anything you do native is going to have some latency issues?"

What do you mean by 'native?'

-Stephen

[xstatic]

Native in general ius a program that relies on soundcards and the OS to calculate latencies. Pro Tools HD does enough stuff out of the box to greatly change the way latency affects you:)

That is a very basic description of "native", but hopefully it helps:)

[Justin]

On a native system, the host computer is doing the heavy lifting. It handles all the audio manipulation.

There are other systems, like ProTools HD where hardware cards do all the work processing and the computer is mainly there to provide the storage, power, and display capabilities for the processing cards.