Does soundcard matter?

[wtflolnoob]

I'm running on a laptop with inexpensive integrated graphics, are my songs coming out their best?

[unowned]

well i had a reaktek integrated and it didnt sound right, but this 30 dollar pci one sounds just fine

[Alchemist94]

I'm no computer expert but I don't think graphics have anything to do with sound.

[InGenius]

If you're mixing on a cheap soundcard, it can have a major effect on how well mixed a track is because of it's "frequency response". The average "cheap" soundcard is about as useful as the average CD Player/Radio combo for referncing music, which is not at all. They both share some of the same characteristics: sweet (read: boosted) mids and highs, muddy bass if any bass at all gets through (size of speaker and freq. response usually limit computer speakers to 75Hz or higher tones with any % of reliability), and a fast high and low end rolloff. What this means is that the freq response looks like a roller coaster ride and so you mix it to an extreme at any point where the response isn't flat, either mixing far too much bass in to overcompensate for the lack of bass or far too little because you are afraid of bass, mixing a weak sounding mid and high area and overpowering your lowmids and highmids because they are the only "flat" area in the limited frequency band of your system.

That said, some cards aren't actually that bad, especially for hobbyists who have no immediate plans to improve their overall mix. But, I suggest anyone serious about production or recording spends money first and foremost on the monitoring and playback side, ie. buy near-field monitors and an interface to allow as noiseless and clean a signal as possible to get through, THEN start shelling out cash for the goodies like mics, keyboards, etc. Too often artists get a great midi controller, VSTs, sample packs, etc. and are still mixing down on some Creative Labs 2 inch "Woofer", 3/4 inch tweeter computer speaker. A Stradivarius violin won't make a 3 year old into a world-class violinist, and so too a room full of recording gear will not improve your playback and mixing.

[unowned]

i'll listen when you have a better perception of audio

[wtflolnoob]

At 9/18/09 08:27 PM, Alchemist94 wrote: I'm no computer expert but I don't think graphics have anything to do with sound.

Oh dang, I've been reading WAY too much into graphics cards lately. But yeah I don't think that audio cards really make much of a difference, except for gaming.

[MaestroRage]

an audio card is to DAW's as a graphics card is for games. Playback, frequency capability, latency are all major things a solid audio card can give you.

[joshhunsaker]

Crappy soundcards sound....well, crappy. There are exceptions to this are there are to everything.

Get something decent. Trust me.

[InGenius]

At 9/18/09 08:53 PM, unowned wrote: i'll listen when you have a better perception of audio

I'll hope you didn't direct this at me.

[unowned]

oh no it was obviously directed to the other guy, maybe you need to switch the alcohol with something better

[DanceNation]

graphics card has nothing to do with audio. it deals with the graphics. if you mean sound card, they tend to not be the best, some are ok, where as others are bad. i have an intigrated one, and eh, its par..

[DJ-Fanzie]

At 9/18/09 08:08 PM, wtflolnoob wrote: I'm running on a laptop with inexpensive integrated graphics, are my songs coming out their best?

Not to act like a computer-freak but yes, sound card matters.
It doesnt matter if you have the best graphic card in the world if you want to produce good music. :)

Also you need RAM and CPU Power.. Thats proberly all.. (Of course you should have a computer with graphic card and what do i know built in it)

I am actually thinking aobut to get a expensive sounds card at the moment :D

Well, i hope you could use this

[M12Productions]

The best thing to do would (especially on a laptop) is to go out and buy a USB audio interface.

There is a lot of cheap ones out there that have 1 or 2 input slots for recording and they sound great.

[wtflolnoob]

At 9/19/09 07:51 PM, M12Productions wrote: The best thing to do would (especially on a laptop) is to go out and buy a USB audio interface.

There is a lot of cheap ones out there that have 1 or 2 input slots for recording and they sound great.

I'm not doing recording, I usually do instrumentals with the Reason sound bank.

And yeah I meant to say sound card but I slipped.

[thecokebitch]

Yeah - a good soundcard makes a hell of a difference.

I dont think this is really relevant, but;
Standard laptop soundcards tend to pick up noise relatively easy, especially if you have your powersource plugged in. I was picking up hard-drive noise as well, which is sortv a constant high pitch through the speakers. Right fucking paing in the ass. I found that i could remove of most of this noise by removing the ground pin on the laptop power source and any external hard-drive power supply i had connected. Its pretty rungi i know, and wouldnt reccomend it to anyone inexperienced with mains voltage stuff.

-----
As for soundcards, i had an external m-audio firewire audiophile, and i noticed an instant change in sound quality (you can easily tell with good speakers). All my songs on NG have been made using it too. But, as there are only rca outputs on the back of the card, the cables which went directly to my monitors were quite prone to picking up stray noise (and i have goood rca cables). I could go into further depth about the bad side of things if you want, but overall the m-audio external soundcard was much better quality than any internal stock cards ive used (on my old laptop, and the one on my motherboard atm).

