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theoria
Location: USA
Posts: 11
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 Posted - Thu Jul 24, 2003 10:04 am
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Hello,
I'm considering purchasing a new sound card (currently using an
Ensoniq PCI w/XP running on an 1GHz AMD w/256MB RAM). I'd like
to have 4-channel inputs. I noticed the Echo Mia has 8 out, but
only 2 inputs. Do most people just stack cards to get 4 inputs?
Oh yeah...I'd like to spend less than $250 if possible.
Thanks for any responses or pointers to other threads that already
cover this!
Thanks!
+Steve
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Robert Livingston
Location: Canada
Posts: 14
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Posted - Thu Jul 24, 2003 10:38 am
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"Event One" makes a nice multi-channel recorder. Comes with an external mixer board and fiber optic link to a PCI interface card. Looks like a good idea to keep the noise figure low in an external box, but with a higher transfer interface rate, once in a digital form. Also, physical input level controls are available. I just wish that it had proper studio quality XLR connectors on all channels, not just one and the rest at 1/4" phone jack.
But then the dream may cost $1K+
I sometimes wonder if there are channel delay issues with external sound modules though!
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Bruce
Posts: 87
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Posted - Thu Jul 24, 2003 12:04 pm
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You can also look for the recently discontinued Echo Mona audio interface. It has four balanced mic(phantom power)/line inputs via XLR or balanced/unbalanced 1/4" TRS/TS, and six balanced/unbalanced analog outputs (XLR/RCA Phono). Additionally it has 2 channels of S/PDIF i/o and 8 channels of Optical ADAT i/o. I've seen them go fairly cheaply on ebay (e.g. ebay item # 2547328977).
The great thing about the Echo cards is that most have the ADAT interface which means that gaining an additional 8 channels of i/o is as easy as adding a converter like the Alesis AI3. I'm always wondering why folks here are always adding a second Layla24 to get an additional 8 channels when they already have those channels built into their cards. 
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theoria
Location: USA
Posts: 11
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Posted - Fri Jul 25, 2003 12:05 pm
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| Bruce wrote: |
You can also look for the recently discontinued Echo Mona audio interface. It has four balanced mic(phantom power)/line inputs via XLR or balanced/unbalanced 1/4" TRS/TS, and six balanced/unbalanced analog outputs (XLR/RCA Phono). Additionally it has 2 channels of S/PDIF i/o and 8 channels of Optical ADAT i/o. I've seen them go fairly cheaply on ebay (e.g. ebay item # 2547328977).
The great thing about the Echo cards is that most have the ADAT interface which means that gaining an additional 8 channels of i/o is as easy as adding a converter like the Alesis AI3. I'm always wondering why folks here are always adding a second Layla24 to get an additional 8 channels when they already have those channels built into their cards.
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theoria
Location: USA
Posts: 11
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Posted - Fri Jul 25, 2003 12:05 pm
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| Bruce wrote: |
You can also look for the recently discontinued Echo Mona audio interface. It has four balanced mic(phantom power)/line inputs via XLR or balanced/unbalanced 1/4" TRS/TS, and six balanced/unbalanced analog outputs (XLR/RCA Phono). Additionally it has 2 channels of S/PDIF i/o and 8 channels of Optical ADAT i/o. I've seen them go fairly cheaply on ebay (e.g. ebay item # 2547328977).
The great thing about the Echo cards is that most have the ADAT interface which means that gaining an additional 8 channels of i/o is as easy as adding a converter like the Alesis AI3. I'm always wondering why folks here are always adding a second Layla24 to get an additional 8 channels when they already have those channels built into their cards.
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theoria
Location: USA
Posts: 11
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Bruce
Posts: 87
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Posted - Fri Jul 25, 2003 2:27 pm
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Lots of people have problems with Behringer's business practices (illegally reverse engineering competitors products), but this unit, on the face of it, looks to be a great buy.
I'm sorry I can't help you with these sound card choices. One's just a Mackie board add-on and the other I have no real knowledge of and I'm not sure if it's even Windows XP compatible. But thanks for the Behringer converter tip. I might pick one up to pair with a MOTU 828. 
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theoria
Location: USA
Posts: 11
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Posted - Fri Jul 25, 2003 3:36 pm
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what interface card do you use w/CEP? The MOTU looks pretty cool!
Do you use this w/CEP?
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Bruce
Posts: 87
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Posted - Fri Jul 25, 2003 9:26 pm
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I use a variety of audio adapters and I've been using some flavor of Cool Edit with all of them since around 1991-2. There are some other very good software tools out there that I use, but CEP is usually the first one I reach for.
I do like the MOTU and the new MKII version also has Midi and is 24/96 as opposed to the original's 24/48. The 828MKII goes for around $750 and the original 828's been on ebay pretty regularly for $450-500. You can also use multiple 828s of either variety on a single computer--though you'll probably run out of bandwidth on the FireWire bus after three. ;)
I also use Layla24s, Darla24, LynxOne, Tascam US-448/224s, or whatever happens to be at the venue where I'm working. Basically, any audio adapter that you can get to work with your computer is CEP compatible.
8)
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theoria
Location: USA
Posts: 11
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Posted - Sat Jul 26, 2003 11:17 am
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Bruce,
Do you have an opinion of the C-Port system? I think it's coming
down to this or or something by Frontier. I'm a little leery of
the MOTU boxes b/c of all the support horror stories I've heard.
The C-Port system seems to get me everything I'll need to get
going w/8-channels (w/2 mic preamps -- I have a mixer w/4 mic preamps already btw) at a real good price. Also, people on this board who
have purchased a C-Port seem to speak quite highly of it.
Thanks!
+Steve
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Bruce
Posts: 87
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Posted - Sat Jul 26, 2003 1:43 pm
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Sorry, I don't know anything about the C-Port as the basic card falls into the "prosumer" catagory (unbalanced analog i/o) though there seems to be some pro interface options. Someone else will have to chime in here about it.
8)
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SteveG
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6695
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Posted - Sun Jul 27, 2003 12:52 pm
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| theoria wrote: |
I noticed the Echo Mia has 8 out, but
only 2 inputs. Do most people just stack cards to get 4 inputs?
Oh yeah...I'd like to spend less than $250 if possible. |
Just a couple of points - if you use an external S/PDIF converter, like an M-audio Duo, the Mia is a four-input card. And those eight outputs are virtual ones (pretty useful sometimes, as it happens), but by the same method that you can have four simultaneous inputs, you can also have four simultaneous outputs; you just use an external S/PDIF to audio converter.
And yes, you can stack Mias. Well, two certainly!
_________________
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rEs
Posts: 1
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Posted - Tue Jul 29, 2003 5:16 am
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Although I'm using a RME Hammerfall 9652 + 01v, a colleague is using the MAudio Omni-66. Sounds good and has a built in mixer, though I'm not sure of its capabilities.
I'm currently checking out the CEP demo, fantastic so far.
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4-channel input sound card recommendations?