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A must-have! It’s hard to work with digital audio without a good sound card. A sound card is the portal for audio to get to and from your computer. Although your computer likely came with one built in, the quality will be extremely poor compared to a professional card - you will be surprised at how much better your music can sound! Take note that what the "computer" industry and your local computer store considers a "good" soundcard is much inferior to what the "music" industry will consider as acceptable. A professional soundcard will playback any audio generated by your computer - including CDs, recordings, MP3, soft synths and more. A soundcard is also responsible for getting sound into your computer from mics, guitars or line-level devices like tape decks, turntables or MiniDisc. A soundcard can also support various types of surround sound to allow you to get the most out of your games and movies, or surround sound audio such as DVD-A. |
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- Analog Input/Output
- Number of I/O. The number of inputs and outputs required will be different for every buyer. Think about the types of projects you plan to work on then decide how many ins and outs you will need.
- Type of Connection. Sound Cards come with a variety of connection types. The most common connections used by semi-pro and pro cards are: RCA, ¼” TRS, and XLR. Gaming cards and the like usually use the 1/8” headphone jack. It’s nice to have the same type of jacks on all your equipment but it will sometimes be necessary to use adapters or patch bays to connect everything.
- Location. Crawling around the back of your computer to access cables is no fun. Many soundcards include break out boxes that sit on your desktop or are rack-mounted, making it easy to access your connections.
- Bit and Sample Rates
- 16-bit vs. /24-bit. When sound is recorded digitally it is stored as 1 and 0s. Each of these digits is one byte. There are 8 bits in one byte. Therefore, when you use more bits to define a sound the better it will sound. An analogy would be the resolution of a printer: the more dots per inch the better the printed picture will look.
- 44.1/48kHz vs. 96/192kHz. The same idea applies to the sampling rate. In this case the numbers, 44.1, 48, and 96 indicate how many times in one cycle of a sound wave it is being sampled by the computer. A sound recorded at 96kHz has been sampled twice as many times than a 48kHz recording so the result is a more defined digital representation of the sound.
- Signal to Noise Ratio. Quite simply, this is a ratio between the amount of signal and the amount of noise (hum, hiss, etc.) present when recording through the sound card given in dB. The Sound Card manufacturer usually lists the Signal to Noise Ratio in the Sound Card's spec sheet.
- MIDI. Not all Sound Cards include MIDI I/O. A lot of the semi-pro and professional cards tend to be dedicated to analog and digital I/O. If MIDI plays an important part of your projects you may need to look into getting a dedicated MIDI I/O device. Please see our MIDI Interfaces Buyer's Guide for more information.
- Software Bundle. The software bundle is more of a bonus, usually consisting of demos and/or "lite" versions of expensive software. These can be very useful programs or at the very least help you decide which program you might like to shell out more cash for the full version.
- Other Considerations.
- Price. Price may be a deciding point for many buyers. Everyone is looking to get the best card they can afford. Keep in mind that the best sound card for you is not necessarily the most expensive one. We can help you find the card that suits your needs and your budget.
- Expandability. As time passes you may find that your Sound Card suddenly just doesn't cut it any more. For example, let's say you started out using just one stereo source - now you want to do multi-track recording. In this case it is important to know if your card can be expanded or will work with another card to meet your new demands. Many cards can be linked together with one or more of the same card for more inputs.
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 Improving Your Sound
How to get better sound from your computer. | Using Technology to Record Student Performances
Recordings of student performances are effective tools for providing instruction and assessment. Recording individuals, small groups and ensembles can be a motivating learning experience for students. Two methods for quickly and easily creating digital recordings include computer based recording and portable digital recorders. |
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