Although, now im using an m-audio 192 pci soundcard, which i have just recently bought - it has balanced outputs, a very high sample rate (192k) and good bit-depth (24 bit). The balanced outputs are awsome, because they cut out any noise picked up in the cable from the card to the monitors (and i noticed an immediate improvement - in both sound quality and noise-rejection). Although, if youve got a laptop, this card wont fit - it goes into a PCI slot on pc's. Just look for a card with balanced outputs (if your monitors or setup can utilize balanced inputs).

What ive said above is sorta biased towards that shitty thing called noise, but yeah, overall getting a recording based soundcard is a good, good start. haha

[Reaper93]

In terms of rendering the track? Probably not, no, the soundcard does not matter much. Most software rendering has little or nothing to do with your soundcard's capabilities.

However, that being said, your mixing and mastering capabilities will be greatly impaired by inferior sound output that most cheap-o soundchips and cards offer. EMI can get in your face and distort up your track, or you could be mixing with pre-boosted lows (bass boost) or mids/highs ("crystaliser"-esque effects), which will result in Joe Schmoe on a balanced non-EQ'd output hearing the track drastically differently than you did.

[p4c]

it isn't very hard to hear the difference. get some headphones (they don't need to be very expensive or anything to tell the difference.) go to a computer with a shitty/no sound card. if you plug it in and you hear a buzz, thats pretty much a dead giveaway. i hear it all the time with the standard stuff crappy dells come with.

im using a creative soundblaster fatal1ty sound card, and it's pretty decent. for hobbyists it doesnt really matter that you get an awesome audiophile card--or an external digital audio converter and a preamp if you are that intense. just get something, so it isnt quite that crappy.

[LK412]

At 9/18/09 08:53 PM, unowned wrote: i'll listen when you have a better perception of audio

Why do you ALWAYS start shit like this.

You pride urself WAYYY to much on using drugs to enhance your "perception".

Knock it off..

[Reaper93]

At 9/21/09 09:28 PM, p4c wrote: it isn't very hard to hear the difference. get some headphones (they don't need to be very expensive or anything to tell the difference.) go to a computer with a shitty/no sound card. if you plug it in and you hear a buzz, thats pretty much a dead giveaway. i hear it all the time with the standard stuff crappy dells come with.

im using a creative soundblaster fatal1ty sound card, and it's pretty decent. for hobbyists it doesnt really matter that you get an awesome audiophile card--or an external digital audio converter and a preamp if you are that intense. just get something, so it isnt quite that crappy.

This is more or less the case. I went with my first soundcard (same one in fact) specifically because of that EMI buzz from the unshielded and unseparated integrated audio chip. It won't affect the render quality, really, but if you try to LISTEN to it... well it sucks to say the least.

I've since invalidated my sound card with an external amp and DAC, but that's beside the point.

[unowned]

At 9/22/09 02:26 PM, LK412 wrote:

maybe first you need to read a dictionary definition on the word, maybe then you won't put it in quotes. and thats now what i was talking about

[vanguard182]

perhaps you should also consult a dictionary, as the word "now" was not in proper context

[unowned]

yeah and i meant 'not' bottom buddy
learn punctuation etc

[vanguard182]

do you know what punctuation is?

[unowned]

learn it elsewhere

[vanguard182]

mmk then congrats on making a jackass of yourself

[unowned]

how was i doing that? i think a lot of people don't know the meaning of that word. and then you come around out of nowhere and tell me to find a definition of a word i misspelled
my fault because of something you've started
then go mmk like thousands of others in some predictable back and forth hischld..

[vanguard182]

ya got a little crazy at the end there, my friend. i don't know what to tell you about that one. but as for the rest, you can avoid being an asshole by instead being polite. for example, as opposed to saying "i'll listen when you have a better perception of audio" (which may be interpreted as rude), you could say "could you please justify your claims?". notice how i used the word "please". also, when he asks if you directed that him, you could merely say "yes", which is much nicer than the "oh no it was obviously directed to the other guy, maybe you need to switch the alcohol with something better" you threw out there. some would say such a response was unsolicited. lastly, telling people to do something when you yourself don't adhere to such standards is often considered to be hypocritical.

anyways, that's how you're being a jackass

[unowned]

well you don't know what i'm referring to when i talked about alcohol, or anything before it. and then you can't call me a jackass for one reason then write a paragraph as the new reason

i can be sarcastic when its painfully obvious, because it happens around here by the people that set the standard

[vanguard182]

i'm pretty sure i made it painfully obvious as to why i'm asserting that you're a jackass. i don't know what's confusing you. get off your high horse

[unowned]

and i discredit it in the last post, go from one reason to another towards any other member of the forum that uses sarcasm, its a bunch
and figure what im talking about in regards to two points as i stated before