Sound Blaster Usb Audio Interface

[Brayan Sedillo]

Ithought that maybe I could use JACK to work its magic and allow me to hear everything, but I didn't put any hope into that since I had never gotten JACK to do anything worthwhile before. Nonetheless, I tried.

Since I saw in audacity that the name of my interface was hw:3 (why is it called hw, in any case?), through which I could record my guitar, but not listen it, I tried to change JACK's Interface drop-down menu setting to hw:3 as well; I couldn't, because it wasn't there.

I want to plug in my guitar, record it using LMMS while hearing the rest of the song through my speakers and monitoring my guitar using the headphone jack on the audio interface. Is that too much to ask?

I am using FL Studio on my Desktop computer (i5 processor, 8 GB RAM on Windows 10) for Music Production that has an on-board Sound Card (inbuilt sound card). I have read on few forums that having an external sound card produces better sound quality and output as compared to internal (onboard sound card). Is this correct ? Also, some people advise that I should buy an audio interface instead of a sound card as audio interface also has its own sound card. I am bit confused on this matter. Should I buy a sound card OR an audio interface to improve my output quality ? and Which one should I buy ? Can anyone please advise.

A (internal) sound card and an (external) audio interface are basically the same thing technically, just in a different format - so it's not correct to say in general that an external sound card produces better sound quality (though in particular cases, it may be true).

Also, are you ever recording live instruments, or using your computer to perform live? If not, and you are doing most of your production within fl-studio, it's possible to make excellent quality music on a computer with a terrible soundcard, because the sound card doesn't need to have any bearing on the final rendered output.

Years ago, the onboard sound of a computer was limited to warning beeps (though you could sometimes cheat even this into outputting recognisable though lo-fi music). So you put a SoundBlaster into one of the motherboard slots.

Then computers started having onboard sound chips that weren't too bad. Coupled with a pair of nasty plastic "computer speakers" they would play music and the sound effects of games etc. quite well enough for general use.

Then "computer as the centre of a Home Theatre system" came along. Onboard sound moved up a notch. As well as having multiple outputs for surround sound, the general audio quality improved. Adding a specialist "audio interface" (which by now, after a flirtation with Firewire which must now be considered obsolete, are generally external USB devices) made a difference, but not a huge one.

If you know what audio latency is, and it's an issue in your music-making, you should consider an add-on interface. If you want to record from microphones, or to more than one track at once, you'll need one.

Note that if you construct music on your computer, export a wav file and burn it to CD, the quality of your sound card is irrelevant. And if you distribute your work as MP3 and can't hear the quality difference between this and the original WAV, you're unlikely to hear the quality difference between the onboard audio of a modern computer and an expensive interface.

You should go for ab interface as its quality of sound is much better not because of the sound card but because of evrything it does like zero latency , frequency check. If you use your inbuilt soundcard it will crash sometime soon u might have to reset your device every now and then.its better to use audio interface. Go for presonus audio box or focusrite scarlett. Also m audio is fine. But i would suggest all the audio interfaces work almost the same accept alesis. It is not good. So buy and save money .

How is the sound data getting into your computer? You will need microphones, preamplifiers, D/A converters. Preamplifiers in internal soundcards usually are non-existent (if there is a dedicated microphone input at all, it relies on electret condenser capsule preamplification) or pretty bad. Also, stuff carrying the label "soundcard" usually only has asymmetric input which has limited noise shielding properties, and internal sound cards cannot be significantly shielded from electromagnetic disturbances in the computer case. It also has to rely on the internal power supply of the computer and there is limited space for components blocking noise from the power supply lines.

For studio quality stuff, there are combined microphone preamps and D/A converters with Firewire interface (USB is also available but is a lot more vague with latency management and bandwidth guarantees, so at the very least keep off USB/Midi devices, mice, keyboards and similar from the same USB bus). They are not exactly cheap.

Hand-held recorders have limited quality (still usually better than built-in sound cards) but are great for a quick test take without having to connect a lot of equipment. In particular since their preamps tend to render the use of external microphones, even where inputs are available, pointless if you aim to reduce noise that way.

But of course, with such a hand recorder (which usually can double as a sound card if you don't record to flash storage) you don't need a better sound card since they deliver digital material right away. When they offer 24bit recording it is usually pointless since the lower 8 bits end up as noise anyway.

If latency is an issue and you are shredding metal at 180 bpm and you want the clearest, most absolutely impeccable recording with only 1 to 3, maybe four interface inputs, then spend a lot of money and time on a sound card setup. Get a really fast machine upgrade while you're at it$$$. Or, for about 1/5 of the money pickup an external interface with many inputs. I use 18 for drums, two mics, guitar (s/pdif), and a couple other inputs for drum machines, loopers, etc... It all depends on what you are trying to do, but I would not spend the money on a sound card that provides the input/output versatility of an external interface... Scarlett 18i comes to mind. I would take the money I saved from buying an external interface and invest it in computing power.

I just bought myself a new condenser microphone with a phantom power with it. Hooked it up on my computer everything is fine... but then i realise that i could use my POD X3 Live as an external sound card maybe? So I plugged my POD x3 live to the PC then plugged my microphone in via "Aux in" input (maybe that's the problem, my cable that goes from my phantom power is a XLR to 3.5mm jack, maybe if a buy another XLR cable and then plug in microphone input my problem will be solved?!) and also plugged my headphones on the POD x3 live.

I'm wondering, if i plug my condenser microphone to my phantom power, then my phantom power to my pod x3 live with XLR cable in microphone input, and then in my recording device in windows I make the POD x3 my main recording device, will my microphone work for everything?

You're on the right track. In your PC set the X3 Live as both your playback and recording device. This directs your computer to use the X3 for all audio purposes (including playback from gaming, browsing, etc.), which means everything audio-related should be connected to your X3. This includes your speakers, headphones, microphone, and guitars or other recording instruments. Your computer will send and receive all audio over the USB connection to the X3.

For instance, if you are recording vocals you want to hear the backing tracks in your headphones but you don't want to hear the sound through your speakers because that will also be picked up by the microphone and mixed in the background with your vocal. Also, you don't want to hear the playback of your voice. I haven't done that with the X3 Live in a few years but if my memory serves me correctly I would disconnect my speakers while recording the vocal. At the same time, in my recording program I would turn OFF the software monitoring of the vocal track being recorded. I think (not 100% sure) I would then hear only the backing tracks through my headphones - not my voice.

I'm not sure about other apps. For instance, in group-gaming you want others to hear you via your mic but you don't want to hear yourself in the headphones. Similarly, look for a software monitoring feature in your gaming app and turn it off.

Okay I understand thank you! As I said, I mainly want to use my POD x3 for my microphone so if it doesn't work well i'll just plug my headphones directly on my pc if i'm not recording. And i don't have speakers I only use Headphones.

Here's another hint that may help. I discovered this after about 30 mins one day when the X3 Live outputs suddenly went silent. I was going crazy. What had suddenly changed, and how do I get the sound back?? After wracking my brain I remembered I had vacuumed the dust off the top of the X3 Live the day before this happened. Sure enough, there's a little physical switch that toggles the output mode between Amp and Line levels (or something like that). Apparently it acts as an overall Mute button when positioned exactly in between those left/right toggle positions. That's where my vacuum cleaner left it!!

To be specific, I just got another new macbook pro, which I really want to start using more when I travel. I really dont want to lug around my M-Audio FireWire 410 interface. If I use the built in Core Audio soundcard in the MacBook Pro, am I losing anything in sound or processing power, etc? I'd like to get the Apogee Duet but right now I'm not looking to spend money. So essentially, what is the difference and Advantages/Disadvantages between the built in soundcard in my macbook pro, versus an audio interface, like my FireWire 410?

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